Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Austria may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Austria, and registered partnerships were introduced in 2010, but couples will still not be able to adopt or have access to IVF and artificial insemination.
The country, while dominated by Roman Catholicism, is slowly becoming more liberal with laws and social opinions concerning sexual orientation and gender identity.
Law regarding same-sex sexual activity
Same-sex sexual acts have been legal since 1971. The age of consent was equalized in 2002 by a court decision. Homosexuals are not prohibited from military service.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Following the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in Karner v. Austria, cohabitating same-sex couples were given the same rights as cohabitating opposite-sex couples.
It was planned that the Registered Partnership Bill 2008 (based on the Swiss model) would be introduced to the assembly in September 2008, however, as the current coalition of Social Democrats and Conservatives broke apart and early elections were scheduled for 28 September 2008, progress was delayed until December 2009.
In February 2009, Austria's Interior Minister Dr. Maria Fekter set up a working group, inviting delegations from all Austrian LGBT rights organizations to hold talks, including the Rechtskomitee Lambda (Lambda Legal Committee), pink, purple panther inside and HOSI Linz, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vienna), on the issue of partnership recognition equality for same-sex couples. Dr. Maria Fekter announced that an Eingetragene Partnerschaft (registered partnership) bill would be introduced and enacted in Autumn 2009. In November 2009, the government coalition agreed in Council to allow registered partnerships, which provide equal rights in labour, immigration, pension, tax, and civil law to same-sex couples as marriage does to opposite-sex couples. They also allow for someone to change their surname to match their partner's and take a common surname. On 10 December 2009, the National Council of Austria adopted the bill, with the votes of the representatives of the SPÖ and ÖVP, and on 18 December 2009 it was approved by the Bundesrat. It was published in the Federal Law Gazette I No. 135/2009 on 30 December 2009, and came into force on 1 January 2010. Since then, same-sex couples can have registered partnerships, but do not have the right to adopt children or access to IVF or artificial insemination treatments. On 4 January 2010, the first four same-sex couples were married in Vienna.
A European Union poll showed that 49% of Austrians supported gay marriage.
Some have argued that straight couples should also have access to registered partnerships as an analogous relationship recognition option, and that likewise, LGBT couples should have access to same-sex marriage.
Discrimination protections
The federal Labour Code has included an anti-discrimination law since 2004, to follow the implementation of EU legislation prohibiting discrimination. Six out of the nine federal republics have established anti-discrimination laws within their area of competence that also cover sexual orientation. The 1993 Police Security Act requires the police to refrain from any actions that could create the impression of bias or that could be perceived as discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Vienna state has had its Youth Protection Law since 2002, and one city, Bludenz, has adopted a symbolic non-discrimination declaration which includes sexual orientation in 1998. The Federal Constitution theoretically protects all citizens equally but the reality is that it does not apply to sexual orientation and several judgements of the Constitutional Court confirm these unequal treatment.
LGBT rights and political debates
The first major parliamentary debates on that issue took place in the mid-1990s, initiated by the Liberal Forum LIF which was campaigning strongly against discrimination of homosexuals which at that time existed through §209, 220 and 221 StGB and for complete equality of treatment also including marriage and adoption. The Social Democrats and the Green Party at that time showed support for the issue of equal treatment of same-sex couples.
After the LIF did not pass the four percent electoral threshold in the 1999 elections, the Social Democrats and the Green Party started to embrace this issue more. The SPÖ on its biannual Federal Party Convention made a decision on the issue of equal treatment of same-sex couples. They proposed a model of registered partnership ("Eingetragene Partnerschaft") including stepparent adoption. The Austrian Green Party introduced the civil pact ("Zivilpakt") as somewhat similar model to that of the Social Democrats in 2004.
However, progress is visible to a limited extend. Since 1998, Austria recognizes the right not to testify against their partner if the partner is of the same sex, as amended in Criminal Code. In 2001, the constitutional court rescinded §209 StGB which lead to the introduction of § 207b was introduced as a substitute by the coalition of the conservative ÖVP and the right wing FPÖ and is seen as being discriminating in a more indirect way than § 209 StGB. Following the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in case of Karner v Austria [2003], cohabiting same-sex partners are entitled to the same rights as unmarried cohabiting opposite-sex partners. In 2005, the Green Party campaigned heavily for registered partnership during the Vienna election campaign in 2005. On 26 July 2006, the first legal same-sex marriage came into existence, when Angelika Frasl, a transsexual woman with two children, was permitted by the constitutional court to change her legal gender to female while remaining married to her wife. See Same-sex marriage in Austria. Karin Gastinger a former member of the centre-right Alliance for the Future of Austria had claimed gay and lesbian couples to get rights to partners' estates and medical care in December 2005. However she failed in this case. It was not thought likely that the coalition of Conservatives and Social Democrats formed in 2007 would result in major steps towards more equality quickly. Although the then Minister of Justice, Maria Berger, a social democrat, intended to improve the situation, she herself expected huge opposition by the conservative coalition partner ÖVP, most likely because her situation was similar to that of her predecessor Gastinger.
Furthermore, Maria Fekter, former chairperson of the parliamentary committee for judiciary and since 1 July 2008 minister of the interior repeatedly announced her opposition against registered same-sex partnerships and that conservative values will prevail (see p282)]. Though, despite such opposition, partnerships were approved in December 2009.
Other, more conservative, political parties tend to oppose LGBT rights. Although, much speculation has been made about the sexual orientation of Jorg Haider, who took control of the right-wing Freedom Party in 1986 and then later created the more mainstream but still socially conservative Alliance for the Future of Austria [Out Magazine February 2009, Pg. 46 – 51].
Living conditions
The gay community is developed in all larger cities, such as Vienna, Linz, Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Graz. Every year there is a gay pride Regenbogenparade (rainbow parade) in Vienna.
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