The Constitutional Court must now determine whether migration authorities discriminated against a gay couple wishing to live together in Lithuania.

For over a year now, one particular gay couple, a Lithuanian man and a citizen of Belarus, has been trying to convince the Lithuanian authorities and courts that they have the right to family reunification.

In December 2016, this legal conundrum took a new turn: the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania agreed to examine whether the provisions of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens were in line with the country's Constitution.

The story here dates back to September of 2015, when a Belarusian citizen married to a Lithuanian man applied to the immigration authorities for permission to live together with his spouse in Lithuania. The couple had officially married in Denmark that same year.

The Law on the Legal Status of Aliens does not officially prohibit the reunification of same-sex couples. Foreigners may obtain a residence permits on the basis of family reunification if they are married to or in a partnership with a Lithuanian citizen. The law does not specify that the marriage must be between persons of the opposite sex.

However, the migration authorities rejected the application, pointing out that the same-sex marriage was not permitted under Lithuanian law, and therefore the couple's marriage could not be given legal recognition in Lithuania. Read more via Liberties