New Religious Attack on Gay Rights

A new Charter of Rights being proposed by the European Union has come under attack from a Christian group because it includes rights for homosexuals.

The draft European Charter of Fundamental Rights is at present being amended before it is brought to an EU summit for ratification in December. But Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) have started a lobbying campaign calling for the inclusion of “sexual orientation” to be dropped.

Through regular meetings of representatives from the 15 member states of the EU, a draft charter has been produced and many hundreds of amendments have been considered. Many of the representatives who have formulated the wide-ranging charter want the document to become legally binding. At present Article 21 of the Treaty – with the subtitle “Equality and Discrimination” – reads: “Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited.”

The British Government wants the Charter to be just a statement of existing rights and not to be enforceable by law. CARE supports this stand and says (on its website): “CARE is deeply concerned about the increasing agenda of enforceable rights and the lack of balancing responsibilities. Some of those involved in drafting the charter want to add to the already lengthy list of rights and in particular wish to include rights relating to ‘sexual orientation’.”

A spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) said: “It is clear from this latest attack that Christian lobbying groups like CARE have taken it upon themselves to oppose every attempt to bring justice to gay people. The obsessive way in which they organise to oppose every pro-gay initiative indicates that they have declared war upon us, and will be relentless in fighting it. We understand that representatives from CARE are at present consulting MEPs and MPs about this new Charter and also the Employment Directive. In both instances they seem to have the Government on their side. This does not bode well for the future of gay reform.”