European Parliament: Situation of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women deserves specific attention

In its just-adopted 2010 report on equality between women and men in the European Union, the European Parliament said the situation of lesbian and bisexual women, as well as that of transgender people, deserves specific attention.

The report examines issues of gender equality in the European Union for the year 2010. Two paragraphs (originally put forward by the Greens/EFA group) take particular notice of the situation for sexual and gender minorities.

With this text, the European Parliament “calls on the Member States and the Commission to pay particular attention to vulnerable groups of women: disabled, elderly, immigrant, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, and minority women and women who have little or no training and are responsible for dependants, all of these being specific groups in need of measures tailored to their circumstances”.

The Parliament also “notes that transgender people remain a highly marginalised and victimised group facing a high degree of stigmatisation, exclusion and violence, as reported by the Fundamental Rights Agency“. The Parliament goes on to “strongly encourages the Commission and the Member States to follow the Agency’s recommendations for stronger and clearer protection against discrimination on grounds of gender identity”.

In another just-adopted resolution on reducing health inequalities, the European Parliament called on Member States to “take the necessary measures, in relation to access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART), to eliminate discrimination against women on the grounds of marital status, sexual orientation or ethnic or cultural origins”.