Slovakia

A nationwide referendum on restricting gay rights in Slovakia has failed to produce a legally binding result after the required number of eligible voters did not turn out.

Slovaks are voting in a nationwide a referendum that would bar gay marriages and adoptions, and allow parents to decide whether their children attend sex education classes.

Slovakia’s anti-gay marriage movement has received massive support from the Catholic Church, and Pope Francis this week even gave his blessing to the referendum in an address on St. Peter’s Square.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia will hold a referendum on same-sex marriage in the predominantly Roman Catholic country early next year. President Andrej Kiska announced the referendum Thursday, setting the date for Feb 7.

Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based Religious Right powerhouse, has urged Slovakia’s constitutional court to allow anti-gay activists to place a referendum on the country’s ballot that would reinforce the current bans on same-sex marriage, adoption, and domestic partner protections and add a provision making it harder for schools to offer sex education.

Slovakia’s parliament approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, amending its definition of marriage to be the “unique bond between a man and a woman.” The bill, approved Wednesday by a vote of 102 to 18 with three abstentions, was jointly proposed by the ruling socialist Smer party and the Christian Democrats.