A bipartisan parliamentary group in Estonia is working on a bill allowing gay and straight Estonian couples to formalize their relationship in response to growing rates of unmarried cohabitation in the Eastern European nation. Estonians may be able to enter into civil partnerships as soon as July if a coalition of Estonian lawmakers get their
News / Human Rights
Yesterday the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on justice, freedom and security in Europe. The resolution contains strong wording on the free movement of all families. In its report on the mid-term review of the Stockholm Programme, the European Parliament criticised the European Commission for its failure to fulfil a previous pledge that it’d
Co-founder could not overcome controversy over his donation to Prop 8 anti-gay marriage referendum. After less than two weeks on the job, Brendon Eich has resigned as CEO of Mozilla Corp. His undoing was a $1,000 donation supporting the Proposition 8 campaign in 2008, an anti-gay marriage referendum that was successfully overturned last year. News
The fourth EU-Africa Summit is taking place in Brussels since yesterday, and although not officially on the agenda, extremely harsh new anti-LGBT laws are on leaders’ minds. The summit brings together the heads of state and government from the European Union and the African continent, as well as EU and African Union leaders. They will
On 26 March, the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan published a draft bill that would impose tough sanctions for any speech or action leading to “a positive attitude towards non-traditional sexual relations”, i.e. non-heterosexual relationships. The draft is one of the most sweeping ‘anti-propaganda’ bills ever published. It would amend the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Responsibility, the
On Wednesday 19 March, ILGA-Europe and ENAR (European Network Against Racism) are launching an Appeal for an European election campaign free from discrimination and intolerance with a press conference in the European Parliament. This Appeal is an important symbol, but it is also more than a symbol. The 2014 European Parliament elections are taking place in
At the Council of the Heads of the Christian Orthodox Church held in Istanbul last week, Cyprus’ Archbishop Chrysostomos urged all Orthodox Churches to “condemn homosexuality.” The Archbishop stated that governments demonstrated “weakening moral integrity” by ensuring equal rights, for example through civil partnerships or equal marriage. Cyprus’ government plans to submit a civil partnership
A bill that would have introduced Russia-style gay propaganda laws to Lithuania has failed to get the votes today (13 March). Lawmakers made their decision on a bill that would have outlawed gay pride parades, pubic speeches in support of LGBTI rights, gay rights campaign materials and audio-visual materials in support of the rights of
Lithuanian lawmakers will vote today on a bill that would outlaw gay pride parades, public speeches in support of LGBTI rights, gay rights campaign materials and audio-visual materials in support of the rights of LGBTI people. The bill would make such actions an administrative offense with fines of between $US400 to $US1200, and $US1200 to
The General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people Robert Biedron has urged the Lithuanian Parliament to reject a change in the law which could impose administrative fines on those demonstrating publicly in support of LGBT rights, describing the proposed
Today, the European Parliament adopted two new laws at first reading to reform data protection in the European Union. Until now, the EU regulated data protection via a 1995 directive, ill fitted for the modern omnipresence of personal data. The European Commission proposed a new EU framework in the form of two legal texts: a directive
The draft amendment to the Code of Administrative Violations, proposed by MP P. Gražulis, seeks to introduce administrative liability for any public defiance of the constitutionally established family values. According to this amendment, actions considered as defying traditional family values will result in administrative fine ranging from 1000 to 6000 LTL (300-1800 EUR). The draft