Queering SRHR: Report on the state of SRHR of LGBTIQ people in Europe
GBTIQ Family Rights
Every day in Europe, external social, cultural and political factors deeply impact the ways in which LGBTIQ Families experience life events such as marriage, reproduction, parenting etc. because of their gender, identity and sexuality.
Analysing the current legal state of LGBTIQ families, one can understand that there are a range of SRHR topics such as adoption, fertility treatment or parental recognition that need to be singularly addressed within the SRHR
community because of the different ways in which they are handled in politics, courts and in civil society. The longer we continue not addressing these specific needs, the more these families continue to be challenged, ignored and
discriminated against. It is now time to act together to fight against LGBTIQ inequality.
Why May 15?
As it was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1994, the world celebrates the International Day of Families’ 25th Anniversary today. On this special day, it is of particular importance to highlight the current state of legal recognition of
LGBTIQ families within the European context.
The Yogyakarta Principles
According to Yogyakarta Principle 24, which sets forth the Right to Found a Family: “Families exist in diverse forms. Everyone has the right to found a family, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and no family should be
subjected to discrimination because of it.”
In November 2006, 29 distinguished human rights experts met in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, to draft, develop, and redefine what are now called the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to
sexual orientation and sexual identity.
The YPs were issued to reflect existing international human rights laws in relation to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity considering the principles of universality and non-discrimination. In the upcoming “Queering
SRHR” articles, we will be referring and coming back to these principles to highlight SRHR issues as they relate to LGBTIQ people.
Principle 24 urges States to take specific actions in relation to the right for everyone to found a family. To name a few, States shall: “ensure access to adoptions, assisted procreation, legal surrogacy and fertility treatments”. States
shall also ensure that “laws and policies recognise the diversity of families, that birth certificates reflect the self-defined gender identity of the parents and that where same-sex marriages or registered partnerships are recognised, the same measures are applied to both different-sex and same-sex couples.”