Following the protest against a possible re-vote of the Slovenian national song final EMA 2002, the European Parliament voiced concern last Saturday that the rights of sexual minorities might be violated in Slovenia, ESCTODAY learned from the unofficial Sestre website.
“If it turns out that the controversy has a homophobic background, the equal treatment of sexual minorities in Slovenia will become questionable”, Dutch member of the European Parliament Lousewies van der Laan, chair of the European Parliament's committee on citizen's freedoms and rights, justice and home affairs, said to the Slovene press agency STA.
The rights of sexual minorities are an unalienable part of human rights, the respect for which is a prerequisite for entry into the EU, she said, adding that Slovenia has had its reputation in European Parliament marred last year after the referendum to allow single women access to in-vitro fertilisation failed.
“In the European Parliament, we understood the failed referendum as a conspiracy of the church and an attempt to discriminate lesbians, which did not create a positive image of Slovenia. What is more, events surrounding the selection of the Slovenian Eurovision representative could confirm the picture that Slovenia is a very conservative country”, van der Laan explained.
After all, RTVSLO decided to send Sestre to Tallinn after all.
