[5][6] Same-sex marriage (Armenian: Նույնասեռ ամուսնություն, nuynaseṙ amusnutʿyun, pronounced [nujnɑˈsɛr, -sɛɾ ɑmusnuˈtʰjun, -tʰʏn]) is not legal in Armenia and there is little public debate surrounding the issue.[12][13] An article published about this improvised marriage in the "168 Zham" (168 Hours) newspaper provoked a scandal and indignation of local conservative media outlets, politicians and religious officials.[15] On 18 October 2017, Deputy Tigran Urikhanyan of the Prosperous Armenia party proposed a bill to introduce an explicit ban on same-sex marriages in the Family Code.[20] Article 35 of the Constitution of Armenia was amended in a referendum in 2015 to read:[21][5] A woman and a man having attained the marriageable age shall have the right to marry and form a family with free expression of their will.Argam Stepanyan, the head of the Civil Status Acts Registration Agency, a division of the Ministry of Justice, later said in an interview that there is no constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage in Armenia.The code makes no reference to the sexes of the married spouses and stipulates that marriages registered in another country, which are in line with that particular state's legislation, are valid in Armenia as long as they are also compliant with the Armenian public order.