Last fall, for example, Slovakia's parliament narrowly voted to change the country's constitution, recognizing only two sexes — male and female — and restricting adoption to married heterosexual couples.

What impact do these kind of legal changes have on same-sex couples in their everyday lives?

DW asked lawyer Ivan Novotny when the last time his use of the phrase "my husband" had raised eyebrows in Slovakia.

Sitting in the flat in central Bratislava he shares with his husband Metod Spacek, also a lawyer, and their young son, Ivan remembered one specific incident — amusing now, but not?at the time.

"Metod had lost consciousness, so I called the emergency services," explained Ivan. "The guy picked up and said 'What's your emergency?' And I said 'My husband's lost consciousness! He's on the ground, what am I supposed to do?'"

"And the guy said, 'Your what?' I answered: 'My husband, he's not breathing!' And he was like: 'Your manager?' Because it's a very similar word in Slovak: manzel and manazer," Ivan recounted.

"I said 'What? Not my manazer. Manzel.' And he was like 'Huh. Is that even allowed?'"

"I was very angry, worried and scared, and he was just talking about that," Ivan told DW.

Metod soon came round and was fine, but the situation could have been far more serious.

The couple said they had a more positive experience a few years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Ivan had to visit Metod in hospital and was allowed into his room, despite visits being limited to family only.

Ivan and Metod are legally married. Although they wed across the border in Austria — which, like Slovakia, is a member of the EU — their marriage is not officially recognized in Slovakia.

Both men are international lawyers with many years of service in the state administration.

"We are faced with many, many questions, " Metod Spacek told DW. "People say 'all right, but your marriage is not valid in Slovakia,' And we say, 'No, no, this is not true.'"

While Slovakia does not recognize the institution of same-sex marriage, under a recent European Court of Justice decision, all EU states must recognize the consequences of a legal?marriage in another EU country, he explained.

The couple's official status will become increasingly relevant once their young son starts school.?For now, the chatter in their kitchen is typical of most married couples: Who's making dinner? Can you pick up the kid from daycare? Do we need more capsules for the espresso machine?

Slovakia's LGBTQ+ community faces a host of challenges. Last year's constitutional change — which shut the door on gay couples marrying and adopting — was just the latest blow.

Slovakia does not recognize same-sex marriage. Civil unions, whether for same-sex or heterosexual couples, do not exist at all under Slovak law.

The Fico government described the constitutional amendment as enshrining "sovereignty in cultural and ethical matters."

Critics, including Amnesty International, warned the legal change would bring the country's legal system closer to that of?Hungary's illiberal government or Vladimir Putin's Russia.

The Fico government described the amendment as "a great dam against progressivism" to protect Slovakia against the liberal ideology that was "spreading like cancer."

In 2022, two people were killed and one injured when a young man who had been radicalized on neo-Nazi chat forums opened fire outside a gay bar in Zamocka Street beneath Bratislava Castle.

Anti-LGBTQ+ narratives have become more common in the public discourse. And yet?public acceptance of same-sex couples is rising, leaving the community to live amid?a contradictory reality.

"The worst impact of the constitutional change was that it took away hopes for the future. It effectively cemented the current bad situation," said Martin Macko of the Bratislava-based NGO Inakost (Otherness), which offers counseling and support to LGBTQ+ people.

"At the same time, public attitudes are slowly improving. More people personally know someone who is LGBTI+, which increases acceptance. Support for registered partnerships and marriage is rising," said Macko, whose organization uses the acronym LGBTI+.

"This change is slow, but awareness?is gradually increasing," he told DW.

Macko said his organization's current struggle is both legal and financial: The government has slashed grants to Inakost, he said, because it received financial support from the US.

"The government's rhetoric, which is very aggressive toward the LGBTI+ community, has a negative impact both on how people outside the community see LGBTI+ people, and on how LGBTI+ people see themselves," said Kristina Kasanova, a psychologist at Inakost.

"Many people feel ashamed of being queer. They don't want to belong to the community, and self-acceptance is very difficult for them."?

"Even within the community, there are tensions. People sometimes develop negative feelings toward one another because certain issues are more visible than others. Some would prefer to be less visible, to keep a low profile," she said.

"As a result, some people end up blaming others, for example, saying they don't want to go to Pride events because people are 'too visible', and that this visibility is the reason they are facing hatred. That is, of course, not true. This is a form of internalized homophobia."

Like Ivan and Metod, Martin Macko and his colleagues at Inakost see legal challenges as offering scope for some optimism. At present there are cases waiting to be seen by?both Slovakia's Constitutional Court and European courts. The hope is that legal change?would open the way to people living freer, more socially accepted everyday lives.?

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan