Europride 98 highlights inequality

Date: 16/07/1998

By Simon Coss

GAY rights campaigners from across the Union will next week demand that equality between homosexuals and heterosexuals be enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The organisers of the 'Europride 98' festival, which will be held in Stockholm, say the event will aim to highlight the continuing discrimination faced by gay people both within EU member states and in many of the countries lining up to join the Union.

Central to their efforts will be the campaign to update the European Convention on Human Rights launched at last year's Europride festival in Paris. The organisers of the Stockholm celebrations say they want to build on the work done by their French colleagues. “We want to modify the European convention to allow homosexuals and bisexuals to enjoy the same rights as heterosexuals,” explained Europride 98 organiser Spencer Irving.

The human rights convention is not part of EU law as it was drawn up by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, a non-Union body comprising 40 countries. However, all EU member states are also members of the Council of Europe and many have transposed the convention into national legislation.

The Europride 98 organisers point out that, at present, the legislation in force in many member states effectively discriminates against gay people.

“We want to see the legal recognition of same-sex couples, parental rights for all homosexual and bisexual people, including the right to adopt, to custody and artificial insemination, and we want the right to guaranteed access to health care and medical confidentiality for all of those affected by HIV and AIDS,” said Irving.

Sweden and Denmark are the only two EU countries which legally recognise same-sex relationships, although other member states, notably France, are looking into the issue.

Irving also wants to ensure that the central and eastern European countries currently negotiating to join the Union are not admitted if they have anti-gay laws on their statute books. He points out that in Romania, for example, homosexuality is still a punishable offence.