The highest court in Austria has ruled that a law allowing same-sex couples enter civil partnerships but not marriage is discriminatory [1] and have declared that such couples may enter marriage contracts from January 1st 2019. The overturned law had been passed in parliament in 2009 [2], and in June of this year, parliament voted by a majority of 110 to 26 to reject same-se [3]x [3]marriage [3]. Nonetheless, the conservative People’s Party (OVP), whose leader Sebastian Kurz is expected to be sworn in as chancellor next month, said it will accept the ruling. However, the Freedom Party (FPO), Kurz’s chosen government coalition partner criticised the ruling. “Now there is equal treatment for something that’s not equal,” said Herbert Kickl, FPO General Secretary, in a statement. A marriage between women and men needs protection as only these partnerships can create children, he said. In response to the ruling, the lawyer for the female couples who brought the case, Helmut Graupner, said it was a historic day. “Austria is the first European country to recognise marriage equality for same-gender couples as a fundamental human right. All the other European states with marriage equality introduced it (just) the political way,” he said in a Facebook post.