{"id":3595,"date":"2021-11-20T22:34:25","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T21:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=3595"},"modified":"2021-11-20T23:54:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T22:54:40","slug":"the-scattered-rainbow-of-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/3595\/the-scattered-rainbow-of-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"The scattered rainbow of the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

The RainbowHouse-bar in Brussels is known as a safe haven for LGBTI people. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with the bartenders and enjoy a drink. But not every country in the EU is this accepting towards the LGBTI, or has LGBTI-bars. And even in countries like Belgium, there’s still a lot that could improve for the community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It remains a difficult task to improve the situations of the LGBTI-community in the EU member states according to Maria Walsh, member of the European Parliament and Vice president of the LGBTI intergroup of the EU. \u201cOf course the EU tries its best when it comes to LGBTI rights, but there\u2019s still room for improvement. Policy making is a slow process, and society moves fast. I really wish we could speed up this process sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Walsh, it\u2019s not just laws that need to be changed. \u201cOf course policy making is important: we need laws to back up the community and give them the same freedom as non LGBTI people. However, the mindset of people is what\u2019s possibly even more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laws and mindset do not always go hand in hand<\/em><\/h3>\n

According to the ILGA-report of 2021, Belgium comes in second best (right after Malta) of all the EU countries. The ILGA-report mainly focusses on the rights the LGBTI have. Though the community seems to have more laws to protect and acknowledge them than most EU other countries, Belgium is still in the top three regarding experiencing physical or sexual attacks for being LGBTI, according to a survey of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) from the European Union. In the same survey 67 percent of Belgian respondents said they often or always avoid holding hands in public with their same sex partner, in fear of being assaulted, threatened or harassed.<\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”3606″ revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

Problem child(ren) of the EU<\/em><\/h3>\n

Recently mainly Hungary and Poland have been in the spotlight regarding the violation of LGBTI-rights. \u201cHowever, it\u2019s not just Poland and Hungary that need to improve. Of course we\u2019ve been hearing a lot about them in the media recently, with good reason, but that does not mean that the others are perfect. Not at all\u201d, Walsh adds, \u201cIn Ireland for example conversion therapy is still legal and only in 1993 homosexuality was decriminalised.\u201d The EU is now holding back funds from Poland and Hungary in hopes they change their laws. Walsh is uncertain if that\u2019s the best way to do it, \u201cIt only hits the people who are already having a hard time.\u201d Maybe just as important, if not more important according to Walsh is to focus on educating people; talking to people. \u201cI\u2019m also hopeful for the opposition in Hungary. Possibly they can make a change\u201d, Walsh adds.<\/p>\n

\u00c1kos Volford is bartender at the RainbowHouse bar in Brussels (an LGBTI-bar). He\u2019s originally from Hungary. He shares his experiences as a gay man in Belgium, which are rather different from his home country.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/jasmijn-berkers\/akos-story\/s-jXKIysIxTw1?si=794d003d29674a829aeedc312cc8506e<\/p>\n

A coloured future<\/h3>\n

\u201cSociety moves and changes fast\u201d, Walsh says, \u201cWhere Hungary and Poland are at right now, countries like Belgium and Ireland were twenty years ago.\u201d Another example Walsh mentions is the anti-discrimination law that should protect people from discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, religion and sexual orientation in all areas of EU competence. \u201cIt\u2019s been blocked since 2008\u201d, Walsh says, \u201cIt shows that the whole EU still has a lot to work on, but I\u2019m hopeful we can get there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/378\/2021\/11\/extra-P1070352-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” caption=”The RainbowHouse-bar in Brussels” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The RainbowHouse-bar in Brussels is known as a safe haven for LGBTI people. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with the bartenders and enjoy a drink. But not every country in the EU is this accepting towards the LGBTI, or has LGBTI-bars. And even in countries like Belgium, there’s still a lot that could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":3601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cbj","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe scattered rainbow of the EU - International Journalism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The scattered rainbow of the EU - International Journalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The RainbowHouse-bar in Brussels is known as a safe haven for LGBTI people. 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