Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in the European Union (EU) member states have been actively lobbying EU institutions and their national authorities to ensure lgb rights are recognised and respected in the EU.
ILGA-Europe, the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, is playing a key role and has worked on a range of issues.
On this page:
Free Movement (Family Definition)
EU citizens are free to move between member states to take up employment and have the right to be joined by their family. That right is currently denied same-sex partners because EU legislation only recognises families where the partners are married. European lesbians, gay men and bisexuals are campaigning to ensure that registered same-sex partners and unmarried partners can enjoy equal rights.
In 2001, the European Commission proposed a Directive on the Free Movement of EU Citizens which would provide full free movement rights only to spouses of EU citizens. Unmarried partners would only gain the right to move within the EU if the receiving state treated unmarried partners in a manner comparable to married couples under national law. ILGA-Europe and EU national lgb organisations suggested guaranteeing full free movement rights to unmarried same-sex partners. In February 2003 this campaign received support from the European Parliament who approved a proposal to extend free movement rights to same-sex partners. Please click here to find out more about the ILGA-Europe free movement campaign.
EU Constitution
The EU is currently discussing a possible constitution. Its most recent draft contains a section on fundamental rights and states that ‘any discrimination on any grounds such as sex, race, colour or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited.’ Click here to read the draft EU Constitution.
ILGA-Europe is actively taking part in this discussion, ensuring the EU addresses issues of discrimination against lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Click here to find out more about the ILGA-Europe campaign and other activities in this area.
Refugee Definition
The European Commission has proposed a series of directives in the field of Asylum and Immigration. One of the draft directives sets out to achieve a common definition of refugee status. ILGA-Europe has campaigned to ensure that persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity are recognised in the directives and that the definition of ‘family member’ is inclusive of same-sex families. To find out more about the ILGA-Europe campaign please click here.
ILGA Europe has produced a range of reports relating to equality issues for lesbians ansd gay men across Europe. Most of these can be downloaded from the ILGA website. Two of the more recent reports are:
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