Albania Moves Ahead of Most of the USA

It ought to be increasingly embarrassing for the USA and states like Virginia that eastern European nations like Albania are moving ahead of most of the USA in terms of protections afforded to LGBT citizens. In much of the USA gays have no legal protections against discrimination - such is certainly the case in Virginia - yet Albania has just enacted legislation that, while not allowing same sex marriage - affords broad non-discrimination protects of that nation's LGBT citizens. Increasingly, the USA self-advertised "land of the free" is becoming an out right farce. Not, of course, that Christianists and spineless politicians seem to care that the nation is falling behind the modern world - or even the not so modern world. Here are some highlights from the Straits Times:
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TIRANA - ALBANIA'S new anti-discrimination law defends gays and minorities and meets European standards, its sponsors said on Friday, but warned that homophobia is rife and winning over the public will be slow. Albanian rights groups and the Alliance against the Discrimination of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) welcomed the law as a powerful legal tool to protect against any kind of discrimination.
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'This law is not simply a fulfilment of requirements that Albania has undertaken for European Union integration and visa liberalisation. Above all, it is a victory for democracy and for human rights for all Albanians,' the LGBT community said. The group hoped that Berisha would eventually keep his promise to legalise same-sex marriage.
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Altin Azizaj, who runs the Children Rights Centre and had fought with parliamentarians over the role of a commissioner to monitor the law, said public and, most importantly, private institutions were now bound to respect human rights.
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The bill guarantees citizens against discrimination on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation, but has widely come to be known in Albania as the gay law because of the publicity Berisha gave their cause.
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For clarification, I applaud Albania's move and condemn the USA for its failure to live up to the ideals it supposedly stands for.