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European Initiative: Universal Decriminalization of Homosexuality

by Rhonda J Mangus | May 24, 2008 at 07:01 pm

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While the United States "...remained one of the world's few democracies in which leading Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Trans-gender (LGBT) groups failed to organize even one single public IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) event.", Rama Yade, France's minister of human rights, announced on Sunday that France would press for "a European initiative calling for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality,".... after it officially endorsed IDAHO, recently celebrated in 60 countries throughout the world including Cuba, Costa Rica, and the United Kingdom.

The conservative French government's unprecedented action followed year-long negotiations with it led by Louis-Georges Tin, president of the International Committee for IDAHO, and the meeting with Minister Yade came just hours after a "die-in" at the Elysée Palace, the presidential headquarters and residence, in which Tin and a dozen other LGBT activists were arrested and briefly detained. The protestors at the die-in wore T-shirts with the names of some of the 86 countries in which, according to an International Lesbian and Gay Association study released earlier this year, homosexuality is still considered a crime.