Despite the persistent criticism that it has allied itself with extremists, David Cameron's Conservative Party now sits in the European Parliament with the European Reformists and Conservatives group (ECR), led by Poland's Michal Kaminski - a man with an allegedly racist and homophobic past. A video from 2000 recently broadcast by the BBC shows Kaminski referring to gay people as "faggots". But so far it has gone unreported that another ally of the Conservatives in Europe has a much more serious and recent record of homophobia.
Valdemar Tomaševski, MEP from Lithuania, and member of the Tories' Euro coalition, is not only on record as having branded homosexuality a "perversion"; I can now reveal for the first time* that he also personally voted for a Lithuanian law that has been described as a harsher, more wide-reaching version of Britain's old Section 28, and which has been condemned by human rights watchdogs. The draconian "Law on the Protection of Minors from the Detrimental Effects of Public Information" bans discussion of homosexuality not only in schools but in any public places and media that could be accessed by young people. Tomaševski voted for the law on 16th June, shortly before vacating his seat in the Seimas, Lithuania's national parliament, to become a MEP (see his voting record [in Lithuanian] here - row 10). A mere week after voting to pass the homophobic law, Tomaševski was welcomed with open arms into the Tories' ECR group.
Amnesty International has strongly condemned the Lithuanian hate law:
Far from protecting children, the law deprives young people of their right to freedom of expression and access to information and risks isolating children who are already amongst the most at risk of violence at school or within the family.
Amnesty International UK's LGBT Campaigner Kim Manning-Cooper said:
"This is a very bad day for LGBT rights in Lithuania. By adopting this deeply homophobic legislation, the Lithuanian authorities have taken a huge step backwards.
"This law is a clear infringement of freedom of expression and non-discrimination rights and should be repealed immediately."
A raft of other human rights groups and campaigners have also added their criticisms of Lithuania, among them Peter Tatchell, who said in June:
This legislation is homophobic discrimination. As such, it clearly violates the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It also violates the equality and anti-discrimination clauses of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Lithuania has signed up to these international humanitarian declarations but it is now defying them. It wants the rights of EU and UN membership, but not the responsibilities.
Valdemar Tomaševski is the leader of the small Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania party, and is apparently noted for his "quest for more Christianity in politics." Tomaševski left his Seimas seat to join the European Parliament on the 21st June, five days after voting to pass the "Law on the Protection of Minors". According to ConservativeHome he asked to be admitted to the European Reformists and Conservatives on 22nd June. He was accepted the following day.
More details on this story soon to follow.
*With many thanks to the kind people at the Lithuanian Gay League for responding to my request for information about Tomaševski's voting record in the Lithuanian parliament.
6 comments:
Great post, thanks for this excellent illustration of the Tories' failure to realise that aligning with right-wing Euro parties will lead to something like this.
Thanks - spread the word, if you can. It's something people definitely ought to be aware of. And on Tory hypocrisy over gay rights, there's worse to come, for sure.
BTW: thanks to Sunny H for this:
You can also read the translation of his voting record from Lithuanian to English via Google, which confirms this vote.
So this would be worse than the fascists and communists in the other major EU parliamentary groupings, how? Or should the Conservatives refuse to join any group?
Richard, the Tories did not just join this group: they created it. And as you will see from the ConservativeHome link in the story, Tomaševski was the last MEP to be admitted, after the group was formed, and the deal done with the other members. The Tories could have refused him entry without having to sacrifice their group (albeit that it would still have involved some highly questionable characters).
I think that it is unexaptable to let someone in that can't accept basic human rights. Should you join a allready existing group with those toughts? I think that can't be bad if your intention is to modernze the group from within.
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