ILGA Euroletter 70,
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ADOPTION RIGHTS TO DANISH GAY OR LESBIAN COUPLES - PARTNERSHIP LAW CHANGEDBy Steffen Jensen The Danish law on registered partnership has been changed by the Parliament nearly exactly 10 years after the same Parliament passed the first law in the world to recognise gay and lesbian couples. The amendments to the law are further steps towards total equality between hetero- and homosexual couples. The changes are:
The remaining differencies between marriage and registered partnership are:
The Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians (LBL) has lobbied for total equality between marriage and registered partnership since the law was passed in 1989. Bent Hansen, president of LBL, said after the Parliament had passed the changes to the law: "We welcome and celebrate this step towards total equality between the heterosexuals and us. Especially the possibility of adoption of stepchildren is an important signal recognising the fact that gay and lesbian couples do have children - we have known that for a very long time - now the politicians also have realised that." "But in celebrating this victory we must not forget that we have not yet reached full equality", Bent Hansen added. "The next step must be abolition of the stupid law forbidding public health services to assist lesbians in artificial insemination. The politicians have realised that we have children, now we must convince them that we should also be allowed to get children!" The new law will come into force 1. July 1999. URGENT ACTION - LESBIAN/GAY ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS URGED TO LOBBY THEIR GOVERNMENTSBy Nigel Warner OverviewILGA Europe is calling on the Council of Europe to provide express protection for lesbians and gays in the European Convention on Human Rights, through the inclusion of the words "sexual orientation" in the Convention's anti-discrimination article. If achieved, this would be of immense importance for lesbians and gays in the 41 member states of the Council of Europe, both strengthening protection in individual cases, and constituting a major symbolic statement by the governments of Europe condemning discrimination against lesbians and gays. ILGA-Europe's submissionIn a submission to the Secretary-General of the Council, ILGA Europe argues that the existing wording of the Convention is insufficient. Since the Convention's anti-discrimination article (Article 14), which lists the prohibited grounds of discrimination, makes no reference to sexual orientation, lesbians and gays are forced to rely on other grounds such as "sex" or "other status". These fail to recognise the specific phenomenon of sexual orientation, and the fact that historically it has been, and continues to be, the basis of severe and widespread discrimination in Europe. ILGA Europe's submission points out that lesbians and gay men have been, and continue to be, killed, tortured, imprisoned and denied jobs or services because of their sexual orientation, and cites April's bombing of a gay pub in London as a recent example. It argues that only express inclusion of the ground "sexual orientation" can provide specific, symbolic condemnation of this historic and ongoing form of discrimination, and the hatred, fear and ignorance that lie behind it. Background to the submissionIn 1998 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe instructed its human rights experts to propose a strengthening of Article 14 by the end of 1999. This reflected their concern that the protection provided by that article against discrimination on the grounds of sex and race was inadequate. Additions to the rights in the European Convention occur very infrequently. Indeed, there have been no changes to Article 14 in the nearly 50 year life of the Convention. The revision of Article 14 requested by the Committee of Ministers presents an opportunity to argue for the incorporation of "sexual orientation" in the Convention which may well not be repeated for decades. ILGA-Europe's appeal for actionILGA EUROPE THEREFORE APPEALS TO LESBIAN AND GAY ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS ACROSS EUROPE TO JOIN IN DEMANDING THAT "SEXUAL ORIENTATION" BE INCLUDED AS A PROHIBITED GROUND IN ARTICLE 14. The governments of Europe alone can make this change, acting through the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. This Committee consists of the Foreign Ministers of the 41 member states. They are more likely to be influenced by lobbying at the national level than by an international NGO such as ILGA-Europe. Organisations and individuals are therefore urged to write to their Foreign Minister supporting ILGA-Europe's proposal. A suggested letter (for translation into your own language) is set out below. Please send it with a copy of the ILGA-Europe submission (it can also be found on ILGA-Europe website). Draft letter:
