Gay rights law, minus marriage passed in parliament

TIRANA, Feb. 6 – Gay rights advocates in Albania welcomed their partial victory following the approval by the parliament of an anti-discrimination law, which includes protections for LGBT people, but it drops a provision to legalize same-sex marriage that drew international attention this past summer.
The bill guarantees citizens against discrimination on grounds of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation, but has widely come to be known in Albania as the gay law because of the publicity Prime Minister Sali Berisha gave their cause.
Last year governing Democrats proposed a law allowing same-sex civil weddings in the small, predominantly Muslim country.
They said the bill was needed to stop discrimination against gay couples. Previous law did not recognize them as a community.
Berisha said the move followed requests from rights groups.
The former Communist Balkan state, which joined NATO in April, has applied to be considered for the European Union.
Albania is mostly Muslim with large Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic minorities. Practicing religion was banned during the 1944-1990 Communist regime.
Religious groups successfully lobbied against the proposal to recognize same-sex marriage as part of the law, however.
The law was passed by the ruling Democratic Party and its allies in parliament last week.
The law does not allow same-sex marriage as promised by Berisha.
Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic communities condemned the idea.
The Alliance Against Discrimination, an Albanian gay rights group, hailed the anti discrimination law as a strong start despite the loss of the marriage equality provision.
“This law is not simply a fulfillment of requirements that Albania has undertaken for European Union integration and visa liberalization,” said a statement issued by the group. “Above all, it is a victory for democracy and for human rights for all Albanians.”