Last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that requiring trans people to undergo sterilisation in order to have their gender recognised, violates human rights. In the case A.P. and Others v. France, three transgender people attempted to change the entries on their sex and forenames on their birth certificates, and were refused so
News / LGBT Guide LT / From EU
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday, April 6th, 2017 ruled the forced sterilization of transgender people who are seeking legal recognition of their gender identity violates their human rights. The court, which is in the French city of Strasbourg, issued the ruling in three separate cases that trans people filed against France. Transgender
A married couple was attacked by a group of young men while holding hands at night in the city of Arnhem. Straight Dutch men have launched a campaign to hold hands in solidarity. From politicians to police to priests, heterosexual men from the Netherlands have been showing their opposition to anti-LGBT violence by holding hands
In a key report on gender equality adopted last Tuesday, March 14th 2017, the European Parliament has demanded to strengthen action on the rights of LGBTI people. In the annual report on gender equality the parliament urges the Commission to expand the scope of EU hate speech law, as to include incitement to hatred on
Malta’s minister for civil liberties has kicked off a conference on LGBTI rights across the EU with a call for politicians to swim against the tide by “helping shape public opinion, not to be led by it”. Helena Dalli was speaking in Malta on Thursday, 23 February 2017, at a high-level ministerial conference on LGBTI
A law that extends marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples in Finland took effect last Wednesday, 1st March 2017. Members of Finland’s Parliament approved a same-sex marriage bill — which also extended adoption rights to gay and lesbian couples — in 2014. The Associated Press reported more than 100,000 people signed a petition that
Today, Tuesday 7 March 2017 from 14:00 – 16:00, the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights of European Parliament will host a roundtable on the rights of LGBTI Asylum seekers in the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). At this round table, they will discuss how to guarantee that the proposals to reform the European asylum
Country’s first lesbian wedding took place last weekend, but gay couples are not allowed to adopt. Slovenia permitted same-sex marriage for the first time, with a law coming into effect that gives gay couples largely the same rights as heterosexuals, but bars them from jointly adopting children, Reuters reported. At least one same-sex couple got married in Slovenia
There is a growing trend in Europe and beyond towards granting same-sex couples legal recognition for their relationships, which confers certain specific protections. The first country to provide “registered partnerships” was Denmark in 1989, while The Netherlands was first to adopt same-sex marriage in 2001. Today, 47 countries in the world, 27 of which are
Finland’s Parliament has voted down efforts to scupper plans for same-sex marriage to become legal just days before it is set to become law. In November 2014, the Finnish Parliament passed a citizens’ initiative on gender-neutral marriage by a tight vote of 105-92, after a number of previous defeats. The country’s President Sauli Niinistö signed marriage
Everything is now in place for the men at the center of last year’s discrimination suit to proceed with an adoption. Last June saw a major victory for the Czech gay and lesbian community when a discriminatory provision in the Registered Partnership Act was annulled in the country’s Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. The
In a key vote on gender equality in mental health, the European Parliament has urged for stronger action on trans and intersex people’s mental health. The Parliament deplores that transgender people are still considered mentally ill, and highlights that this diagnoses “is a source of significant distress for transgender persons”. It adds that “every child