” “Protecting homosexuals “from homophobic issues”, ensuring “same-sex partners the same respect, dignity and protection that are recognised to the rest of society”. These are two of the most outstanding passages of the resolution that was passed last night by the European Parliament against any form of discrimination against gays and lesbians, also in terms of non-discrimination about inheritance and taxation. The act relied on the support of the European People’s Party, the Socialist Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Environmentalists and the European Left Wing, with 468 votes for, 149 against and 41 abstentions. The resolution confirms the position taken by the Commission, to ensure “free movement for EU citizens and their families as well as their registered partners, regardless of their sex”. The Deputy President of the European Parliament, Mario Mauro, commented the outcome of the Strasbourg voting with the words: “An ideological act was passed, which has little to do with the protection of the fundamental rights of people, but it sounds much more like a manifesto, hailing the destruction of the values that have spawned the European Union as a political project. How could one otherwise define the exhortation to the EU institutions, to interfere in the life of the national states by changing the Constitutions of each country, so as to open them up to gay marriage, regardless of people’s choice? Not to mention the reading that the act gives of the notion of religious freedom, which is identified outright as a source of discrimination”.
