Er Europa ved at blive som USA, der lader lobbyister knægte frihedsrettigheder?

Velorkestrerede kampagner arbejder for at begrænse rettigheder for kvinder og LGBTQ.

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Is Europe becoming like the United States when it comes to the power of lobbyists changing fundamental freedoms?

Well-orchestrated campaigns work to limit the rights of women and LGBTQ.

Yesterday there was a knock on my door. Outside stood a man who told us he had grown up in our house that his father had built when he was a boy. We invited him in and showed him around. It was a very touching and emotional tour – for him, but also for me.

I have met his father several times. He’s of the old school – Republicans, voted passionately for Trump, believes that women belong in the home, that it is their most important job to look after children. That was what we discussed when we bought the house.

Now the son was standing in our living room. Tears flowed as memories washed in over him. He told of his childhood, which had been good and safe. But he also told of a father who had never accepted him. The son was a high school teacher, something his engineering father certainly did not find appropriate. And the man in my living room had also never gotten his father’s acceptance when it came to the man he loved.

I’m so angry. Angry on behalf of this man, angry at my own, angry at the parents who can not figure out to love the child they are having, but can only accept their child if it fits in a box they can understand.

Here stood a man who was some of the most sensitive, reflective, and pleasant. And still his upbringing and the prejudices of society persecuted him.

I know it well, I myself grew up in a family that could not accept who I was and the choices I made. And I also know how it will probably always sit in one, even when one has found some kind of peace with family relationships.

Here in the United States, not all areas are equally easy to live in if you belong to a minority. For example, it’s easier to belong to the LGBTQ community in the larger cities of my state, Washington, our neighboring state of Oregon and, of course, California, than it is in some of the states further south.

There are places where it is decidedly dangerous to belong to the LGBTQ community. And there are places where it is decidedly dangerous to be a woman if you should want an abortion. There are many who want to kidnap the rights of women and minorities.

But why am I telling you now? Can Europe not be totally indifferent to what is going on here in the United States in terms of women’s and LGBTQ rights? Not quite. For perhaps Europe is heading in the same direction.

The EU is full of interest groups and lobbyists trying to advance their own agenda. It is, so far, fine, part of the democratic process. But now the report “Tip of the Iceberg “, which describes the period 2009-2018, shows that there are two areas that well-organized interest groups have joined together to promote – namely abortion resistance and resistance to LGBTQ rights.

I often get the feeling that in Denmark there is a belief that the fight for rights for women and sexual minorities is long over. It is quite nice that this is the case in most circles in Denmark. But it’s just that Denmark is, firstly, an infinitely small country and, secondly, part of the EU.

Abortion resistance, antifeminism, anti-immigration, anti- LGBTQ, antisecularization. The groups working for that kind of caveman mentality are getting stronger and stronger. As in the United States, they use reliable names that contain words such as “family,” “freedom,” “dignity,” and “human rights.” The view of society is, however, that LGBTQ rights and abortion resistance are their central focal point.

Here in the United States, the right to abortion is under pressure in several places and in several states, including In the state of Texas, it is almost impossible to have an abortion, because how many people know they are pregnant before you can hear heart sounds? Young women are terrified of getting pregnant, the men are, as usual, no one to take care of. Even if the pregnancy is due to incest or rape, there is no pardon. Time and time again, lawsuits are being filed to advance an agenda that makes it more difficult for women and minorities to make free choices. Maybe the EU is on the same course?

The level of our rights can be read in how women and sexual minorities are treated. The rights are not secured, they are constantly under pressure, and we must be strong when it comes to defending what we stand for.

Karen Melchior, Member of the European Parliament for the Radical Left, was interviewed on P1’s “Orientering” on 20 June on this topic. She points out that the situation calls for action, that we react before the rights are violated, as we see attempts at in Poland, among other places.

It’s really quite simple. As Melchior said in the program: “This is not something we can see through fingers with, or something that goes over by itself. If we believe that there should be equal rights, no matter who you love or who you are, that women should be allowed to rule over their own bodies, then that is something we will have to fight for. “

The narratives supported in these campaigns are directly drawn from the rhetoric we know here in the United States. They did not arise spontaneously in the religious department of the EU. It is naive to think that lobbying is an expression of cultural differences in Europe. On the contrary, it is a well-organized campaign. It requires a counter-campaign.

Never let it be the case that in 50 years there will be a man in my living room crying because he has had to fight a battle to be who he is and love who he does. And never let it be the case that women’s hard-fought rights are trampled underfoot with the pretext that fewer rights are rooted in a cultural-religious context and must therefore be respected in accordance with an ideological female vision of darkness.

(Google Translate)