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Rainbow parade under a rainy European sky
Vienna already hosted its 14th gay-pride parade, but there is still a lot of work to do about the integration of homosexuals in Europe. And although the forecast for LGBT is clearing up, rain clouds still spot the sky.
Saturday afternoon on the Viennese Ring. Two big rainbow flags stand lonely in front of the parliament building. The busy traffic has made way for an awkward calm. Even the trams with rainbow flags, sported by most public transport for the past week, didn’t go out on their daily route.
At the same time, the street near Stadtpark was overcrowded. Loud music, dancing on moving platforms, fantastic clothes, colourful decorations and plenty of onlookers. At two in the afternoon 120.000 gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals (LGBT) started their march through the city, demanding more rights for themselves.
“We’re happy homosexuality in Austria is not illegal any more”, says Christian Högl, the main organiser of the Parade, from the Hosi organisation for LGB people. “But it was only seven years ago that the legal age for having sex at 15 was equalized for gays and heterosexuals. It’s the same love, it’s the same responsibility and we want the same right to marry.”
Catholic country
Now same-sex marriage is still a political taboo in Austria, but it’s believed the parliament next year will finally establish the Registered Partnership Bill. But although there are only six months left to pass the law, there are still no public drafts of the Bill. The Bill is expected to be similar to the previous draft which didn’t pass because of the elections that in the meantime took place, but officially there is no information about it. Days off to care for your partner in case of illness, common social security, the possibility to inherit from your partner and official ceremonies in city hall, that’s what gays and lesbians expect from the Bill.
“We are not integrated, because we don’t have the same rights as heterosexuals”, says Sonia Haasse, who has been in a lesbian relationship for the last 12 years. Manuel, a friendly boy from Turkey who has been living in Austria for the last 14 months, has an Austrian boyfriend: “It’s still a catholic country where there is pressure on gay people. If I had a girlfriend, I would have the chance to finally get the Austrian nationality, but I date a boy and that makes it impossible.”
The LGBT movement made big steps forward in the cities, but in rural areas the situation looks different. “When I was 15 years old I was expelled from school because of my lesbian inclination”, says Lisa Pohl from Tyrol. “When the headmaster from my college found out that I’m not straight, I could no longer live in a dormitory and had to visit a psychologist.”
Clean people
And what about people observing the Parade? “If gays or lesbians are a couple, they should have the possibility to get married and adopt children”, admit Bernard, Austrian, and Georgina, French, who were observing the march with their children. They were not alone with their opinion, but kindness and tolerance was not the only feeling on the streets of Vienna that day. “We have no objections against gays, they are clean people. But adopting children is awful and disgusting”, say Susanne and Michael, a couple in their late 60s from the English town of Somerset who were on a trip through Central Europe and accidentally appeared on the Ring. Some had an even stronger opinion. “Animals! It’s against nature!”, shouted a passer-by walking his dog, when I asked him for an interview.
“We have between 15 and 30 cases a month when people ask or tell us about discrimination” admits Jo Schedlbauer from the Vienna Antidiscrimination Unit for Same-sex Lifestyles. “People report discrimination on the labour market and in daily life, like in housing communities. But even when they are fired, it’s extremely difficult to prove that this is due to their sexual nature. That’s why we wait impatiently for EU anti-exclusion regulations”.
However, Austria has some problems with discrimination, it seems to be heaven compared to other countries when it comes to LGBT rights. Traditionally the East-European countries are conservative and the topic of gays is the subject of political fights. But even in Italy, a founding country of the European Union, the situation is far from ideal. “I’m bisexual and nobody knows about it”, says Davide S., a participant of the Media vs. Integration conference in Vienna. “Being gay is still a reason for jokes and making fun. Nobody talks about it in another way.”
Posted in | 08.07.09
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