Polling stations in Slovenia opened on Sunday morning for a referendum on the new family legislation which makes it possible for homosexual couples to adopt children which was challenged by religious communities and conservative groups in the country.
The new family was, adopted by the previous parliament in which a centre-left coalition had a majority, can go into force only if supported by a majority of those going to the polls at today's referendum.
The family law allows a partner in a homosexual couple to adopt children of the other partner from their previous heterosexual relationships. It also broadens the definition of the family to include non-traditional forms, all of which has been met with opposition from a part of the public and religious communities.
The legislation was challenged by the Civil Initiative for Family and Children's Rights, an association that managed to collect the 42,000 signatures necessary for a national referendum.
According to the latest opinion polls, the law is likely to be endorsed at the referendum by a narrow margin.
Dignitaries of the three most numerous religious communities in Slovenia -- the Catholic Church, the Serb Orthodox Church and the Islamic Community -- this past Thursday issued a joint statement against enabling homosexual couples to have rights to adopt children and against a more liberal definition of the family.
"We declare together that marriage and family are vital for the development of the human being and society. Therefore, it is our duty to together protect the bonds of matrimony and the values of the family as the union of a man and a woman and children" the joint statement said, among other things.
Liberal circles and proponents of the new law said that these attitudes of the religious communities and the conservatives reflect the hypocrisy given that the society had changed in the last 35 years and it should be treated simply also by the legislative solutions.
For instance, in Slovenia there are currently about 100 homosexual couples with children who, the liberal advocates say, should not be discriminated against.
Furthermore, 55 percent of children are born out of wedlock and one third lives with only one parent, which need to be addressed by the legislation so that those children can have the same rights of inheritance as those children born to married parents.
