Recognizing, Overlooking, Ignoring: On the Legislator’s Attitudes Towards Actual Closeness

Keywords: close relationships, law and emotions, the attitudes of the legislator

English abstract: The text considers why certain types of close relationships are “invisible” in the legal system. Visibility can mean public recognition, status recognition, social acceptance. What is “visible to the law” is the closeness that the law recognizes, accepts, supports, and with which it links certain obligations and rights, e.g. marriage. However, the main subject of this study will be those close relationships that are invisible in the legal system (obscurus). Two people, remaining in an actually close relationship, may not be recognized as such in the legal system. The purpose of this paper is to understand why these kinds of differences arise between law and life, and, more specifically, what the “invisibility” of individual close relationships in the legal system results from. In my reflection, I will use references to the film Call Me by Your Name.