SOCIALIST LGBT CONFERENCE IN THE RUN-UP TO THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL

NEWS FROM THE SOCIALIST GROUP IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

SOCIALIST LGBT CONFERENCE IN THE RUN-UP TO THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL

A two day Conference to activate a Socialist LGBT Network across Europe was held in Brussels on 8-9 November with delegates from all over the EU and the candidate countries.

Politicians, academic experts, international organisations and the civil society all came together to send out a strong political signal against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Participants resolved to use 2007 - the 'European Year of Equal Opportunities for All' - as a tool towards greater protection and enforcement of the fundamental rights of LGBT people, such as the right to marriage, adoption and identity.

The Conference applauded the government of Spain for its great achievements in this field and called on the Commission to continue ensuring the correct implementation of the two anti-discrimination Directives: The Race Equality Directive 2000/43/EC and the Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC.

The Conference urged the PES Member Parties to take a strong position in defence of LGBT rights and to prioritise them in their programmes and activities. The European Socialists see their partners' position on the LGBT issue as a litmus test when it comes to consolidating the European Socialist political family based on shared values. The European Socialists condemn homophobic rhetoric and violence and consider them a violation of human rights.


Lissy Gröner, Socialist MEP, told a Press Conference 'when I was on the Gay Pride March in Warsaw earlier this year, I received death threats so I had a bullet proof vest and two policemen protecting me. This is unacceptable in an EU Member State that claims to be on the way of building a modern tolerant society.'

Tomas Baczkowski, the President of Equality Foundation in Poland, who has also had death threats against him, was also at the Press Conference. 'The feeling that we are not alone is important', he said. 'It makes a difference in Poland when people know Brussels is watching.'

As the participants assembled in Brussels, news of repressions against an LGBT conference organisers in Belarus were heard. The Conference strongly condemned the persecution of LGBT activists in Belarus, particularly on the eve of awarding the Sakharov Prize 2006 to the Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich.

The Conference also called on the Pope and others not to put obstacles in the way of holding a Gay Pride March in Jerusalem.

'We must hope for the same rights for LGBT people across all Member States and beyond EU borders,' Socialist MEP Martine Roure told the Conference.

Contact David Poyser 00 32 2 283 2414
00 44 7767 498040
david.poyser@europarl.europa.eu
10th Nov 2006