Croatia

In Croatia center left political parties and their Members of Parliament advocate LGBT rights. Homosexuality is legal in Croatia since 1977. The age of consent is 14 years, equal for all people. Since 2003, when the Parliament adopted the Law of Same-sex Unions, gay couples can have limited rights, such as the right to legal regulation of property and mutual responsibility for financial support. In the last years legal protection has risen to a higher level, one of the most progressive in Europe. Today there are many laws that protect the rights of gays and lesbians: such as anti-discrimination clauses in the Labor code, Law on gender equality, higher education, asylum, media. Croatian Criminal code recognizes "hate crime", and Law on suppressing discrimination recognizes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. There are LGBT organizations in Zagreb and Rijeka. In 2005 the parliament rejected proposal for Registered Partnership, which would expand on the limited domestic partner law and allow both same-sex and different sex couples to register civil unions. Whereas Gay Pride has been celebrated peacefully in Zagreb for many years, the first such event in Split in 2011 saw violent confrontations, with ca. 10,000 people attacking a group of 300 marchers. The violence drew sharp criticism from politicians at home and abroad, while the incident is putting Croatia's efforts to join the EU at risk.