Euro Parliament Reaffirms Gay Rights Are Condition to Join the European Union

It is a truly sad commentary on the United States - or the state of Virginia for that matter - that it would not qualify for admission to the European Union because of its failure to have laws that adequately protect its gay citizens from discrimination and bigotry. As UKGayNews reports, non-discrimination protections are "non-negotiable" in the view of the European Parliament. Would that the USA recognized its LGBT citizens as fully human in the same manner and disallowed religious based discrimination in the civil laws. The religious freedom and liberty promised by the U. S. Constitution increasingly are demonstrated to be empty promises for this nations LGBT citizens who continue to suffer from government sanctioned discrimination. Indeed, in North America the real land of the free appears to be Canada, not the USA. Here are some story highlights:

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February 10, 2010 – The European Parliament today confirmed that candidate countries wishing to join the European Union have to provide genuine protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender minorities. Confirmation came as the parliament adopted reports on the accession to the EU for Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. The three candidate countries were reminded that the protection of all minorities is a non-negotiable condition to access the European Union.
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”Minorities must be protected from discrimination as laid out in Article 19 of the Treaty—and that includes sexual orientation,” he said. “This is not an à la carte menu: it is at the core of the European Union, and we will be rigorous in its application.” The report on Croatia conveys the European Parliament’s concern about the 2009 de facto ban on Zagreb Pride, and calls on the government to effectively implement and enforce protection against discrimination.