Shame in the East

Well for the next couple of months it’s Pride season, traditionally June because of Stonewall but London Pride is in July and Brighton is in August. Prides in this country are fun mostly apolitical affairs (I’ve commented on that in the podcast before now). But spare a thought for those in countries where it’s still stuck in the 1960s/1970s attitudes – places like Poland and Latvia as mentioned in this article.

Gay rights still have to be fought for in many parts of the world, ironically though the assumption is that the main fight is in places like Africa, Asia and the Carribean with human rights abuses, but it looks like in our very own European Union we have countries like Poland who have not only brought in their version of Clause 28, but also have followed Jerry Fallwell’s line about Tinky Winky! It’s absurd and shows a disturbing level of homophobia…and the irony is that a lot of their super-Catholic values are being challenged as workers leave to work in other countries, and find the cultures there very different.

And it’s being wrapped up in an anti-EU stance by these parties (sound familiar, taking a minority and using it for political gain?) making EU action difficult, but the idea that places like Warsaw just instantly gained a gay scene and homosexual ‘propagandists’ when they joined the EU is frankly preposterous. But that’s the angle they are taking, and it reminds me of the Islamophobia since 9/11, political opportunism through prejudice.

That’s not to say all Eastern European people think like that – look at Romania’s attempts to improve things, for example – but I do think if Turkey can be refused entry partly on human rights concerns, then why have we let such countries into the EU, or why do we keep them in the Union when they commit abuses against the very EU legislation they signed up to when they joined?* They get the benefits of membership, so why should they shirk the responsibilities to EU citizens?

Anyway I think action is needed now, by the EU putting pressure on the governments, and even UK government. Otherwise I think there’s eventually going to be a riot at one of these prides that makes Stonewall look like a walk in the parade.

* Actually I can guess the answer to that one on mostly religious grounds…