Portuguese Parliament has voted down a provisional “co-parenting” bill that would have granted same sex couples the right to adopt the children of their partners.
The proposal would have allowed that “when two people of the same sex are married or cohabiting and one of them has parental responsibility for a minor, by blood or adoption, the spouse may adopt the minor”.
The bill, introduced by the center-left opposition parties in 2013, was rejected Friday by a narrow center-right majority of the government coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. The bill was rejected by 112 votes against, 107 in favor and four abstentions.
In Portugal, while single people, including LGBT singles, can adopt a child, a law issued in 2010 specifically prohibited same-sex couples from adopting.
However, in 2013, Parliament had approved a motion allowing gay couples to adopt their partner’s biological or adopted children with votes from the center-left opposition parties.
The Portuguese gay and transgender associations have said they will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that the measure infringes on their individual rights.
In Portugal is among the first 10 counties in the world to allow same-sex marriages. As recently as 1982 homosexuality was still considered a crime in Portugal.