MEPs call for protection of LGBTQ+ families, sanctions against Poland and Hungary
Non-binding resolution calls for the EU and member countries to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination and violence.
MEPs on Tuesday voted strongly in favor of a resolution calling on the European Commission to consider sanctions against Poland and Hungary for breaching European “values” on LGBTQ+ rights as well as “measures against Poland for violating principles of non-discrimination” of LGBTQ+ people.
Some 387 MEPs voted for the non-binding resolution, while 161 voted against.
The European Parliament “calls on the Commission to make full use of the tools available to it, to address the clear risk of a serious breach by Poland and Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded,” the text reads.
The resolution took issue with Poland’s “LGBTI-free zones” as well as “hostile rhetoric from elected politicians, surges in homophobic and transphobic violence” in the EU.
The text also underlined how transgender parents could lose legal recognition of their gender when crossing a border, which puts them at risk of losing parental rights. The resolution insisted that rainbow families — families where at least one parent is LGBTQ+ — should be “guaranteed the same family rights … in all Member States, and in particular the right to free movement within the EU.”
“There was no single legal or policy change positively affecting LGBTQI persons” in 2021, and there have been “steps backwards,” the resolution states. In July, Hungary adopted a law banning representations of same-sex and transgender couples for minors, while Poland continued to allow “LGBTQ- free zones.”
Some 387 MEPs voted for the non-binding resolution, while 161 voted against.
The European Parliament “calls on the Commission to make full use of the tools available to it, to address the clear risk of a serious breach by Poland and Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded,” the text reads.
The resolution took issue with Poland’s “LGBTI-free zones” as well as “hostile rhetoric from elected politicians, surges in homophobic and transphobic violence” in the EU.
The text also underlined how transgender parents could lose legal recognition of their gender when crossing a border, which puts them at risk of losing parental rights. The resolution insisted that rainbow families — families where at least one parent is LGBTQ+ — should be “guaranteed the same family rights … in all Member States, and in particular the right to free movement within the EU.”
“There was no single legal or policy change positively affecting LGBTQI persons” in 2021, and there have been “steps backwards,” the resolution states. In July, Hungary adopted a law banning representations of same-sex and transgender couples for minors, while Poland continued to allow “LGBTQ- free zones.”
