Published Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 19:18
by
joelld 
in New Social Europe (428 views and 0 comments)
Rainbow Rose
LGBT, an observer member of the Party of European Socialists,
has been present throughout the consultation of PES activists
since the very beginning in 2007. Our network produced a
contribution to emphasize the need for the European Union to
ensure that one of its core values – equality of rights for all –
is going to make new progresses that will benefit all citizens.
During the past months, we collected support for our proposals among activists, being constantly present in PES events. At the same time, we made efforts to introduce our contribution to PES leaders and to members of the European Parliament. To this day, more than 40 MEPs publicly support Rainbow Rose’s contribution.
Among our concerns, along with the promotion and the monitoring of Human LGBT Rights all over the Union and in the world, come some very concrete actions that are fundamental to the Union’s policies and principles. To mention a very relevant point, Rainbow Rose asks the PES to ensure the full achievement of the freedom of movement for all, without discrimination.
This means applying the principle of mutual...
read morePublished Friday, June 27, 2008 at 10:34
by
rikkeindenmark
in European democracy & diversity (545 views and 3 comments)
“I don’t have
anything against gays and lesbians, but I do think the only right
thing for a child is to have a father and a mother”Published Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 14:20
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (512 views and 1 comments)
Published Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 09:57
by
joelld
in European democracy & diversity (617 views and 1 comments)
Rainbow Rose, the
network of socialist, social-democratic and Labour LGBT activists
in Europe, is fully committed to support Michael CASHMAN's efforts for a new comprehensive
directive against discriminations, covering the whole field of
Article 13 of the Treaty on the European Community.
This very important social question was part of our contribution
for this consultation of the PES's activists. One can see the
text of our contribution, presently supported by nearly 30 PES
MEPs, on our website.
As Michael reminds us, the Barroso Commission has to deliver,
before the elections. José Manuel Barroso himself committed
himself to do so in 2004, and Commissioner Vladimir Spidla
(Employment and Social affairs) repeatedly said he would make
efforts to achieve such a new directive.
Rainbow Rose acknowledges the PES' support for a comprehensive
directive. We think that, in the coming month, the PES should
produce a clear statement, for example at the next leader's
conference on June 19th, calling for the Commission to match its
own promise. Europe must deliver, and the socialists must be
proactive to show that Europe can deliver even before the 2009
elections.
Tags: citizens, discrimination, equality, fundamental rights, gay, LGBT
File:
Rainbow_Rose_letter.pdf
Published Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 10:42
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (703 views and 5 comments)
Today is the
International Day against Homophobia – a good day to
discuss discrimination and what we can do to fight it.
Michael Cashman (Labour, United Kingdom) is one of many
socialist Members of the European Parliament who are working hard
for the introduction of a new and more far-reaching
anti-discrimination directive:
"Since the Barroso Commission was elected in 2004 socialists
in the European Parliament have been calling for a new directive
on anti-discrimination, but nothing has happened yet. In its 2008
work programme the Commission mentions discrimination on grounds
of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability,
age or sexual orientation (article 13 Treaty Amsterdam). But
since then, the Commission has indicated it will proceed only on
prohibiting discrimination on disability,” explains Michael
Cashman.
According to him the integrity of Barroso and his Commission is
at stake with the lack of a new inclusive directive:
“In 2004 the European Parliament was close to rejecting the whole
Commission, but we got a commitment from them: Barroso promised
to create a cabinet to work...
Published Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 15:52
by
eromerof
in European democracy & diversity (784 views and 2 comments)
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 15:31
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (717 views and 0 comments)
Published Monday, March 10, 2008 at 09:41
by
joelld
in New Social Europe (620 views and 0 comments)
From Tuesday, March
4th to Thursday, March 6th, the NGOs federation ILGA-Europe has
organized a conference on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) families in Europe. The conference took place in Ljubljana,
Slovenia, in order to deliver a message on the EU agenda during the
Slovenia’s Presidency of the EU. ILGA-Europe and its national
members pointed out the juridical and social insecurity which is
still a very concrete threat for millions of European families and
children.Published Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 10:27
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (1067 views and 0 comments)
The first months of debating European democracy and diversity
have really brought up a lot of priorities and proposals for the
PES to consider:
Fighting discrimination
First of all, fighting discrimination is a very important topic,
including the promotion of minority, women and LGBT rights and of
equal opportunities for all, and the fight against fascism,
racism, anti-Semitism and islamophobia. Regulations already exist at the EU
and national levels, but Rainbow Rose points out the need to enforce these
regulations. The example of the Spanish socialist party, PSOE, was
put forward as a best practice to be followed by PES member
parties on gender issues – the PES itself is already committed to
40 percent representation of each gender, and has over 42 percent
women MEPs.
