Israel recognizes marriage of same-sex immigrant couple who married online in Russia
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This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Israel has recognized the marriage of a female couple who fled Russia and will grant new immigrant status to one of the two women. The Population and Immigration Authority last week informed Alona Selicheva and Maria Baytenova that it recognizes their marriage process, which was conducted online. The two left Russia and came to Israel more than a year ago following its invasion of Ukraine and escalating persecution of LGBTQ people in the country.
About a year before they made aliyah, Selicheva and Baytenova married in what is known as a “Utah marriage” – a civil marriage procedure conducted by video call with authorities in the U.S. state of Utah. Last November, the couple petitioned the High Court of Justice through attorneys Naomi Kessel and Maya Doman of the Israel Religious Action Center’s Legal Aid Center for Olim.
In response to the petition, the Population and Immigration Authority said it needed confirmation from the Russian authorities that they recognize “Utah marriages,” even though Russia does not recognize same-sex marriage. The court ordered the state to submit its response by the end of July and ruled that if it did not do so, it would hold a substantive hearing on the petition.
Last September, a few months after Selicheva and Baytenova made aliyah, the Jerusalem District Court recognized the “Utah marriages” of Israeli citizens following a petition by Hiddush, an organization promoting religious freedom and equality in Israel.
The state appealed against the decision, but the Supreme Court ruled that until a final decision is made on the appeal, it must recognize the marriages of couples who used the Utah proceeding. Despite this, for months the Population and Immigration Authority did not respond to Selicheva and Baytenova’s request.
Baytenova received the status of an olah hadasha (new immigrant) under the Law of Return. Selicheva continued to live in Israel as a tourist, without being entitled to work, receive an absorption basket and national health insurance, or study Hebrew at an ulpan.
“When the lawyers told me that Alona (Salicheva) would receive citizenship and immigrant status, I sat down and started crying,” Baytenova told Haaretz. I felt as if a heavy burden of guilt and responsibility had been released – responsibility for the fact that I brought her to a foreign country but failed to guarantee her the right to live here alongside me with equal rights. Now she will be free.”
As well as Baytenova and Salicheva, the Reform Movement’s Legal Aid Center for Olim is handling the cases of four other couples facing similar situations. The Center says that in the past few months, it has been approached by dozens of same-sex couples, most of them women, who married in a “Utah marriage” as Russian citizens. Last week, the Population and Immigration Authority informed Selicheva and the court that “after receiving clarification from the Russian authorities and examining all the documents,” it had decided to grant Selicheva new immigrant status.
“It’s a shame that it went on for so long, this decision could have been made a long time ago,” Legal Aid Center attorney Naomi Kessel told Haaretz. “It makes absorption very difficult. The Law of Return is intended to enable the Jewish spouse and the non-Jewish spouse to immigrate as a family. That’s why the spouse clause in the Law of Return exists.”
Selicheva and Baytenova ‘s case was reported in January, along with other stories of LGBT people who immigrated to Israel or wanted to come to Israel to escape oppression in Russia. One of the interviewees, who spoke to Haaretz on condition of anonymity, said that despite the great efforts she and her partner had invested in obtaining the necessary documents for aliyah, they were concerned about coming to Israel because of the state’s foot-dragging when it comes to recognizing Utah marriages.
“We decided that if we were to encounter such problems in Israel from the start, we wouldn’t want to live like that all the time and continue to have to fight even after the move. We wouldn’t want to feel disenfranchised, and then still have to face the language barrier,” she said at the time.
The number of same-sex couples fleeing Russia is expected to increase in the near future. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law approved by the Russian parliament that institutes a blanket ban on gender-affirming surgery and treatment.
The law also prohibits transgender people from adopting children and annuls marriages of persons who have undergone gender-affirming care. In November, Russia banned “propaganda of non-traditional sex” – the ban proscribes any public engagement with LGBT issues, including artistic engagement.
The Population and Immigration Authority said it had not yet made a sweeping decision to grant immigrant status to persons married in online weddings. “The said decision is specific to the circumstances of the case, taking into account the response received from the Russian authorities regarding the registration of “Utah marriages” of its citizens,” the Authority said in a statement.
Attorney Kessel said, however, that the Authority’s decision set a precedent. “If the couple’s marriage is recognized, there is no reason why other couples who married in a “Utah marriage” while in Russia should not have their marriages recognized. We see this decision as a precedent in every respect.”
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