By Chris Jones - 16th May 2006
The increasingly extreme stance on homosexuality in several new EU member states has come under attack from the European parliament.
“There is a worrying trend in some of the new member states where politicians encourage discrimination and persecution of homosexuals and where, in some cases, they actually endorse and call for violence,” British centre-left MEP Michael Cashman told the Strasbourg plenary.
“Even today, there are demands to ban gay pride marches - as is happening in Poland at the moment - and in some of our near neighbourhood countries, where there is a call from the mayor of Moscow to ban the first gay pride march.”
Wednesday is the international day against homophobia, which will be marked by a minute’s silence in several EU countries.
“Human rights are non-negotiable,” Cashman said. “Everyone should be able to live their life free from persecution and discrimination. A celebration of the international day against homophobia is a bold step on the road to equality.”
Green MEP Jean Lambert pointed out that “at least 80 countries around the world still forbid homosexual acts by law”.
“This cannot be seen as acceptable and the events held today and across the weekend will demonstrate that these attitudes will no longer be tolerated.”
The MEPs comments came after renewed criticism of Poland’s attitude to homosexuals.
The country’s new education minister Roman Giertych has promised to ban gay and lesbian activists from Polish schools, and has blamed the gay lobby for a smear campaign against him.
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