On the evening of Wednesday 13 March, MEPs meeting in plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg debated the worrying escalation of anti-LGBTQI rhetoric and violence within the European Union. The debate was held in response to an incident on 9 March in Thessaloniki, when two transgender people were violently attacked by a mob, that acted as a reminder of the urgent need for a coordinated and considered response to counter these acts of hatred.
The Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, speaking on behalf of the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, opened the debate by expressing strong solidarity with the victims of the recent attacks.
Highlighting the increase in hate speech and hate crimes against the LGBTQI community, she issued a reminder of the alarming data from the EU Fundamental Rights Agency indicating that in 2019, one in ten LGBTQI members in the EU had been the victim of attacks connected to their identity.
Ms Ferreira reiterated the EU’s commitment to defending equality and respect for all, mentioning the adoption in 2023 of a global strategy for LGBTQI equality (see EUROPE 13160/19) aimed at integrating LGBTQI rights into all policy areas.
However, she also pointed a finger at the Council in relation to the Commission’s proposal to classify hate speech and hate crime as European offences, regretting the difficulty of finding the required unanimity.
Jiří Pospíšil (EPP, Czech) strongly condemned the attack in Thessaloniki as an unacceptable act of hatred and called for greater collaboration between Parliament and the Commission to strengthen legal protection for victims. He called for stronger European legislation to effectively punish the perpetrators of hate crimes. Cyrus Engerer (S&D, Maltese) protested against the increase in hateful rhetoric, including within the European Parliament, stressing the need for collective responsibility to counter such violence with concrete measures. Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French) shared his experience of online harassment, highlighting the spread of hatred in digital spaces and calling for codes of conduct with social media platforms to be strengthened. Kim Van Sparrentak (Greens/EFA, Dutch) and Dimitrios Papadimoulis (The Left, Greek) stressed the importance of solidarity with the victims and majority support for the safety and respect of all, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Nevertheless, a number of speakers, mainly from the more conservative ranks, presented divergent perspectives. Angel Dzhambazki (ECR, Bulgarian) defended a strict interpretation of gender categories based on biology. Furthermore, while Mathilde Androuët (ID, French) called for universal respect for all people, regardless of their identity, she was critical of what she saw as the selective defence of victims by certain political groups (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)