BRUSSELS, January 16, 2006  –  As MEPs assemble in Strasbourg for their first plenary session of the year, the European off-shoot of the International Lesbian and Gay Association has welcomed this afternoon’s European Parliament debate of a resolution condemning homophobia.

The resolution, which was agreed by all major political groups at the Parliament, strongly condemns homophobia and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in EU member states and calls on the European institutions and EU member states and the candidate countries to urgently eliminate continuing trends of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and to promote and protect the human rights of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation.

“This is a very important and timely resolution,” Patricia Prendiville, the executive director of ILGA-Europe, said this morning.

“Despite the growing efforts of the European Union to eradicate all forms of discrimination including on the grounds of sexual orientation, full equality and enjoyment of equal rights for LGBT Europeans still remains a vision rather than a reality.”

Last year the European Union witnessed the most appalling instances of homophobia and discrimination against LGBT people.  

• Peaceful LGBT marches promoting equality and tolerance were banned or hindered by authorities in Poland, Latvia and Romania.
• Appallingly extreme and hateful statements humiliating, ridiculing and discriminating against LGBT people came out from some senior politicians and religious leaders in Poland and Latvia.
• Poland closed the nation’s equality body, which dealt with various forms of discrimination including on the grounds of sexual orientation.
• Latvia remains the only EU member state, which despite the requirement of the EU Employment Equality Directive did not explicitly ban sexual orientation discrimination in employment and has now amended its constitution to ban same-sex marriage. A similar proposal is being debated in Lithuania.

“We welcome and support all the efforts of the European Union to ensure all Europeans, including LGBT people, enjoy freedom, dignity and equal rights,” Ms. Prendiville said.  

“However there is still a lot of work to be done to make equality for LGBT people a reality across the European Union. The issue of sexual orientation equality is still regarded as controversial in some EU member states.  Often this issue is not being considered as equally important or serious as other areas of discrimination, even at the EU level. 

“We call on the European Union to ensure that EU member states strictly follow and implement the EU’s principles and agreements on anti-discrimination and equality without any reservations or concessions.  

“At the same time we call on the European institutions to ensure that the issue of sexual orientation equality is considered and regarded as equally important as the issues of racism, sexism, ageism and discrimination on the grounds of disability,” she concluded.

■  Homophobia is the first item on the agenda of the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg which starts on Monday (January 16) at 4pm (UK time) - 5pm Central European Time or 11am Eastern Standard Time in USA.  Streaming video coverage is available on the internet on the Parliament's web site. Select your European language and then the "EP LIVE" tab towards the top of the resulting page.  Any vote on the issues debated throughout the plenary session will be taken at 11am UK (12noon CET; 6am EST USA) on Thursday January 19.

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