Show your true colours, MEPs!
LGBTI rights group ILGA-Europe recently launched its ‘Come Out 4 Europe’ campaign, an initiative that urges European Parliamentary candidates to sign a pledge to defend and advance the human rights of LGBTI people. Katja Štefanec Gärtner, the NGO’s spokesperson, explains that the campaign aims to “provide a platform for candidates to demonstrate their support for LGBTI human rights, encourage informed voting, and promote democratic participation.”
Currently, 346 candidates from across the EU have signed up, with most pledges coming from the Parliament’s left-wing groups.
With hate crimes and anti-LGBTI rhetoric, especially targeting trans people, on the rise across Europe – not in the least by politicians themselves – this campaign could not come at a better time. With the EU elections in sight, “upholding human rights, democracy, and freedom is paramount, especially in the face of increasing polarisation and challenges to democratic principles,” stresses Štefanec Gärtner.
Over past decades, the EU and its courts have been instrumental in advancing protections for LGBTI people. Minority rights are explicitly included in the EU’s foundational treaty, and the Union has had a hand in safeguarding queer people’s labour, spousal and parental rights. ILGA-Europe, however, would now like Brussels to take it up a notch.
The NGO hopes to see the creation of an Equality and Fundamental Rights department at the European Commission, and advocates for the mainstreaming of equality considerations in both the EU’s domestic and foreign policy.