Post date: Mar 25, 2012 11:2:52 PM
The previous parliament, dominated by a centre-left coalition, included the right in a family law passed in June 2011.
But the Civil Initiative for Family and Children's Rights, a conservative group, opposed the change and forced a national referendum.
Preliminary results released by the state electoral committee on Sunday showed that 54.8 percent of voters had rejected the law, while 45.2 percent had supported it.
Ales Primc, the head of the Civil Initiative, congratulated those who had opposed the law.
Slovenians reject a law which would allow homosexuals to adopt their partners' children.
LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA (MARCH 25, 2012) (REUTERS - Slovenians on Sunday (March 25) rejected a law that would have let homosexuals adopt their partners' children, preliminary results of a referendum on the issue showed.
"I am convinced that the majority of our citizens respect motherhood and fatherhood and I am sure citizens do not want to have children educated at school about how to become homosexuals. I agree that we have to live with diversity and we have to respect diversity but things, in this form, cannot go on," he told reporters.
But gay activist and the coordinator of the movement for the new family law Miha Lobnik said he was not giving up.
"After a moratorium of one year we will ask the government to prepare a draft of the new law which will have solutions in it acceptable to those who were supporting the (disputed) new law, and those who were against it. We don't want a family law which harbours prejudice against certain minorities, but at the same time we don't want this issue to postpone systemic solutions to things that are of importance to all children and all families," he said.
Although the law would not have allowed homosexual couples to adopt children from a third party, conservative groups, backed by the Roman Catholic Church, wanted it annulled.
The small Adriatic country which joined the European Union in 2004 is relatively tolerant of homosexual couples, though homophobic attacks do occur from time to time.
Last year, a court sentenced three Slovenians to up to seven months in jail for attacking a gay rights activist in Ljubljana in 2009. Homosexuals have been able to formally register their relationships since 2006.
The new centre-right government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa took over last month following a snap general election in December. It did not participate in the referendum campaign because coalition parties were divided on the issue.
Like Slovenia, a number of other EU countries allow homosexual couples to register their relationships. But only a few allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
"This result shows that we should not ever again criticize some other countries that they are being "Balkan" or backward. Slovenia showed today that it cannot accept certain life styles we already have here and I think this is very sad", Ljubljana resident Vika Potocnik said when asked to comment on the result.
But pensioner Stanko Jerkovic voiced the opinion of the majority who took part in the referendum.
"I am happy with the result and the fact that this family law did not pass. I am against men marrying men and I am against that they adopt children," he said.
The referendum result is legally binding and prevents the enforcement of the law. The government is not allowed to pass a similar law for at least one year.