Brief aan de EU tegen de anti LGBTQ+ wet in Hongarije
Team Vooruit
Saturday 26
June 2021 11:45
Dear European Commission
Dear President von der Leyen
Dear Commissioner Reynders
Dear Commissioner Dalli
My name is and I’m a European citizen from Belgium. Most days, I am proud of the fact that I am a European citizen, but today, unfortunately, that would be a lie.
Today, I am an angry and disappointed citizen. The reason is the amendment to the law that was voted in Hungary on Tues day, 15th of June. As a consequence, in Hungary, the LGBTQI-community will now be equated with pedophilia. Hungarian minors will be banned from seeing movies depicting LGBT+-persons as well as advertisements depicting LGBT+-couples. From now on, sex education and courses about gender and sexuality will be prohibited and schools will be forbidden from hiring external speakers to discuss the matter. Ignoring that prohibition is now punishable. This law is about more than just blocking representation, it is an attack on the health and access to information of young people in general.
I, for one, am lucky to live in a country where sexual orientation and gender is not a factor. We come in second on the IL GA-index. Although an index and laws do not mean that tolerance and acceptance are fully reached within society, laws do remain the basis of how we treat each other. It determines how we treat each other as human beings and as citizens with equal rights. Equality and human rights should not be down to random luck. This second place on the ILGA-index will not be celebrated until my Hungarian friends enjoy the same rights. The law voted in the Hungarian parliament, is an aberration for the Europe of peace, diversity and cooperation that we strive for as one. It is the duty of the European Commission to protect and to safeguard the rights of all European citizens, which include the rights of Hungarian members of the LG BT+-community.
As long as LGBTQI-people are not safe in all of Europe, they are safe nowhere. Their safety is my safety. I therefore call upon the European Commission and Council to stop the silence. To act. To not accept this as a done deal. To pledge to keep fighting and to actively support all efforts to end discrimination, especially that on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. I hereby urge the European Commission to:
- without delay, activate the rule of law conditionality to the European budget and withhold European funds for member states that are violating European values and human rights.
- strengthen the rights and protection of LGBT+-people in the European Union through the execution of all elements of the LGBTI Action Plan of the European Commission, and through the strengthening of the legal framework for discrimination against LGBT+-people.
- appeal to the European Council to take further action in the procedure regarding Article 7 and to make sure that clear recommendations and deadlines are opposed regarding the protection of universal human rights and democ racy in Hungary.
Sincerely yours,
Over de Auteur
Team Vooruit
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