PARIS, January 25, 2006  –  The committee of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) has today praised the European Parliament for last week’s resolution on homophobia in the European Union, but at the same time said it was “regrettable” that the wording of one of the clauses of the resolution was “somewhat evasive”.

IDAHO was hoping that Parliament would give formal recognition to International Day Against Homophobia in the same way it did last year to Holocaust Memorial Day.

So far, only Belgium has given official recognition to IDAHO – May 15 each year.

The IDAHO committee say that in may ways the European Parliament recognised the ‘day’ when it agreed to organise a seminar in Strasbourg on homophobia – this was included in Article 12 of the ‘Homophobia in Europe’ resolution which was passed by MEPs with a 319 vote majority.

The official English version of Article 12 reads:  “[The European Parliament welcomes] Welcomes recent steps taken in several Member States to improve the position of LGBT people and resolves to organise a seminar for the exchange of good practice on 17 May 2006 (International Day against Homophobia);”

“Initial drafts of the resolution were completely explicit, but in the final text the recognition of the Day is not formally marked,” said French intellectual Louis-Georges Tin, the founder of IDAHO.

“So, for our committee, it is only a semi-success as the resolution does not urge Member States to recognise the ‘day’ – it does not give to LGBT activists all the means they waited for from the European Parliament.

“The Belgian recognition, voted in 2005, which could be used as model with the MEPs, was definitely clearer and more committed,” he added.

Mr. Tin praised the efforts of the many MEPs who worked to get the resolution drafted and approved, singling out the parliamentary intergroup of gay and lesbian rights about both Michael Cashman and Sophie in ’t Veld.

But both recognise that the resolution could have gone further, Mr. Tin said.  Even so, the resolution gave de facto recognition to IDAHO.

“The Strasbourg seminar in May will put further pressure on the European Commission and we hope that Mr. Cashman will continue to press for recognition of IDAHO,” Mr. Tin said.

“This would be a very important step,” he added.

“The IDAHO committee sincerely hopes that this proposal will be able to be implemented, that the joint committee continues to help LGBT activists, and that the European Commission backs the concept of IDAHO and encourages member states to back the day.

“If this happens, then there will be a powerful tool to help combat homophobia in the EU, especially in the education field where the thinking of future generations are formed,” he concluded.

Last year’s IDAHO – the first – saw more than 40 countries taking part, including Brazil, Bulgaria, France, China, Ivory Coast and Mexico.

And Josep Borrell Fontelles, the Spanish President of the European Parliament, made a statement publicly supporting the concept of IDAHO.

LINKS

International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) website

The final resolution and how the MEPs voted