At its plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday 5 October, the European Parliament debated the rise in hatred towards LGBT people in the EU.
Maria Walsh (EPP, Irish) deplored “the spread of anti-LGBTIQ propaganda by populist parties”, including within Parliament, leading to acts of violence such as the homophobic murder in Bratislava in 2022 (see EUROPE 13046/10).
Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French) deplored the spread of anti-LGBT legislation, particularly in Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Italy and the Spanish municipalities run by Vox. He blames the extreme right, but also certain left-wing parties, such as Robert Fico’s SMER (see EUROPE 13263/24).
“LGBT Lobby”
In response, Jorge Buxadé Villalba (ECR, Spanish) and Isabella Tovaglieri (ID, Italian) denounced the “censorship and indoctrination” fuelled by the “LGBT lobby against democratically elected governments”.
“There is no gender ideology; there is no LGBTIQ agenda. These concepts are figments of their imagination, trying to divert from problems for which they have no answers”, retorted Marc Angel (S&D, Luxembourgish). He also criticised them for associating themselves with the transnational “anti-gender movement” that is “well-financed” by Russia and American evangelicals.
The Commission’s commitments
Present at the debate, Commissioner for Budget Johannes Hahn pointed out that the European Commission defends the rights of LGBT communities. It also “pays close attention to potential breaches of Union law”, including the obligation to allocate EU funds in a non-discriminatory manner, he stressed.
Finally, in addition to ongoing legislative dossiers such as the recognition of hate speech as a European crime (see EUROPE 13236/16) or parenthood certificates (see EUROPE 13253/9), Mr Hahn announced that the Commission would allocate €1.2 million to a project with the Council of Europe dedicated to “tackling online and offline violence against LGBTIQ people”. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)