Is adultery with people of the same sex considered a violation of the marriage and family regime in Vietnam?

Is adultery with people of the same sex considered a violation of the marriage and family regime in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014 stipulating protection of the marriage and family regime as follows:

1. Marriage and family relations established and implemented in accordance with this Law shall be respected and protected by law.

2. The following acts are prohibited:

a/ Sham marriage or sham divorce;

b/ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;

c/ A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with a married person;

d/ Getting married or cohabitating as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild;

dd/ Demanding property in marriage;

e/ Forcing a person into divorce; deceiving a person into divorce; obstructing divorce;

g/ Giving birth with assisted reproductive technology for commercial purpose, commercial gestational surrogacy, prenatal sex selection, cloning;

h/ Domestic violence;

i/ Taking advantage of marriage and family rights for human trafficking, labor exploitation or sexual abuse or committing another act for self-seeking purposes.

3. All acts of violating the marriage and family law shall be handled strictly in accordance with law.

Agencies, organizations and individuals have the right to request a court or another competent agency to take measures to promptly stop and handle violators of the marriage and family law.

4. The honor, dignity, prestige, privacy and other privacy rights of parties shall be respected and protected in the course of settlement of marriage and family-related cases and matters.

As regulations above, a married person cohabitating as husband and wife with another person is against the marriage and family regime regardless of gender. Therefore, cohabitating with people of the same sex is against the law.

Is it against the law for getting married to people of the same sex in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014 stipulating conditions for getting married as follows:

1. A man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:

a /The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;

b/ The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;

c/ The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;

d/ The marriage does not fall into one of the cases prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.

2. The State shall not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex.

As regulations above, currently, the State shall not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex. However, marriage between persons of the same sex is not against the law.

What are responsibilities of the State’s and society’s responsibilities for marriage and family in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 4 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014 stipulating responsibilities of the State’s and society’s responsibilities for marriage and family in Vietnam as follows:

1. The State shall adopt policies and measures to protect marriage and family and create conditions for males and females to establish voluntary, progressive, monogamous marriage in which husband and wife are equal; build prosperous, progressive and happy families fulfilling all of their functions; intensify the dissemination and popularization of and education about the law on marriage and family; and mobilize people to abolish backward marriage and family customs and practices and promote fine traditions, customs and practices embodying the identity of each nationality.

2. The Government shall perform the unified state management of marriage and family. Ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall perform the state management of marriage and family as assigned by the Government. People’s Committees at all levels and other agencies shall perform the state management of marriage and family in accordance with law.

3. Agencies and organizations shall educate and mobilize their cadres, civil servants, public employees, laborers and members as well as every citizen to build cultured families; promptly conciliate family discords and protect the lawful rights and interests of family members. Schools shall coordinate with families in educating about, disseminating and popularizing the marriage and family law among young generations.

Best regards!