The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
November 21, 2006
In a precedent setting ruling this morning, an expanded panel of 7 Supreme Court Justices ordered the state to register
the marriage of same-sex couples who marry outside Israel
In a precedent setting ruling this morning, the Supreme Court ordered the state to register the marriage of same-sex
couples who marry outside Israel. The ruling was issued by a majority of six Justices from an expanded panel of seven,
in response to two petitions that were submitted by ACRI’s Chief Legal Counsel, Dan Yakir, and Adv. Yonatan Berman (as
well as 3 other petitions that were submitted at a later stage), in the name of two male couples who were married in
Canada, but were denied services by officials of the Population Registrar who refused to change their official
registration status from “single” to “married”.
Yossi Ben-Ari, 52, designs the theatrical sets and costumes. His partner, Laurent Schuman, 42, is a literary translator
from Hebrew to French, who among other things translated the stories of Shai Agnon and S.Yizhar. He emigrated from
France, and became a citizen in 1993. The couple met in 1985, and after a period of two years moved in together. They
have since lived together as a family unit and run a joint household. The second couple consists of Joseph Bar Lev, (39)
who teaches folk dancing, and Yaron Lahav (29) a fitness coach. They met in 1998, and after a few months began living
together, and have since led a full family life and run a joint household. Both couples were legally married in Toronto
in 2003 with fully validated marriage certificates that were authorized by the Israeli Counsel in Toronto. When ACRI
submitted a formal application to the Population Registrar on behalf of the first couple to request that their
registered status be changed from “single” to “married”, the couple encountered numerous and lengthy delays, until they
were finally notified that “marriages of this kind (the marriage of same-sex couples) are not considered legally valid
by the State of Israel, and thus cannot be recorded in the registry as requested”. When ACRI made a similar appeal on
behalf of the second couple, they were provided with the following reply with unusual alacrity, “as you well know no
changes in personal status are registered for same-sex couples in Israel”.
Attorneys Yakir and Berman made clear in the petition, that the refusal of the Population Registrar to change the
personal details of the petitioners contravenes the legal obligation of a registration clerk to register changes in the
personal status of anyone who presents them with validated certification of these changes. As dictated by the Population
Registry Law, and in accordance with the Punk Shlazinger ruling that was issued by the Supreme Court more than 40 years
ago, which has reinforced by subsequent rulings over the following years. This ruling, that resulted from the Population
Registrar’s refusal to register the marriage of a Christian woman to a Jewish man who were married outside the country,
determined absolutely that the Population Registrar clerks are obligated to change the official status of a couple who
married outside the country, and that this should not be dependent upon any internal discussion as to its domestic
validity. Attorney Yakir further emphasized that the Population Registrar had no authority to decide on the validity of
the marriage, and its response to the petitioners was nothing more than an attempt by the registrar to assume judicial
authority that was never legally transferred to them.
Attorneys Yakir and Berman also laid special emphasis on the fact that the Population Registrar’s policy of disregarding
their legal obligation to register same sex couples, when, for example, it registers couples of different religions,
Cohens and divorcees, contravenes the right to equality. The registrars’ actions conveys a humiliating message that a
relationship comprised of two men or two women is not considered to be “normative”, and is also considered to be of such
a low status as to render it unsuitable for the rules that apply to heterosexual couples. Such acts determine that the
warmth and sense of union that exists between the petitioners is not worthy of recognition, and that their decision to
tie their mutual fates together is meaningless. The individuals also have to contend with a profound sense of
humiliation and a severe undermining of their sense of dignity, solely because of their inclusion in a particular social
group. The refusal by the Population Registrar, the petition adds, represents a violation of the right to family life,
as it is based on their defined status and their sexual orientation, and conveys a message of de-legitimization of gay
and lesbian couples, and defines them as a family that is “lacking” or “of a lower status”, or even as a “non-family”.
Thus the message that is transmitted to the general public is that in the case of gays or lesbians, the family unit is
so different that it is not worthy of the same protections, or not even of the same procedural arrangements, that any
two adults who decide to establish a family are entitled to.
The petitions further stated that just as it is unacceptable to permit discrimination on the basis of an individual’s
inclusion in an ethnic or national grouping that is defined by racist perceptions prevalent in our society; and just as
there can be no acceptance of discrimination against women that is based on pervasive patriarchal attitudes; there can
also be no tolerance of discrimination against same-sex couples resulting from societal homophobia.
ENDS
ACRI’s website: www.acri.org.il