Catholic groups in Croatia are celebrating success after a referendum voted to bar same-sex marriage.
‘In the Name of the Family’, launched the initiative which defines marriage in the constitution as a ‘union between a man and a woman’.
Almost 66 percent of those who voted endorsed the proposition.
Critics including the centre-left government and human rights groups opposed the referendum saying it amounted to discrimination against homosexuals.
The government had been forced to hold the vote after the group had gathered more than 740,00 signatures. The outcome is of no surprise in the largely Catholic country.
Croatia in now in line with Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia, where intolerance of same-sex unions is widespread.