The Tories' and UKIP have failed to stand up for LGBT people
This week, in a landmark vote, the European Parliament demanded that the EU adopt a strategy to combat homophobia and promote LGBT rights. Yet Conservative and UKIP MEPs voted against these calls, with one Tory MEP claiming they amounted to “social engineering” from Brussels.
This is a fundamental misreading of the facts. EU anti-discrimination laws don’t dictate to individual governments how they should organise their societies. Instead they put in place minimum standards across the board that protect LGBT people from abuse and discrimination, including British citizens travelling abroad in the EU.
As we all know, the fight against homophobia in Britain is far from over. Yet in many parts of Europe it has scarcely begun. In 2013 a survey found that a quarter of gay people in the EU had suffered homophobic attacks. In a number of Eastern European countries the situation for LGBTI communities remains bleak; Latvia has introduced a series of anti-gay propaganda laws and in Hungary children as young as 10 were recently being taught that homosexuality is a ‘deadly sin’.
It is in this context that EU legislation defending LGBT rights is particularly important. EU laws already prevent discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the area of access to employment, meaning LGBT people cannot be discriminated against when applying for a job.
But a stronger law, blocked by a number of EU national governments since 2008, would extend these protections to education and the buying of goods and services. This week the European Parliament issued a strong demand that this legislation should be put back on the table and called for a coordinated EU strategy to tackle homophobia.
For UKIP to oppose these calls is not surprising. They are hardly known as a party that espouses tolerance, openness and international cooperation.
Yet the Tories’ failure to stand up for EU legislation that protects LGBT people from discrimination is more worrying. It is time for them to acknowledge that this is not about pesky interference from Brussels, it is about defending the rights of millions of LGBT people across Europe who face fear and discrimination.
Catherine Bearder is a Liberal Democrat MEP
21 Responses to “Tories and UKIP vote against EU strategy on LGBT rights”
Tim
No it really is about pesky interference from Brussels. You can care about LGBT rights but be against such matters being an EU competency. This is obvious – you would think.
Alastair Houghton
“in Hungary children as young as 10 were recently being taught that homosexuality is a ‘deadly sin’”
What, you mean they were being brought up as Catholics? (Shock, horror!)
To be clear, Catholicism, in common with various other branches of Christianity, views homosexual acts as a deadly sin. But it does separate sin from sinner, and merely being homosexual is not itself a sin — it’s only acting on it that is supposedly sinful, and they cite the Bible as authority for this position.
To be ENTIRELY clear, I am not religious. I do, however, think that it’s important not to misrepresent the views of those who are on these kinds of topics. Christians have, in my view, been treated rather unfairly in the press on this issue because of a total failure to understand that it’s homosexual acts and not homosexuality itself that they find objectionable. You might well retort that they have no business worrying about what you do in your bedroom, and I think most of them would actually agree with you — but when it’s actually *their* bedroom (e.g. they run a B&B and you’re staying in it), it wouldn’t hurt for you to show a little sympathy.
Tim
Catherine Bearder is *the* Liberal Democrat MEP << Fixed it for ya.
Thomas Evans
Catherine Bearder truly is a vile person.
She talks about tolerance whilst denying people a vote on our EU membership.
I look forward to her losing her seat in 2019.
Helen F
Homosexuality is classed as a ‘mortal sin’, not a deadly sin within Catholicism. And as a Catholic, I was not raised to consider Homosexuals to be deviants or objectionable. In fact sexual orientation was never mentioned during religious education. And the churches teaching is, a homosexual is not a sinner, but homosexual acts are a sin. So in case you missed the point, its ok to be homosexual, as long as you do not commit homosexual acts with another.
Personally. I’m all for Gay rights, I have no problem with anyones sexual or gender orientation.