EuroPride panel events highlight legislative progress on inclusion but challenges remain
The Global Equality Caucus in partnership with For A Diverse Hungary hosts a community discussion on strategies and experiences from Central & Eastern Europe.
The Global Equality Caucus has hosted a panel discussion at EuroPride 2023 to spotlight some of the key advancements in equality legislation across Central & Eastern Europe, despite a challenging environment for LGBT+ people in much of the region.
Organised in partnership with For A Diverse Hungary - the Hungarian Parliament’s LGBT+ intergroup - the panel featured legislators from North Macedonia, Hungary and Lithuania, with colleagues from Estonia, Malta and the European Parliament also attending the community discussion.
Top of the agenda was a focus on the raft of anti-LGBT+ laws that have been passed by the Hungarian government. David Bedo, a member of parliament in Hungary and the chair of For a Diverse Hungary, pointed to the fact that there remains a vocal minority in the Hungarian Parliament standing up for LGBT+ rights, with a dedicated intergroup working with civil society partners in Hungary and across Europe to oppose discriminatory legislation.
Hungarian opinion polls indicating a positive view of LGBT+ people and the EU’s legal challenge to the Hungarian government were raised as reassuring points that the situation may improve.
(L-R): Tomas Raskevičius MP; David Bedo MP; Maja Moraçanin MP.
Moderating the panel, GEC Steering Committee member Maja Moraçanin congratulated Bedo for his work with the parliamentary intergroup. Moraçanin chairs a similar cross-party group in the North Macedonian Parliament, where a comprehensive anti-discrimination law was approved in recent years.
Promising developments were also highlighted in the Baltic states. Tomas Raskevičius, a member of the Lithuanian Parliament, expressed optimism about recent progress on Lithuania’s civil unions bill, and celebrated the recent legalisation of same-sex marriage in Estonia.
The panellists pose with other legislators attending the community discussion.
Elsewhere at the EuroPride human rights conference, Parliamentarians for Global Action arranged a panel that focused on developments in Africa. Despite the dire situation in Uganda, attending legislators expressed hope that a legal challenge to the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 may be successful. The advancement of pro-LGBT+ policies in Botswana and Seychelles were held up as examples of how progress can be made in a region that can be challenging for LGBT+ people.
Bernard Georges, Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly of Seychelles, introduces Parliamentarians for Global Action’s panel featuring African legislators.
On the final day of the conference, the European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup led a plenary session looking at rainbow families and how the European Union can support Member States in developing more inclusive familial rights legislation.
Numerous EU members do not allow for same-sex couples to adopt children and several states do not recognise same-sex relationships at all. The panel - which featured Intergroup co-chairs Marc Angel MEP and Kim van Sparrentak MEP - expressed their support for EU-wide recognition of rainbow families and pledged to lead work in the European Parliament to advance this cause.