By Michelle Fitzpatrick - 24th April 2006
The issue of gay marriage has been put on the EU agenda by Amsterdam’s city mayor.
Job Cohen has urged colleagues in other cities and the European commission to uphold homosexual rights and to legalise gay marriage.
In a letter sent to the mayors of Vienna, Dublin, Lisbon and new member states’ capitals Warsaw, Prague, Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn, Cohen expressed concern over intolerance towards gay people.
The mayor asked his counterparts to adhere to EU human rights and “to do everything in your political power to open up marriage for same-sex couples and safeguard the right of public demonstrations in your city”.
Cohen said he was “concerned by the news that homophobic attitude and behaviour is propagated by measures and policies of local authorities in some of the new EU member states”.
European justice commissioner Franco Frattini has also received a copy of the letter, on a sensitive issue in some EU capitals.
The issue was a hot one in Frattini’s native Italy during recent elections following gay protests and an intervention from the Pope.
And, Poland’s prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz recently raised concerns by expressing strong anti-homosexual opinions.
The Dutch attempt to address European cities on this issue is the result of a motion put forward by Amsterdam city councillors following recent attacks on homosexuals in the capital.
In 2001, Job Cohen was the first to marry a same-sex couple in the Netherlands, since then, Belgium, Spain and Canada have legalised gay marriage.
But the EU is set to stay out of the issue, marriage rights, along with divorce and fault-line moral controversies such as abortion, remain the province of national governments.
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