by Rex Wockner
International News Briefs
The European Court of Human Rights ruled against Austria on July 22 for failure to recognize a same-sex partnership as "family," as required by the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the case P.B. and J.S. v. Austria, the court ruled 5-2 that Austria violated the convention by excluding gays' partners from health and accident insurance coverage. The exclusion violated the convention's Article 14, which prohibits discrimination, and Article 8, which extends a right to respect for private and family life, the court said.
Austria ended such discrimination in 2007 but the case dated from before that time.
"The relationship of the applicants, a cohabiting same-sex couple living in a stable de facto partnership, falls within the notion of 'family life,' just as the relationship of a different-sex couple in the same situation would," the court said.
