BEIRUT: Usually, love doesn’t require recognition, but couples who have opted for a civil marriage in Lebanon crave it. For them, an official recognition of their nuptials is the only thing preventing their marriage from being a bona fide state-approved union. The Civil Commission for Freedom of Choice held a fiery news conference in Beirut’s Press Club Thursday, during which the organization’s spokesperson slammed Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk for announcing this week civil marriages registered here were not legitimate due to the absence of an official law governing the process.
“We are currently in a state of war,” spokesperson Talal Husseini said. “The truth is that the Interior Ministry is abstaining from registering contracts of civil marriages performed in Lebanon and is violating the law of coexistence and the freedom and equality of the Lebanese.”
Generally, Lebanese couples wishing to have a civil marriage travel to places such as Cyprus or Turkey. While the Lebanese state fully recognizes civil unions completed outside Lebanon, those done within Lebanon are problematic.
Last year, in a landmark ruling, the High Committee for Consultations in the Justice Ministry approved Nidal Darwish and Kholoud Succariyeh’s civil marriage in the country which took place after the couple removed their sects from their official documents. The move prompted a number of couples to follow suit and there are currently roughly 60 couples who have opted to perform their civil ceremonies in Lebanon, Husseini said.
“Me and my husband didn’t get a civil marriage because we are activists. We just did it because it felt like it was one of the few good things that happened to Lebanon and we wanted to be a part of it,” Myriam Sassine Masaad told The Daily Star.
Myriam and her husband Badih first met back in college, but didn’t get married until they found themselves reunited by their careers. “We didn’t see each other for five years after college but then we met again at work,” Badih said.
Myriam and Badih both belong to the same religion and the same sect, which is highly uncommon of people who opt for a civil union. But for them, a religious marriage was not on the table, partly because the laws for a civil marriage cater more to women’s right, Myriam said.
Myriam and Badih submitted their civil marriage contract to the Interior Ministry in July following a civil ceremony that they held in the groom’s family home. But like most couples, their contract still lacks formal registration.
“The Interior Ministry keeps stalling the registration of our civil marriage contract, they stall and stall and stall because this is the weapon they use to fight civil marriage,” Badih said. “This is how they convince you to get married normally since it would cause you less trouble and it would take less time.”
Badih recalled the degrading manner in which the Interior Ministry’s staff dealt with couples who came in to register their nuptials. “They make you feel like they don’t want to do it and they make it harder for you.”
Myriam agreed, saying the Interior Ministry was disrupting the registration of marriage documents on purpose to convince couples to change their minds. “But we haven’t changed our mind yet,” she added.
Despite the obstacles, some couples have decided to wed in a civil ceremony anyway in the belief that a solution is on the horizon.
“If we didn’t believe that a solution would be reached we would not have gotten married,” Lebanon’s most recent “civil” bride, Nada Maatouq, told The Daily Star.
Maatouq and Freddy Richani got married in Lebanon less than two weeks ago, and like other couples, they are still waiting for the Interior Ministry to register their marriage contract. “We are waiting and we are willing to wait,” Maatouq said.
Maatouq and Richani, who knew each other for roughly 10 years before deciding to tie the knot on Jan. 23, never even considered the religious alternative. “We wanted to do it because we believe in the civil option,” Maatouq said.
Maatouq and Richani say their confidence in the CCFC has expelled any concerns about never having their nuptials registered by the state, with Richani stressing that the organization’s efforts were bound to result in victory.
The CCFC has also allayed their concerns over future complications regarding the recognition of their future children’s birth certificates.
“We are not worried, but even if that happens then we will be three members in the family fighting [the injustice],” Maatouq said.
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