National Domestic Violence Awareness Project

makingqueerhistory:

Kristi Pinderi, 34, and Xheni Karaj, 31, who have been at the forefront of the movement for almost a decade, plan to file a lawsuit with the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights seeking to amend Albania’s Family Code prohibiting cohabitation rights for same-sex couples.

Should the activists prevail, Albania’s government –- eager to join the EU –- would come under enormous pressure to allow civil partnership agreements irrespective of sexual orientation. A successful ruling could even help pave the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage, a proposition that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago.