Valentine’s Day 2009 was a sight to behold in a Beirut bar: several interfaith couples “married” in mock weddings at the bar in the city’s trendy Gemmayze district to protest the country’s strict intermarriage laws. .
Civil weddings between interreligious couples are only recognized if the marriage is not celebrated on Lebanese soil. The Valentine’s ceremony took place just days after Interior Minister Ziad Baroud declared that citizens can now remove their religious identity from their national identity documents if they wish.
Many Lebanese bloggers applauded the ID card reform, while others are skeptical. Although this move initially only removes reference to one’s religion, the goal is to remove religious law altogether and come up with a civil law that will apply to all citizens, leaving religion as a personal matter. Many young Lebanese feel that even more reform is needed.
In or out of the big 18
In Lebanon you can only belong to the 18 religions recognized by the Lebanese constitution, which means you are out if you are, say, Hindu, agnostic or Baha’i, and have no marital status. Many suggest that Minister Baroud’s decree may be a red herring because it only removes “reference” to one’s religion, but religion will still determine who votes and who runs for public office.
Mixed marriage: what is the price?
In the fight for civil marriage, there are currently not so pretty realities regarding interreligious relations and marriages in Lebanon, especially when it comes to the treatment of women. There is a candid summary of this by a Lebanese Hanibaal Iznogood on the Global Voices website.
Hanibaal reveals that in Lebanon, the two parties involved in an interreligious marriage cannot maintain their own individual religions; usually, the wife has to abandon her religion and convert to her husband’s in order to marry him. Honor killings are still protected by law in Lebanon when it comes to women who have or are alleged to have had affairs.
Religious Identification: How Deep Does It Go?
In light of such realities, the option to remove religion from one of your ID cards is truly innovative, but I also find it heartbreaking in its own way, as religion is a fundamental part of identification for many of us.
Still, this step in the direction of reform and acceptance may be the first link in a chain of events that also makes civil marriage possible between young Lebanese couples who have crossed the line of faith to be together.
