One Perspective

For centuries, European countries have existed as unique, individual entities.  Each country had prejudice against the others, during times of war and peace alike.  Each country had prejudices against common minorities as well. 

In the twenty-first century, despite the financial problems caused by Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, and Italy, the western nations of the European Union seem to function like a close-knit team.  They have committed to some loft goals in terms of human rights, particularly in the area of LGBT individuals.  The Council of Europe has recognized that LGBT people contribute to national culture, and that by 2020 all cultural heritage institutions in the European Union will have LGBT resources.  The European Union has gone so far as to say that "homophobia will not be tolerated in the EU", and it is beginning to enforce anti-discrimination laws in its new central and eastern European member states.  Prominent European sports figures have even made pro-LGBT statements on television, with the hope of taming any homophobic sentiments in their rowdy fans.

At the same time, in everyday conversations, ordinary EU citizens make it plain on who does not belong.  They are fast to say that the Muslims do not support gay pride, which quickly translates to Muslims are the problem in the EU, even though .  They are also chilly toward any mention of Serbians, Russians, and Ukrainians.  "The Ukraine will never be a part of the EU," a man from Ireland told me, even though my question to him was how to help two gay Ukrainian men find funding for their magazine, the only gay magazine in the Ukraine.  The privileged educated elite also have no sense of charity or reaching out to the working class and poor. There is no sense of LGBT brotherhood/sisterhood that transcends class or educational status.  It is a very different movement than in the United States.

I have returned from two weeks in Amsterdam, which is one of the most multicultural, international cities in Europe.  During that time I have spoken with native Amsterdammers, as well as people from other EU countries during an international conference for LGBT librarians, archivists, and museum curators.  I was shocked to find that their concept of support for LGBT rights did not extend past their borders.  In an increasingly wired world, where only laws prohibit us from making all LGBT books available digitally for everyone around the world, this attitude must change.  Social justice is a global movement, not limited to a privileged few.   

The motto of the European Union is "United in Diversity".  But how is it so when EU countries continue to ban headscarves, veils, and other religious clothing and jewelry, when EU countries ban kosher and halal slaughter, and when EU countries continue to evict and forcibly relocate their Roma populations?  If homophobia has no place in the EU, then what about all of the other phobias? 

In the United States, we have our problems.  We are far from a perfect country, and perhaps we are a little less educated than the European Union.  But we admit our faults.  We know too well our history and present state of racism, religious discrimination, and homophobia/transphobia.  We make fewer grand national statements, but make greater, more permanent improvements in civil rights through national discussion as well as legislation.  We know that there will always be those who will not agree...and we know that, as long as they harm no one, we are OK if they do not agree.