European Pride Organisers Association

Political Manifesto
Stockholm, September 28th, 1997

Gays and lesbians:
towards a true European citizenship

Since 1945, the different countries of Europe, traumatised by the events of the last two World Wars, have decided to unite so that it could never happen again. They have been endowed with treaties or conventions, and institutions... to make them work.

In 1950, the Council of Europe, created to safeguard and promote the principles of Democracy and Human Rights, published its "European Convention for the Protection Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms", to which 40 states have now signed up.

In 1957 the Treaty of Rome began the great adventure that became the Common Market; from the E.E.C. (European Economic Community) of 6 countries to the European Union of 15, now engaged by the Maastricht Treaty.

These treaties and institutions imply new Rights and new Duties: the promising result would be a common citizenship for Europeans.

The signatory countries of these treaties have undertaken to respect the principles of the founding texts, notably Human Rights and in particular Freedom of Thought, of Expression, the right to respect of private life and the Freedom of Association.

However, it appears that certain citizens are "less equal" than others, notably homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people.

There still remain European countries in which homosexuality is a criminal offence: Romania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia severely punish homosexuality. To a lesser degree, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Greece, Poland and Bulgaria, amongst others, have discriminatory legislation.

The age of consent for homosexuals remains, in certain countries, different from the age of consent for heterosexuals (United Kingdom, Finland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Albania, Croatia...)

Liechtenstein bans all positive representations of homosexuality, and the United Kingdom prohibits local government authorities from allowing such representations.

Moreover, the legal recognition of the couple has been gained in hardly a very few countries: only Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Hungary have enacted laws - even if they are not perfect - allowing two same sex people to be legally "united" and to enjoy rights comparable to those of heterosexual couples.

In all what concerns parenting for homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered persons, even if certain encouraging advances have been made here and there (Belgium, Iceland, The Netherlands, the City of Valencia), discrimination remains the norm around subjects such as adoption, custody or artificial insemination.

Europeans are not equal either in all that concerns people who are H.I.V. positive or sick: in some countries, real discrimination exists against these people, and access to health care is not always respected.

Transexual persons are regularly facing opposition to name anf official sexe change from the state authorities (France, United Kingdom).

Inside Europe, such inequalities of rights are unacceptable

We, Europeans, refuse to recognise these discriminations and demand an equality of rights for all citizens, no matter what their sexual preference is.

We ask that all European States enact in their Countries:

• legislation including non-discrimination clauses based on sexual orientation and gender identity;
• legal recognition of same-sex couples;
• parental rights for all homosexual, bisexual and transgendered people (right to adopt, to custody and artificial insemination);
• the right to guaranteed access to health-care and medical confidentiality for all the sick, notably those who have AIDS-related illnesses;
• the right to medical treatment for transexual people.

We ask the Council of Europe:

• To modify the European Convention for the Protection Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to allow homosexual and bisexuals to enjoy the same rights as heterosexuals;
• to urge and induce the signatory countries to respect the different articles of the Convention;
• to refuse membership to incoming countries who continue to criminalise homosexuality.

We ask the Member States of the Council of Europe:

• To ensure that other countries respect fundamental rights as defined in the European Convention on Human Rights;
• to urge and induce other member countries to respect these fundamental rights.

We ask the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament

• to work within their different jurisdictions to ensure that the rights of European Union citizens are respected regardless of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

We think that the Intergovernmental Conference represents an opportunity to introduce, in a future treaty, a clause stipulating equal treatment and non-discrimination, notably in all that concerns sexual orientation.

Parallel to such anti-discrimination legislation the notion of citizenship should be exercised in all aspects of daily life. The very idea of citizenship implies a real and daily effort of everyone involved (in education, at work, in health-care, in the arts and culture, in sports and hobbies, etc) to enable a real awakening of harmony between individuals. This is why we particularly ask for more objective information for the young about sexuality. We protest the idea of censorship against people who present a positive image of homosexuality in the worlds of education or culture; we ask all concerned parties (the State, Local Authorities, the educational and cultural worlds) to ensure that this censorship ceases to exist.

Historically, Europe shares a tragic memory: that of the Second World War and the concentration camps, where people were sent because of their sexual orientation. It is time for the concerned countries to recognise this specific deportation and respect the memory of those victims of such actions.

Eventually, we, Europeans, wish to show our active solidarity with endangered foreigners, nationals of thoses countries where living its own gay sexuality is legally impossible or even dangerous, or where the AIDS related illnesses cannot be cured by lack of financing. For the sake of our common Ideals, these persons should be granted humanitarian asylum.