It’s Not Over Yet: International Experiences in Advocating for Marriage Equality for All

On January 1, 2025, the amendment introducing partnership rights for same-sex couples will take effect, providing many of the rights enjoyed by heterosexual spouses. However, joint adoptions will remain unavailable.

Marriage remains the sole institution guaranteeing equality and full social and legal recognition for all couples and families with children. Join us in a panel discussion on how full marriage equality was achieved in other countries, including the obstacles faced and overcome. Our efforts for achieving marriage equality have not ended, as the initiative “It’s Only Fair/Jsme fer” remains committed to achieving true equality.

The panel discussion will be in English with simultaneous Czech translation.

After the event, light refreshments will be served.
Please, register at this link: https://www.jsmefer.cz/jeste-neni-konec

Host
Adéla Horáková – lawyer of the initiative Jsme fér

Guests
Petra Polanič (Slovenia) – heads the education and visibility section of Legebitra, an organization that has been defending the human rights of LGBT+ people in Slovenia for 25 years. Petra is also the head of LGBT+ Business Network and represents Slovenia in the European Stand Up project aimed at monitoring and combating hate crime. Legebitra raises awareness of queer life experiences and the needs of LGBT+ people in Slovenia. It provides services such as HIV testing, counseling, legal services, and activities for queer youth. Slovenia introduced equal marriage in 2022. This came seven years after the public rejected it in a referendum in which ultra-conservative and religious circles mobilized to fight against equality.

Thalia Zepatos (USA) – worked for more than a decade with the Freedom to Marry initiative, which pushed for the adoption of equal marriage in the US. She served as Director of Research and Communications. Her approach to communicating the issue led to exponential growth in public support. This was instrumental in the success of four national referendums on equal marriage and ultimately the Supreme Court victory that secured the ability for same-sex couples to marry at the federal level. Thalia was an advisor to Yes Equality! in Ireland, where equal marriage passed in 2015, and was involved in the 2017 national referendum in Australia. As a member of the Freedom to Marry Global team, she continues to consult with initiatives seeking equal marriage and the decriminalization of homosexuality in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

Michal Pitoňák (CZ) – is the head of the Mental and Public Health of Sexually and Gender Diverse People working group at the National Institute of Mental Health (NUDZ) and chair of the professional society Queer Geography. He has published numerous studies in the areas of sexually and gender diverse mental health, minority stress, geographies of sexualities, and LGBTQ+ sociology and activism, and has co-authored a number of publications with international experts. He is actively involved in policymaking, for example, as a member of the Government’s Committee on the Rights of LGBTI+ People or the Coordination Working Group of the National HIV/AIDS Programme.

Barbara Havelková (CZ, Greta Britain) – is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. She previously held other posts at the University of Cambridge (Emmanuel College) and Oxford (Balliol). Barbara’s research and teaching interests include gender legal studies and feminist jurisprudence, equality and anti-discrimination law, constitutional law, EU law and law in post-socialist transitions. Barbara has also been active as an expert and an academic in the Czech Republic. Between 2014 and 2017, Barbara acted as an Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on issues of gender and law. She is the author of a monograph ‘Equality of women and men in remuneration’ and co-author of the leading ‘Commentary on the Czech Anti-Discrimination Act’.

Entrance fee – free

Accessibility – suitable also for teenagers

Vibe check – seating options, indoors