Please ask other organisations in your country to write to the Foreign Minister also, for example, human rights organisations, trades unions, and political parties. PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. TIME IS VERY SHORT FOR THIS PROPOSAL TO BE CONSIDERED. Background Information on the Council of EuropeThe Council of Europe is the continent's most important human rights organisation, with some 41 member states subscribing to its human rights standards. It was set up after the Second World War with the purpose of trying to ensure that the human rights atrocities of the 1930's and 1940's were never repeated again in Europe.It "owns" the European Convention on Human Rights and is the seat of the European Court of Human Rights. It is governed by the Foreign Ministers of its member states (who together form its "Committee of Ministers") and by representatives from their parliaments (who make up its "Parliamentary Assembly"). It is of course quite distinct from the European Union. DENMARK: GAY MAN GOT COMPENSATED FOR ILLEGAL SACKINGBy Bjørn Skolander For the first time in Denmark a employer has agreed to financially compensate an employee, who had been sacked on grounds of his homosexuality. Denmark has had a law against discrimination on the labour-market since 1996, including discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. But due to difficulties to prove discrimination no cases have previously been tested. 22 year old Frank Wolff Hinrichs from southern Denmark did, however, hide a tape recorder in his pocket, when he was called for a discussion with his employer. And from the tape recording it was evident that he had been sacked because he was gay. The case has created optimism within the Landsforeningen for Bösser og Lesbiske/The Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians (LBL), as they believe that many lesbians and gay men do experience discrimination at their jobs, in connection with job interviews etc. The association is therefore in favour of an investigation of the extent of the labour-market's discrimination of homosexuals. LBL is referring to a Swedish study from 1997. It showed that a third of the participants felt discriminated against due to their sexual orientation. And that 50% did not dare to be open about their orientation out of fear of negative reactions. The Danish minister responsible for labour-market issues, Ove Hygum, has made it clear that he is ready to make funds available for an investigation, if the unions and the employers' association also contributes financially. The unions are positive to an investigation, but have not yet decided if they will support it financially. The employers' association, on the other hand, does not agree that there is a need for such an investigation. And they demand that LBL can prove that their exist a real need for an investigation of labour-market discrimination against lesbians and gay men. And it is not enough to come with 2-3 cases, the association says. However, one of the unions is of the opinion that the current law concerning discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation has to be changed. According to the union, it should be the employer who should prove that a dismissal etc. has not happened due to a employee's sexual orientation. And not as now is the case, the employee who must prove that she or he has been discriminated against. Such a law would be similar to discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy. If the present law is not changed we are forced to recommend our members to hide a tape recorder in their pockets when they go a job interview etc, says a spokesman for the union. SPANISH PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR TRANSEXUAL SURGERY COSTS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE SOCIAL SECURITYby Cesar Leston, Fundacion Triangulo As you may recall (see Euroletter 68), a proposal was due to be voted in the Spanish Parliament regarding the costs of transgender surgery. The proposal called for our Social Security to take in charge the costs of such surgery. When in 1995 the Spanish Minister of Health Ms Amador published the first list of medical coverage at the expense of the social security, the transgender surgery was excluded. Before such list was published though, transgender surgery was seldom, if ever, taken in charge by our National Health System. Identidad de Genero (Gender Identity Association) has since then fought to have such provision changed. Significant last moves was Andalusia deciding to include reassignment surgery within their own health system. Immediately after, a bill was introduced in federal parliament calling on the National health system to undertake a similar move. Though initial prospects were pretty bleak, the lower house of parliament eventually voted on April 15th to call on the National Health System to take in charge the costs of gender reassignement surgery. The most remarkable feature was the change in the attitude of the ruling party, PP, who initially was against the move. Nevertheless, the vote actually had also the support of the PP members of parliament, the bill having then been voted unanimously. The effects of the bill are not immediate though: the bill is just a call, not a law. Thus, the ministries concerned must know consider how to change the laws in force in order to meet the requirement of the parliament. Nevertheless, given the fact that it enjoyed the full support of government party MP's, it certainly looks like the right measures will be implemented in a reasonable period of time. The bill also calls on the Ministry of Justice to have transexual persons assigned, when arrested an imprisoned, to men or women prisons in according with their "social sex" as opposed to their "legal one". That is, beyond the gender stated in their ID's, what will prevail now is what those persons actually are/want to be. It was about time for common sense to prevail. The bill also wanted transexuals to be regarded as ellegible for political asylum. I am sorry to say this proposal was defeated by only one vote. According to the own statements of Ms Maria Jose Hernandez, member of the transgender movement, she feels "happy but not satisfied" for she feels what has been accomplished is just the beginning and that so much work still remains ahead in order to attain full social integration. Contact to Euro-Letter:
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