New EU report says tougher laws needed to fight homophobia

Equal treatment for gays urged

VIENNA, Austria (AP) | Jul 1, 10:32 AM

Tougher laws are needed to combat homophobia in the European Union, a new report says, urging leaders across the 27-nation bloc to grant same-sex partnerships the same rights and advantages as married couples.

Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals enjoy significant legal protections in only 18 member states, the Vienna-based EU Agency for Fundamental Rights said in Tuesday's report.

"Equal treatment is a fundamental right that all members of our society should enjoy," agency director Morten Kjaerum said, calling homophobia and discrimination "a cause of concern for us all."

Better use of EU-wide criminal legislation could tamp down homophobic hate speech and hate crime, the agency said.

Same-sex couples should gain equal treatment when they marry or register as legal partnerships, "or when, in the absence of a registered partnership, the de facto relationship" is considered permanent, the report said.

Gay and lesbian marriage is permissible in only three EU nations: Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.

The agency said transgender people — described by the EU as individuals who live a gender opposite the one listed on their birth certificates — also suffer from discrimination and homophobia and need broader legal protection.

Homophobia and violence aimed at gays and lesbians is believed to be fairly widespread across the EU, but officials said figures were scarce because of a "striking paucity" of even sketchy data on homosexual discrimination and crimes.

The rights agency singled out seven countries — Denmark, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta and Portugal — for failing to extend protections beyond employment. It said much of the rest of the EU has broadened legal measures to also cover access to goods and services, housing and social benefits.

Sweden is the only EU country with an agency devoted exclusively to dealing with cases of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, the report said.

Although many nations have overall anti-discrimination agencies that handle gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual complaints, nine countries have no "equality body" that is able to handle sexual orientation issues, it said.

Those nations are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=19410

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Better use of EU-wide criminal legislation could tamp down homophobic hate speech and hate crime, the agency said.

The EU has a tradition of soft censorship that concerns me. Theirs is NOT a road I want to go down. Religious wackos should have every right to express their beliefs as long as they are not directly harming my employment, housing, or health.

I'm sick of hearing about gay rights.
There is no such thing as gay rights.
Gay's just want special rights the rest of us don't have. They want protection above and beyond the law.
I'm all for equil rights, just can't stand special rights given to any group.

Well, Bullhunter, I doubt that you'll hang around very long to discuss this, but here's my response (I'd say rebut_tal, but the military.com censor would wipe out the middle four letters) to your opinion:

Gays are not seeking special rights; they're seeking equal rights. Since this is a Gays in the Military thread, let's focus on equal rights for gays in the military as an example.

Under the current Don't Ask, Don't Tell law, gays are treated in a highly discriminatory and unequal way compared to their straight battle buddies, shipmates, fellow Marines or fellow airmen. How? Let's count the ways:

1) Gays can't ever have sex; straight military members can;
2) Gays have to lie about who they are; straight people don't;
3) Gays have to lie to their peers whenever they're asked little things like: "what did you do this weekend? are you seeing anybody? are you married? do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?", etc. Straight people don't HAVE to lie about this things (although sometimes they do anyway).
4) Gays can't have a photograph of a loved one on their desk; straight people can
5) Gays cannot tell anyone, anywhere, anytime about their sexual orientation, not even their parents, family or close friends, and certainly not anyone in the military; straight people have no such restrictions on their freedom of speech;
6) Oh, did I mention sex? Gay people can have no sex, anywhere, anyplace, anytime while in the military, even in the privacy of their own home. Yes, I mentioned it as number one, but it was worth repeating, to emphasize the point.

If a gay person violates ANY of those items above, they run the risk of being terminated from the military. Straight people have no such risks.

So, Bullhunter, do you still think gays are seeking the above "special" rights that straight military members have?

What gays are seeking is a repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law so that they can serve their county on an EQUAL basis with their straight peers, under the SAME rules and regulations as their straight peers.

I've never been infavor of that BS policy (Don't Ask Don't Tell). Just some liberal, left, democrat crap. It was just a side step of Slick Willy Clinton. He was hoping for some votes.
I'm not going to debate about the rights and wrongs of the gay lifestyle.
Our country does not need new laws, what we need is to strictly enforce the equil oppertunity laws we already have.
My wife works Human Resourses for a Four (4) county agency. There are plenty of equil oppertunity laws to protect us all. She knows the laws.

Bullhunter, I wasn't asking you to debate anything about the gay lifestyle. You made the following statement:

quote:

Gay's just want special rights the rest of us don't have. They want protection above and beyond the law.
I'm all for equil rights, just can't stand special rights given to any group.

I pointed out, in detail, where gays in the military are treated in a massively discriminatory and unequal way. You failed to respond to any of them. So what is your point? I demonstrated inequality for gays in a major part of American life, but you chose to ignore it. That does say something about the validity of your opinion.

Sorry, my point is we don't need more BS laws put upon us.
For instance, the BS hate crimes law. If a white person rapes and or murders a black person it's a hate crime.
I thought rape and murder were just that rape and murder crimes.
I read your long list of personl items gays feel they must lie about. I dont support that either.
There are no easy answers for these problems. I just know more laws are not the answer.

quote:

Originally posted by Bullhunter:
Sorry, my point is we don't need more BS laws put upon us.
For instance, the BS hate crimes law. If a white person rapes and or murders a black person it's a hate crime.
I thought rape and murder were just that rape and murder crimes.
I read your long list of personl items gays feel they must lie about. I dont support that either.
There are no easy answers for these problems. I just know more laws are not the answer.

Well, since those instances of discrimination are caused by a law, it would seem that the correct remedy would, in fact, be another law to repeal that bad one that you "do not support," does it not?

Who brought up hate crimes here? YOU. It is plainly a red herring argument meant to distract from the discussion at hand, which is about government mandated discrimination against a class of able-minded/able-bodied people who wish to serve their country. Speak to that, or start a new thread about hate crimes. You might be surprised at who agrees with you on that subject...

quote:

Who brought up hate crimes here? YOU. It is plainly a red herring argument meant to distract from the discussion at hand, which is about government mandated discrimination against a class of able-minded/able-bodied people who wish to serve their country. Speak to that, or start a new thread about hate crimes. You might be surprised at who agrees with you on that subject...

Not trying to distract from the subject. Just used that to stress a point of view about special laws designed only for some individual groups.

quote:

Originally posted by Bleah:

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Better use of EU-wide criminal legislation could tamp down homophobic hate speech and hate crime, the agency said.

The EU has a tradition of soft censorship that concerns me. Theirs is NOT a road I want to go down. Religious wackos should have every right to express their beliefs as long as they are not directly harming my employment, housing, or health.

I agree about the EU; there's very little there we should want to emulate.I disagree completely with your lifestyle,but that doesn't make me a religious wacko. Why do I have to be from the loony bin to disagree with you?