The European Parliament today supported the declaration of the European Union (EU) as an area of freedom for LGTBIQ people in a symbolic gesture against the attacks of the Polish and Hungarian governments on the rights of this group.
The declaration, which has the support of the European Commission, continued with 492 votes in favor, 141 against and 46 abstentions, two years after the first declaration in Poland of the “free zone of LGTBIQ ideology”.
The European Parliament considered that these “LGBTIQ free zones” are only part of the “increased discrimination and attacks” that the group suffers in Poland, promoted “by public authorities and pro-government media”, as well as “the deterioration of the situation in Hungary “.
In addition, MEPs called on the Commission to go further to address violations of EU collective rights using “all instruments”, such as infringement proceedings or the recently adopted regulation on the protection of the EU budget.
Already in yesterday’s debate, on Wednesday, most groups showed their support for the measure.
European Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli denounced during the debate that “in some Member States the LGTIBQ community is being attacked by politicians, religious leaders and other public figures” and celebrated the European Parliament’s proposal.
“The European Parliament will not tolerate dangerous rhetoric against millions of people who all want to love or start a family,” said Liberal MEP and author of the resolution Pierre Karleskind.
Meanwhile, members of the groups Identity and Democracy (which hosts the national group Marine Le Pen and Alternatives for Germany) and European conservatives and reformists (where both Vox and the Polish ruling party, Law and Justice are located) have publicly expressed their rejection. the text they even called “ridiculous.”
The statement approved today is a new episode in the actions the EU has promoted in the face of the “LGTBIphobas” laws that Poland and Hungary have implemented in their respective countries.
In November last year, the Commission presented a roadmap for combating LGTBI discrimination in the EU between 2020 and 2025 based on four pillars: strengthening the legal framework against discrimination against the collective, ensuring their safety, legislation to achieve cross-border status of LGTBIQ families and to promote the EU as a standard bearer for the group around the world.
The EU executive has also announced that it will expand the list of European Union crimes to include hate crimes against LGTBIQ people.
TWO YEARS FROM THE FIRST ANTI-LGTBIQ ZONE IN THE EU
As of March 2019, more than a hundred regions in Poland have adopted resolutions to declare “LGTBIQ ideology-free zones” explicitly supported by the country’s government.
The European Union has already explicitly responded to this action by rejecting financial aid in July last year to six Polish municipalities declared anti-LGBTIQ.
Also in Hungary, the city of Nagykáta adopted a resolution banning the “dissemination and promotion of LGBTI propaganda.”
But the most controversial point is in the constitutional amendment approved in December by the Hungarian parliament by which all homosexual couples are excluded from the right to adopt and indicates as a definition of sex the one registered at birth, erasing the existence of trans people.