Fedotova v Russia: at the margins of LGBTI rights

The Fedotova case adds a further clarification to the progressive construction of the ECHR case-law on LBTIAQ+ rights. The applicants are three same-sex couples who, between 2009 and 2013, started the marriage procedure before different locally competent Russian authorities and faced a refusal based on Article 1 of the Russian Family Code, identifying marriage with the union between a man and a woman. The couples unsuccessfully challenged the decision before national courts, knowing that the Russian Constitutional Court had repeatedly reiterated the idea according to which ‘the roles of the family is [to ensure] the birth and upbringing of children, an understanding of marriage as the union of a man and a woman underlies the legislative...