ILGA reacts to European Parliament’s debate on same-sex discrimination

By Saskia Joreen on Thursday, September 9, 2010 - 16:02

As we reported yesterday, the European Parliament discussed the topic of discrimination against same-sex married and in civil partnership couples.

Last Tuesday, an oral question and a number of interventions were posed by the Members of the European Parliament to Vivianne Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission and the EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.

Vivianne Reding / Photo: ILGA-Europe

LGBT organisation ILGA-Europe has welcomed this debate by the Members of the European Parliament which is important given that married and registered same-sex couples in the EU are still subjected to various discriminations when they avail themselves of the right to freedom of movement within the EU.

In 2004, the European Union adopted a Directive on the right to free movement which encourages EU member states to facilitate the entry and residence for married and/or registered partners. This Directive provides for equal treatment of different-sex and same-sex partners as it does not refer to the gender of the partners. However, since the Directive does not specify that Member States are obliged to recognise the civil status of same-sex partners, many same-sex couples effectively have their marriages and registered partnerships de facto voided when they exercise their rights to freedom of movement to countries that do not have an equivalent institution to their civil status.

Tuesday’s debate dealt with the above issues and MEPs have highlighted a list of discriminations that same-sex families experience, including: gaps in social security and survivor’s pension; non-recognition of partner’s choice in medical care; non-recognition of marriages and civil status; and stripping of parental ties from non-biological children.

The response of the Commission was that the legislation is already tackling discrimination and providing for just recognition, and that matters of legislation around the recognition of same-sex partners is a domestic issue for the Member States to resolve.

ILGA-Europe has stated that although it recognises the principle of subsidiary applies on matters of the recognition or otherwise of same-sex families, it cannot agree with the Commission that Freedom of Movement Directive is already tackling the gaps that the MEPs highlighted. Many same-sex partners are in fact opting not to travel and reside in a number of EU countries due to the implications that non-recognition of their marriages / registered partnerships has on their lives.

ILGA-Europe has therefore called upon the Commissioner Reding to take political leadership on this issue and to ensure that the European Commission is guided by the fundamental principle of freedom of movement enshrined in the EC Treaty and initiate actions requiring EU Member States to mutually recognise each other’s marriages and partnerships between persons of the same sex. Only legally binding mutual recognition of such marriages and partnerships will ensure that the fundamental EU principle of freedom of movement will be fully applied to married or in civil partnership same-sex couples.

To watch the debate and to find out more about the Directive on freedom of movement, go to ILGA-Europe’s website.