Day: February 10, 2014

Giles Goodall, a Lib Dem candidate for the EU elections is a campaigner on LGBT equality issues and explains why it is important to vote on May 22 to protect LGBT rights across Europe.

In May, everyone in Britain will get to vote in the European elections.That includes people from other EU countries living in the UK, who will have a vote here too.

We hear a lot about whether the UK should remain in the EU or leave, but these elections give us all a say in what we want to see done by Europe when we get to choose who our elected MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) are. I’m one of the candidates to represent Brighton and the South East Region in Brussels and I’m campaigning for Britain to stay in a progressive EU which fights for equality.

Over the years, Europe has become a strong advocate for LGBT rights. We have the EU to thank for Europe-wide laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace and providing special protection for victims of homophobic and transphobic crime. EU pressure has changed the lives of millions of LGBT people for the better in its newer member countries in central and eastern Europe, where homosexuality was still a criminal offence as recently as the 1990s.

Of course that doesn’t mean that all is rosy for LGBT communities in Europe. An EU survey last year found that fear, isolation and discrimination are still all too common. Two out of three LGBT people across Europe reported hiding their sexuality when they were at school (68% in the UK), while 60% were bullied or called names.

Most shockingly perhaps, 26% of people said they had been attacked or threatened with violence in the past five years. In the UK, the figure rose to 31%. I experienced such an incident myself first hand a few years ago when walking home with my partner. I was lucky enough to come out of it with just a few cuts and bruises, but the psychological impact – the fear factor – lasted much longer.

This is one of the main reasons I’m standing as a candidate for the European Parliament on May 22. I grew up in a small town outside Brighton, where it wasn’t always easy being gay. Life for LGBT people varies enormously between cities like Brighton or London and smaller towns and villages. The same is true of Europe as a whole, where there are vast differences between countries like the Netherlands and Lithuania. But we shouldn’t have to hide, just because of who we are and where we live.

I want the EU to continue pushing for LGBT rights and to do even more in the future. That’s why I recently launched a new network bringing together LGBT campaigners from all of Europe’s liberal parties.

The group, called Liberals 4 Equality, campaigns on equality issues across Europe by coordinating like-minded people from different EU countries. We’ve received backing from people like the Swedish minister for EU affairs, and the Prime Minister of Luxembourg – who is one of two gay Prime Ministers in the EU!

I am committed to fighting for equality if I’m elected as a Euro-MP and will put LGBT equality issues at the top of the EU agenda. So far, I’m one of only two candidates in the South East England constituency to back the Come Out 2014 European Election campaign run by ILGA-Europe – an international LGBT rights NGO with 408 member organisations from 45 countries in Europe.

We need a comprehensive action plan for LGBT rights in Europe and protection against LGBT discrimination in goods and services, healthcare and education. We need to support projects to combat homophobic bullying, such as the recent initiative by Lib Dem equalities minister Jo Swinson. And we need to make sure that LGBT families do not lose their rights because they cross a border in Europe.

We cannot take our rights for granted. With far right and populist parties such as UKIP forecast to make big gains in the European elections, equality could come under threat.

Voters have an important choice on May 22: back the Lib Dems, a party which has championed equality at home and abroad, or risk turning back the clock for LGBT communities all over Europe.

Giles Goodall: Liberal Candidate for European Parliamentary Elections, 2014