by Rex Wockner
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Adopting resolutions on Turkey's and Montenegro's progress toward joining the European Union, the European Parliament on March 9 told both nations they will have to do better on LGBT equality if they want to be part of the EU.
Turkey must "ensure that equality, regardless of sex … or sexual orientation, is guaranteed by the law and effectively enforced," the parliament said.
Ongoing problems include forced closures of LGBT organizations, the army's classification of homosexuality as an illness, murders of transgender people, and the withdrawal of sexual orientation from a draft anti-discrimination law, the parliament said.
While Montenegro does ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment and public services, the Euro Parliament said that discrimination persists "including on the part of state authorities."
The co-president of the parliament's LGBT Intergroup, Ulrike Lunacek, said: "We demand that Ferhat Dinosa, minister for human minority rights, defend LGBT people's human rights instead of displaying intolerance and insensitivity to these issues. This is the only way forward for Montenegro's accession process."
