How the European Union Is Working Toward Gay Rights

Born in the ashes of World War II, the European Union is still in its relative infancy. But in a relatively short period of time the EU has become one of the world's greatest political and economic success stories.

The EU unites countries that have been at each other's throats for thousands of years. The adoption of the Euro as a common monetary unit is a singular success (Britain being the notable holdout). When it comes to human rights--and gay rights in particular, however--its record on establishing and implementing its charter standards has been mixed at best.

The most recent report from its own Fundamental Rights Agency concluded that 18 of its 27 member states still have much work to do regarding their treatment of LGBTs. Some member states are much further behind than that, with outright governmental homophobia--in stark contrast to the EU's own stated goals.

This disparity between those who advocate for equality and those who resist is creating some real friction within the hall of the organization's bureaucracy in Brussels and its parliament in Strasbourg, France. On paper, the EU provides motivation for prospective members to motivate themselves toward greater acceptance of LGBT rights within their countries by dangling the carrot of admittance into the world's most exclusive club.

'A tale of two cities'
For (International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission) Executive Director Paula Ettelbrick, it's the best and worst of times. "It's a tale of two cities," she says. "The Council of Europe and the EU have taken leadership in setting forth base line issues of human rights to which all countries must comply."

What makes it two "cities," Ettelbrick ruefully adds, is that some member countries routinely ignore these standards. Poland, in particular, is in the EU, but its president and its policies are extremely homophobic.

If the implementation of EU policy lacks consistency, it is at least a formally articulated goal.

"In the treaty of Amsterdam, the EU countries pledged not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation," says Human Rights Watch LGBT Advocacy Director Boris O. Dittrich. "Every EU country is obliged to implement an anti-discrimination law."

Dittrich is also a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands. As such, he sponsored 1998's landmark same sex marriage bill in that nation. He notes that all EU policies and directives represent minimum standards that are often exceeded by its more politically liberal and socially enlightened members. This is the case for gay rights, where the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Britain and now Spain have gone beyond the EU's directives.

Still, Dittrich adds, "Several states are known to be homophobic, like Poland and Malta." Some countries, such as Italy, face pressure from the influential Catholic Church each time a progressive issue comes up for a parliamentary vote there.

Internal Struggles on Gay Rights
Other members seem preoccupied by internal struggles to define their own laws and policies.

Hungary recently came under harsh criticism from The European Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights following widspread violence at the Budapest Pride march. Police initially cancelled the march, then rescheduled it following negative coverage in the international press. Even so, there were several incidents, in which the police reportedly did little to discourage right-wing skinheads and other anti-gay protesters.

In Greece, Tassos Alfieris, the mayor of the tiny island of Tilos, caused a national uproar when he declared that he would preside over two same-sex marriage ceremonies. A Supreme Court prosecutor recently declared Tilos' mayor's plan "automatically nullified and considered illegal."

Grecian gay rights groups express frustration over the exclusion of gays from proposed civil partnership benefits in a nation still very much under the influence of the conservative Greek Orthodox Church. But the EU does not encourage direct involvement. Instead, it favors pressuring member states to comply with established EU policies.

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Perhaps more pressure can be exerted on those nations that want to join the EU. Internal policies of each country impact the prospective member's chances of joining.

Turkey, which lies partly in Europe, would love to be in the EU, but its abysmal human rights record is what's keeping them from full entry into the EU. It's a big issue for them." Because of the strength of support in the EU for LGBT rights," Ettelbrick says, "we benefit from that standard."

Any country that stands as a candidate into the EU needs to meet all kinds of human rights criteria, Dittrich adds. The member states organize committees that will scrutinize laws, policies of the prospected member state.

Countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, mindful of the financial and economic benefits of EU membership, "developed an anti-discrimination policy only to be able to become a member state," he adds. "Without accession to the EU, they would have never developed policies to protect LGBT-people."

What We Can Do
Ettelbrick suggests that U.S. gay citizens can encourage current and prospective EU members to adopt progressive human rights policies by working with the OSCE, whose 56 European, Central Asian and America members comprise the world's largest regional security organization. She recommends going to the OSCE website, finding the address of the U.S. delegation and writing to that delegation.

"We can make sure the U.S. voice in European security is one that is fully inclusive of LGBT rights," Ettelbrick says.

For his part, Dittrich recommends that we look closer to him. He points out that the U.S. State Department still refuses to allow people who are HIV-positive to enter our own country. "US citizens could also ask their government why it is playing such a negative role in the OSCE," he adds. U.S. and Vatican-led efforts have blocked every discussion about LGBT-rights within the framework of the OSCE.

Jo-Anne Bishop, an OSCE representative, notes that their Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has had some success through its cooperation with the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency.

"There is no consensus among OSCE states about the specific inclusion of sexual orientation within tolerance-related commitments," she says. But gay men and lesbians have had "phantom representation" through a clause that lists grounds for discrimination against those of "other status."

Working by Indirection
Such tactics tacitly encourage compliance without overtly criticizing individual nations. They also allow nations to preserve their sovereignty, by diluting any perceptions that they're having standards imposed by outside governing forces. This remains an important issue in the EU, since many member states still view it as a threat to national identity and political sovereignty.

Giving less progressive nations a way to conform to its standards without appearing to explicitly advance gay rights may be a workable compromise. It's an example of how the arcane structure of the EU bureaucracy may work for gay rights through stealth tactics and technicalities.

As an example of working by indirection, Bishop cites the work of ODIHR undertakes in the important areas of monitoring and reporting on homophobic and transphobic hate crime. ODIHR closely follows and publicly reports on incidents motivated by "other forms of intolerance"--not specifically naming incidents as LGBT per se.

A July 2 proposal adopted by the EU Commission utilized this compromise tactic. The news agency Europa.eu cited this directive as one designed to provide "protection from discrimination on grounds of age, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief beyond the workplace. Member States will remain free to maintain measures ensuring the secular nature of the state or concerning the status and activities of religious organizations."

Compromise--and the ability of individual member states to appear autonomous--may in the end be the best hope for the EU's implementation of an effective and lasting human rights policy concerning the millions of LGBT citizens living in its member countries' borders.