European Leaders Sign on For Gay Rights

Surprisingly, Great Britian was one of the nations that did not sign this European Union treaty. Here is the story from 365gay.com.

The European Union has become the first international body to have a treaty
containing explicit language prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of signed Wednesday at a ceremony in
Strasbourg, seat of the European Parliament.

Parliamentary President Hans-Gert Poettering, European Commission President
Jose Manuel Barroso, and the current head of the Council of EU member
states, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates put their signatures to the
document amid cheers from some member states and jeers from others.

Britain and Poland had wanted the charter put to a referendum and have
refused to sign onto the document.

The Charter brings together into a single document all of the separate EU
laws and regulations on human-rights but despite the fanfare it has no legal
force. That will only happen when the parliaments of all 27 member states
ratify a concord called the Lisbon Treaty that reforms the way the EU
operates.

The International Lesbian and Gay Association - Europe hailed the Charter
on Wednesday and urged member states to ratify the Lisbon Treaty saying that the
document will advance the rights of LGBT people throughout Europe.

“While welcoming the first ever international treaty containing an explicit
ban on sexual orientation discrimination, we are disappointed by the decision of
the UK and Polish governments to opt out of their duty to provide their citizens
with the same rights as the rest of EU citizens," said Patricia Prendiville,
Executive Director of ILGA-Europe.

"While the reasons for not ratifying the Charter are different in both
countries, we believe the lack of unanimity among the EU member states weakens
the strength and authority of this significant document.“

The dissident government could still hold national referendums on the
Charter. Even so, they have negotiated an opt out clause that could be
used to negate some of the Charter's rights.