Rainbow families and EU free movement law

Abstract

This chapter examines the position of the children of rainbow families (i.e. families comprising a same-sex couple and their children) in cases where such families move between European Union (EU) Member States and include at least one EU citizen. Currently, a division exists in the EU between Member States that provide legal recognition to same-sex couples and to the parental linkage between such couples and their children and Member States that provide only limited or no legal recognition. When same-sex couples move with their children from a Member State where they are fully legally recognised as a family to a Member State that refuses to afford full (or any) recognition, this is problematic from several perspectives. The free movement and fundamental (human) rights that both children and their parents enjoy under EU law are clearly affected when recognition is refused. This chapter explores whether EU law can assist the children of rainbow families when they seek legal recognition in a host Member State as children of both their parents under EU law.