The National Council says yes to registered partnerships

On 3 December 2003, the National Council in Bern makes a decision that many gay men and lesbians in Switzerland have long been waiting for. The larger chamber approves the federal law on registered partnerships for same-sex couples, by one hundred and eighteen votes to fifty in the final vote.

The debate shows how far apart the positions were at the time. The Federal Democratic Union calls homosexual lifestyles incompatible with the divine order of creation, while the Swiss People's Party warns of an unnecessary new bureaucracy. Both want to reject the bill outright. They remain clearly in the minority.

The law allows couples to register their relationship at the civil registry office. In many areas, such as inheritance law, social insurance and residence rights, they are largely put on an equal footing with married couples. Adoption and reproductive medicine, however, remain expressly excluded. Justice Minister Ruth Metzler defends this line: a child should not legally have two mothers or two fathers. Motions from the left and the Greens to allow at least stepchild adoption fail. For Metzler, it is one of her last major pieces of business. A week later, the Federal Assembly does not re-elect her.

In June 2004, the Council of States also approves the law by a clear majority. The Evangelical People's Party and the Federal Democratic Union then launch a referendum and collect more than sixty-seven thousand signatures. The people therefore have the last word, and in June 2005 they say yes with fifty-eight per cent. Switzerland thus becomes the first country in which a partnership law for same-sex couples is approved at the ballot box. It takes effect at the beginning of 2007.

Today, registered partnership is being phased out. Since July 2022, marriage for all has applied, and new partnerships are no longer registered. But the step taken in December 2003 was the foundation on which everything else was built.