Claudia & Marie(40)

Marie is a biostatistician at KU Leuven, I work as a project manager at a pharmaceutical company in Leuven. We lived in Nijmegen for five years, but when Marie got a permanent position at the university, we decided to take the plunge. We had one concern: how would Belgium handle our rainbow family?

The concerns proved unfounded. Belgium was the second country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003. Our Dutch marriage was fully recognized when registering at the Leuven municipality. Our daughter Luna (4) is on both passports as our daughter — no legal complications. The official at city hall was professional and friendly.

Legally the position of LGBTQ+ families in Belgium is well arranged. Adoption legislation is equal for heterosexual and same-sex couples, and recognition of co-motherhood (co-parenting) is legally enshrined. My name was already on Luna's birth certificate as co-mother — that was adopted in Belgium without issues.

Leuven is a progressive university city. KU Leuven has an active diversity policy, there are LGBTQ+ student associations and the city organizes an annual Pride event. In daily life we experience little to no discrimination. Luna's school in Heverlee is diverse and inclusive — she has friends with two moms, two dads and every other composition.

We receive the Groeipakket for Luna: €170 per month plus school allowance. The application through Fons went smoothly — they didn't ask about family composition, only income details and rijksregisternummer. The mutualiteit (CM Leuven) registered us as a family without any complication.

My advice to LGBTQ+ couples considering Belgium: the legal framework is solid and comparable to the Netherlands. The major cities (Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven) are open and inclusive. Do bring your official documents (marriage certificate, birth certificate with recognition) and have them apostilled if necessary. The transition was smoother for us than expected.