More democracy, please
The EU democratic deficit is also a recurrent theme. There is an
agreement on the need to ensure more participatory democracy and
reinforce the European Parliament, in order to reconnect the EU and its citizens. For instance, the
PES could insist on the creation of a
Published Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 16:51
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1031 views and 1 comments)
Published Friday, January 18, 2008 at 12:30
by
joelld
in EU in the world (1100 views and 0 comments)
Tags: equality, fundamental rights, gay, human rights, LGBT, peace, solidarity, women
File:
Yogyakarta_principles.pdf
Published Friday, November 23, 2007 at 08:31
by
joelld
in European democracy & diversity (1265 views and 2 comments)
The first day of the PES Council in Sofia went well, despite the climate conditions, with rich debates and conferences. Rainbow Rose LGBT was well represented by Rodrigo Martín Galán during the debate on European democracy and diversity yesterday afternoon. As many speakers remarked, article 13 of the EC treaty, and other binding European laws such as anti-discrimination directives 2000/78 and 2000/43, are already implemented in all member States, improving the conditions of LGBT persons, women or disabled persons in all areas of social life. Still, it also appears clearly that EU treaties and regulations, being no magic solutions, had not eliminated racism, sexism, homophobia or transphobia in our societies. As socialist activists and NGOs report daily, discriminations in employment and work conditions, hate crimes, intolerant speeches in day-to-day life, are a reality we must face.
Rainbow Rose met at lunch time, outside the Council, with Bulgarian LGBT activists who could explain us what kind of exactions they live with in their country – and Bulgaria is not an exception. As European socialists are talking, these days in...
read morePublished Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 17:17
by
rmarting
in European democracy & diversity (871 views and 0 comments)
At the beginning of
the paper on the New Social Europe it is stated
that the EU is admired across the world for its social model.
Nevertheless, we are worried because there are still first and
second class citizens within the EU in the field of civil rights.
The PES manifesto should state the intention of the PES to find
solutions for this problem.
Let us approach this issue from a historical point of view: before the Enlightment in the XVIII century, many sectors of the European population did not have the opportunity to decide on their place in society. Enlightment philosophers placed human dignity at the heart of the European way of thinking. This historical process continued with the French Revolution where all members of society, regardless of their social class, would obtain the opportunity to determine their own life and their personal development.
In the XXth century, a new step forward was taken and the European progressive thinking has included individual rights not only on the basis of belonging to a disadvantaged social class but also to the belonging to a minority or a discriminated group on the basis of gender, ethnicity, disability, age etc.
European socialist parties have taken up the fight for equal opportunities....
read morePublished Friday, November 16, 2007 at 10:07
by
joelld
in New Social Europe (1103 views and 0 comments)
As an observer
organisation, Rainbow Rose will be present at the PES Council. This year, Rodrigo Martin Galan, from
the "Grupo LGTB del PSOE" (Spain), will be our delegate. Other
Rainbow Rose activists coming from the Netherlands, Estonia and
France will be present in Sofia. PES activists, MEPs, and party
leaders will be welcome at our stand.
Rainbow Rose will use this opportunity to communicate on our contribution to the consultation on the PES 2009 Manifesto. To this day, the contribution has already received the support of several MEPs. We will also explain our networking activities and our political positions at a fringe meeting on Friday, November 23. We believe it's important to convince all socialists that equality, diversity and secularism, as they have always been at the heart of the social-democratic movements, justify total commitment from our national and European parties.
Last, but not least, Rainbow Rose aims at maintaining a contact with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in Europe. That's the reason why intend to meet, on the one hand, with members of the ruling Bulgarian socialist...
read moreTags: council, diversity, equality, gay, LGBT, PES
File:
R.ROSE_CONTRIBUTION_2009_MANIFESTO.pdf
Published Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 16:10
by
joelld
in New Social Europe (1232 views and 5 comments)
The PES discussion paper on "New Social Europe" presents a comprehensive
approach to social policy in Europe. We social democrats are
convinced that all the answers to all the problems of European
citizens in their work life and their social life are part of the
same social policy concept. For this reason, Rainbow
Rose, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender network of
the PES, is glad to see that inequalities among workers are
mentioned in the discussion papers, as well as "the social
security rights of employees, the self-employed and their
families." We believe that addressing these problems is
necessary to build the inclusive society we want, with equal
rights and duties for all.
That's why, at the side of gender inequality, which is explicitly and rightly mentioned, we would like to make sure that all other grounds for discriminations are also addressed by the PES manifesto. We would like to see homophobia and transphobia mentioned explicitly. We think it is important that the manifesto stresses that gays, lesbians and transgender should have the same rights as all other citizens to be protected against discrimination at work and in the access to all public and...
read moreTags: discrimination, diversity, equality, gay, LGBT, public services, welfare
File:
PES Group statement on the outcome of the conference on the year of equal opportunities.pdf
Published Monday, October 22, 2007 at 11:32
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (1269 views and 0 comments)
Joel Le Deroff from
Rainbow Rose, the LGBT network of PES, was one of
many grassroots taking part in last week’s PES activist gathering
in Brussels. We asked him what he thought should be in the PES
manifesto:
"We know that the EU will not, alone, change national regulations on for example same-sex marriage or adoption rights - but we would like to ensure that gays, lesbians, transgender persons, and their families, can keep the rights they have in their home countries, when moving to other EU countries. This is a way of provoking changes in more member states and something which I would like to see mentioned in the PES manifesto."
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