Brussels stands up against the Hungarian government – EC’s LGBTQI Equality Strategy is here

The European Commission (EC) created the first-ever LGBTQI Equality Strategy. To Hungarian legislators who currently work on undermining equality, they say that everyone must respect equality and human rights. EC makes clear that LGBTQI questions are a matter of identity and not ideology.

Serious legislative work is being done in connection with the rights of LGBTQI people.

While the Hungarian government seems to do everything in its power to undermine what little rights this community has in Hungary, EC leaders in Brussels are working toward ensuring rights for LGBTQI people across the entire EU.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen aims to build a Union of Equality where “you can be who you are and love who you want, without fear of recrimination or discrimination.”

Discrimination against LGBTQI people persists throughout the EU. Statistics show that in 2019, 43% of LGBT people felt discriminated against.

In the EU, several LGBTQI people are scared “to show affection publicly, and be open about their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.” With the help of this equality strategy, the EC wants every EU member to “simply be themselves without feeling threatened.”

The equality strategy sets out a series of targeted actions across four pillars:

1. Tackling discrimination against LGBTQI people
2. Ensuring LGBTQI people’s safety
3. Building LGBTQI inclusive societies
4. Leading the call for LGBTQI equality around the world.

The EC wants to ensure LGBTQI rights in cross-border situations, as well as improve the legal protection for rainbow families in cross-border situations. For example, the EC pushes for mutual recognition of family relations in the EU. If one is a parent in one country, one is a parent in every country.

Key actions by the EC:

• review the 2009 guidelines on free movement in 2022 to reflect the diversity of families and contribute to facilitating the exercise of free movement rights for all families, including rainbow families
• propose a horizontal legislative initiative on the mutual recognition of parenthood between the Member States
• explore possible measures to support the mutual recognition of same-gender partnership between the Member States
• make funding opportunities available, in particular through the ‘Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values’ programme.

The EC will support the Member States to:

• put in place accessible legal gender recognition legislation and procedures
• improve the inclusion of trans, non-binary, and intersex people in the relevant documentation, applications, surveys, and processes
• rigorously apply the right to free movement and EU rules on family law.

In connection with the equality strategy, issues like the recent Hungarian constitutional amendment came up, which basically excludes same-sex couples from adoption.

Regarding the situation in Hungary, EC Vice President Věra Jourova said that constitutional amendments required both time and thorough social dialogue, not just political conciliation, hvg writes. She pointed out that while the regulation of family law is a matter of the member states, international obligations and European law (laws on equality and human rights especially) must be respected in all cases.

Helena Dalli added that the rule of law mechanism is still on their agenda, which in the future would make sure that EU funds go to those places only where EU law is respected.

Source: ec.europa.eu; hvg.hu