Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 14:51:34 +0200 (MSZ) From: Bj|rn Skolander Subject: MEP Claudia Roth's Speech when Awarded PRIX EGALITE 1995 The German Green MEP Claudia Roth was on 1 March 1995 awarded the PRIX EGALITE 95' by Egalite, a group of EU staff which is working for equality for gays and lesbians in the European Institutions. Ms. Roth's name has become irrevocably associated with the report entitled "EQUAL RIGHTS FOR HOMOSEXUALS AND LESBIANS IN THE EC", which rapidly became known as the "Roth Report". The following text is the speech Ms. Roth gave after having recieved the prize. MEP Claudia Roth's Speech when Awarded PRIX EGALITE 1995: DEAR FRIENDS, It is hard to know quite what to say. I am very moved and it is an incredible honour. At the same time, I feel rather guilty about being given an award for doing my job as a Member of the European Parliament. I want you to know that I am very grateful and that I see the award as both a challenge and a call to keep on fighting for respect, for fundamental human rights, for civil rights and freedom. Politicians and governments love talking about human rights - when it is politically expedient - and yet they are violated every day in every part of the globe - East and West, North and South and here in the European Union. I find it particularly regrettable, not to say shameful, that the human rights report was postponed yet again at yesterday's plenary. Human rights are inalienable: this basic principle is fundamental to the political and moral credibility of any democratic system. Human rights are not optional and no state can claim that human rigts violations are an internal affair. The way a society treats its minorities is a good indication of just how humane, liberal and democratic it really is. In a society which does more than just talk about tolerance and is genuinely and actively accepting, there is no room for discrimination on grounds of colour, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or sexual identity. That is why I am fighting for equal rights for gay men and lesbians. I would like to share this award - with everyone who has helped me prepare the "resolution rose" and get it adopted, with everyone who put in so much work, like Hein Verkerk and our friends from ILGA, with people from Egalite, like Sussie Jolly, who lobbied so hard for the decision, and with all my colleagues who supported it, even if it meant swimming against the mainstream of their group or party - the ones who showed they had the courage of their convictions, especially in the run-up to the elections. I also want to share it with my parents down in true blue, Catholic Bavaria. Despite having been ostracized on account of their Green daughter and inundated with phone calls and bibles when the report was adopted, they are still proud of me for doing what I think is right, as they always taught me. So, what has happened since the report was passed? The most important thing from my point of view - and indeed the most remarkable and unusual thing - is that the decision has sparked off an enormous public debate. It is amazing to think that people all over Europe and beyond are arguing thinking about the European Parliament's demand for recognition of the validity of all lifestyles, including gay and lesbian partnerships. I think it is fantastic that demands for adoption rights for gay men and lesbians are at least being discussed and that we have succeeded in showing how real discrimination on grounds of sexual identity is, in all its different forms. But perhaps the best thing of all is that we have helped to bring the subject into the open, out of the closet where it is often locked away, to free people from the fear of being turned into social outcasts and to give them power to say, "I am proud to be out." The very many reactions to the decision have convinced me and made me proud that the European Parliament has helped break down taboos and supported the work of gay and lesbian organizations at grassroots level. The decision caused a sensation, especially in the Catholic Church. In Rome, the Pope himself mentioned it in a speech in Peter's Square, saying that the European Parliament had heralded the collapse of the family and the decline of humanity. The support the decision received from the gay clergy is an indication of what a burning issue this is in the church. And the need to attack hypocrisy, fundamentalism and persecution in whatever form they take is becoming increasingly apparent. With the current resurgence of rasist ideology and right-wing extremism, we must not forget that homosexuals were one of the groups slaughthered in the German concentration camps - as a German living fifty years after the end of the holocaust, I have a historic duty not to forget. At a time when there are calls for people suffering from AIDS, people with HIV and gay men and lesbians to be locked up away from the rest of society, it is clear just how important it is for us to work and fight for equal rights for gay men and lesbians across the board - we cannot settle for anything less. There have been improvements in some Member States, which are definitely linked to our report. In Germany, the infamous paragraph 175 has been repealed, in the Netherlands an anti-discrimination law has been passed and in Sweden gay marriages are now legally recognized. Here in the EU institutions, now that the elections are over and the new Commission has been appointed, we have to get back down to work and make sure that our demands are met. Rest assured: we will be demanding human rights for gay and lesbians from Anita Gradin; anti-discriminatin measures and a new Commision task force from Padraig Flynn and genuine freedom of movement from Mario Monti. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT This text was typed by Bjorn Skolander from Egalite's News Letter April/May Issue 1995/9