On this year’s IDAHOBIT, the PES is highlighting the common efforts of the socialist family to promote human rights and end all forms of discrimination, such as the joint campaign of Rainbow Rose and PES Women: Reclaim Your Space.
The PES family is making Reclaim Your Space its focus for its activity at this year’s Europride in Belgrade (12-18 September), with a dedicated day for womens’ rights within the LGBTI movement and in Europe. As part of the campaign, PES Women and Rainbow Rose released a sample resolution – available in English, Spanish, French and German – which local and regional governments can adopt to show support.
Sergei Stanishev, PES President, said:
“Our political family stands for equality. The PES has always been, and will continue to be, a strong ally of the LGBTI community. We protect human rights at all levels. I am proud that it is a progressive European Commissioner, Helena Dalli, who is leading the fight for equality at the European level. Thanks to her, we have a European Union LGBTIQ Equality Strategy. Our political family will never stop fighting for equality for the LGBTI community.”
Camila Garfias, President of Rainbow Rose, the LGBTIQ organisation of the PES, added:
“The past two years have been a struggle for our community, and the war in Ukraine is another threat to human rights. In a joint effort as socialists and democrats we have worked on two initiatives that can make real changes to our communities’ everyday lives. The Love Where I Live campaign in collaboration with PES Group in the Committee of the Regions and the Reclaim Your Space campaign with PES Women are spreading sample resolutions, to be passed by local governments. These transfer into more acceptance and solidarity in our very own neighbourhoods. We will not put the work down, as we thrive for a world in which everyone can live free and safe.”
Zita Gurmai, President of PES women added:
“The feminist movement has a long-standing tradition of an intersectional approach. Our joint campaign Reclaim Your Space targets exactly this and highlights the specific obstacles women face in our societies. But women are not a homogeneous group, we are diverse, with different backgrounds, aspirations, and needs. Reclaim Your Space is a feminist outcry for women in all their diversity and serves to amplify the voices of those who often stay at the margin, such as LBT women, refugee women and others.”
The PES was the first European political party to adopt a comprehensive LGBTIQ roadmap and, with its network Rainbow Rose, it was the first to implement a European party political LGBTIQ network. We are proud, that for the seventh year in a row, Malta – with a Labour Party government, a PES member – continues to occupy the number one spot on the Rainbow Europe Map, proving that it makes a difference who is in government.
