In a ruling last week, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that all member states must recognise same-sex spouses’ residency rights under EU law. The ruling concludes a six-year battle by Adrian Coman, from Romania, and his American husband, Claibourn Robert Hamilton,  to get their marriage legally recognised in Romania. 

As The Independent notes, the ruling has implications for tens of thousands of same sex couples in Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia.

Even though these countries do not recognise same-sex marriage, they cannot refuse right of residence to a same-sex spouse who fulfills all the conditions for residency under the EU’s freedom of movement/right to family life regulation.  

More broadly, this is certainly a step in the right direction in asserting the equal rights of LGBTQ+ migrants.