欧州議会「ヨーロッパにおいて増加する人種差別やホモフォビアに基づく暴力についての決議」を採択 2

欧州議会「ヨーロッパにおいて増加する人種差別やホモフォビアに基づく暴力についての決議」を採択 1

EUpolitix.com
EU culture clash over gay rights
Published: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:40:13 GMT+02
Author: Brian Johnson & Daisy Ayliffe

Latvia has defied the EU and refused to introduce a law banning discrimination at work on sexual orientation grounds.

Agreeing to introduce a law on employment discrimination is a condition for Latvia's entry to the EU in 2004.

But the country’s MPs refused to implement the legislation in full after a parliamentary debate where homosexuality was described as a sin.

The controversy in Latvia follows similar events in Poland where politicians have come under attack for allowing homophobia to spiral out of control.

On Thursday the European parliament passed a resolution that singled out Poland for a “rise in racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic intolerance”.

MEPs hit out at the nationalist League of Polish Families – where one party official said police should beat homosexuals with batons if they disturb public order with demonstrations.

“The EU should take appropriate measures to express its concern and notably to address the participation in the government of the League of Polish Families, whose leaders incite people to hatred and violence,” said the MEP resolution.

According to recent figures released by the Polish public opinion research centre, almost 90 per cent of Poles believe homosexuality is abnormal and half say it should not be tolerated.

Authorities in Warsaw have also banned an annual ‘gay pride’ march for two years running, but reluctantly allowed the event this year after protests from EU officials and human rights groups.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who was mayor of Warsaw at the time, called last year's planned march “sexually obscene” and has vowed that public displays of homosexuality “will not be allowed”.

Poland’s right wing League of Polish Families is closely associated with Radio Maryja, a conservative Catholic radio station that has been accused of airing homophobic and anti-Semitic messages.

League of Polish Families MEP Urszula Krupa said the accusations against Poland had been fabricated.

“Poland and the Poles are being slandered in the European parliament by a liberal ‘internationale’ which controls the world’s mass media,” she said, according to a Reuters report.

Polish prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz dismissed the MEP resolution, saying “I know Poland a bit better than the European parliament does, and I have not encountered such behaviour.”

And Marcinkiewicz added that MEPs should travel to Poland to view the situation for themselves.

“We will invite parliamentarians to visit Poland so they can seek out what they wrote,” he said according to Polish news agency PAP.

UK socialist MEP and president of the parliament’s gay and lesbian intergroup, Michael Cashman, called the resolution “a brilliant result that shows that the European parliament is standing up for our citizens’ rights”.

“It's an important political message that will serve as a clear warning to all member states that they must fight actively to stop racism, xenophobia and homophobia.”

Parliament’s resolution also singled out Belgium, France and Germany as countries that have seen an increase in racist and homophobic attacks.