Croatia voters back ban on same-sex marriage

2013-12-02 342

Croatia has voted against gay marriage in a nationwide referendum. The outcome means that the country’s constitution will be amended to ban same-sex marriage.

A total of 65.75 percent of voters answered “yes” to the question: do you agree the constitution should be amended to define marriage as matrimony between a man and a woman?

The referendum sparked fierce debate in the mainly Catholic country, which joined the EU in July.

Zagreb resident Ivan said the result was no surprise: “The referendum victors could have been predicted, it was expected that tradition would win out – that customary norms, the church and religion would prevail.”

Sandra Markic, another resident of the Croatian capital, said: “I think that an initiative that’s provoked so much hate, argument, ugly words and accusations can’t be good.”