The Parliament of Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain, passed a pioneer law to protect LGTB people from homophobic attacks.
Called itself as the world's most pioneering laws against homophobia, the Catalan law includes fines for homophobic behavior at the work place and positive discrimination measures, such as having to prove one's innocence if accused of homophobia.
The new provisions will punish those who attack gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals with fines of up to €14,000 ($17,700).
80% of MPs of Catalan Chamber has backed the new law and the only group who voted against was the conservative Partido Popular (PP), which runs the Spanish Government, while the centre-right coalition CiU, which runs the Catalan Government, split its votes.
Currently, Spain is one of the most progressive countries in the world on gay rights, after legalizing same-sex marriage and adoptions by gay couples in 2005.
Some Catalan MPs with LGBT representatives after voting
This is great! The people in Spain - and I know Catalans consider themselves Catalan first and Spanish second if at all) are some of the least homophobic in the entire world according to just about every poll on the subject - have no problems passing this law; it would be much better if people in Russia or other countries where homophobia is rampant were to pass it though. The USA can't have any law that tries to regulate free speech -- or the press -- or political thought for that matter, our bill of rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution forbids any such legislation. What the USA should pass is employment non-discrimination based on sexual preference or identity nationwide. Individual states and cities have this protection, but in most in "red" states that vote Republican, you can be fired from your job for being gay or lesbian outside of major cities. We could use a law like this for the entire USA but one of our political parties, the Republicans, will not yet let it happen.
ReplyDelete