Saturday 26 May 2012 - 09:32
The Malta Gay Rights Movements welcomes Malta’s position in support of an EU resolution condemning homophobic laws and discrimination in Europe.
A European Parliament resolution adopted yesterday condemns homophobic laws and discrimination.
MGRM has welcomed the vote of support taken by the Maltese MEPs in favour of a resolution which condemns homophobic laws and discrimination in Europe.
The resolution was adopted by the European Parliament and supported by all the five mainstream political groups.
Through the resolution, the European Parliament "strongly condemns any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity".
"We look forward to the adoption of various pieces of legislation currently before parliament," MGRM coordinator Gabi Calleja said.
Neil Falzon, Director of aditus foundation, added that while they welcomed the appeal for legislation recognising same-sex relationships, aditus strongly urged this to take the form of full marriage equality.
"Anything below full equality falls short of guaranteeing respect for human dignity," Falzon said
Particularly, the MGRM acknowledged the role played by Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil who led the negotiations on behalf of the EPP group to ensure a strong resolution.
This was the first of its kind in this legislature to be co-signed by the EPP group.
The Parliament adopted its official position after a debate on Tuesday, where MEPs almost unanimously asked the European Commission and European governments to better protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The resolution particularly condemns recent laws or proposals in EU countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary) and Council of Europe Member States Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, making it a penal or criminal offence to talk positively about homosexuality in public.
The resolution also calls for the mutual recognition of the effects of civil status documents when moving from one member state to another and calls on other member states that have not yet done so to introduce the means for legal recognition of same-sex couples.
The MGRM also praised the participation of Nationalist MEP David Casa in the video produced by the Intergroup on LGBT Rights on the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia.
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