Commission rumpus boosts gay rights battle

By Véronique Vallières

Date: 28/10/04

THE controversy sparked by Italian commissioner-designate Rocco Buttiglione's comments has revived the debate on homosexuality in Europe. Some gay and lesbian associations have taken advantage of the European Parliament's vote in Strasbourg to organize a hearing on "gay rights in Europe and the new Barroso Commission". Held on 26 October, a day before the planned vote on the Barroso team, which was in the end postponed, it attracted about 15 MEPs from five political groups.

Ricardo Gottardi, co-chair at ILGA-EUROPE, one of the organizers of the hearings, said: "The debate over Buttiglione's comments is good because talking openly about the issue makes people realize that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals [LGBT] are normal people with normal problems, just like the guy next door."

Gottardi believes the debate over homosexuality "is at a turning point".

"It helps the democratic process and it establishes human rights as one of the core values of the EU. It is a strong statement because it states clearly that human rights for LGBT are the same as anybody else's. If human rights of LGBT are in jeopardy, human rights of everybody are in jeopardy, because they are equally part of our society."

UK Socialist MEP Michael Cashman, a member of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee who is openly gay, believes that this "could be a turning point in the defence of fundamental rights. I would choose not to separate the rights of gay and lesbian people from everyone else".

"I hope the whole debate has made us aware that we have to defend the human rights of everyone, not just gay people. If these rights are not defended, they will be eroded," Cashman adds. He thinks that the debate "has helped raise understanding of the whole issue".

Alain Piriou, spokesperson at INTER-LGBT, believes Buttiglione's remarks will have a long-term impact on the debate. "We are flabbergasted that homophobia, among all other topics such as sexism and asylum, is the one topic that emanates from this whole affair," he said. "The fact that it could topple a whole Commission is unprecedented!"

"But," he added, "one has to expect a setback from those who lost this round. The Vatican has lost this round and Catholics are going to hold a more aggressive discourse, as one could observe over the last few weeks, although we don't have anything against Catholics. We are open to dialogue with everyone."

The controversy sparked by Italian nominee to the European Commission Rocco Buttiglione's comments revived the debate on homosexuality in Europe and gay and lesbian associations organised a hearing on “gay rights in Europe and the new Barroso Commission” on 26 October 2004, a day before the planned vote on the Barroso team, which was in the end postponed.

• Primary Source

Politico: 06.10.04: Buttiglione takes ‘worrying’ stance on homosexuality http://www.politico.eu/article/buttiglione-takes-worrying-stance-on-homosexuality/

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