Cooper, J., Yoshida, K., Dunne, P., & Palmer, A. (2018). Brexit: The LGBT Impact Assessment. Gay Star News. https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/this-is-how-brexit-could-hurt-you- as-an-lgbti-person-in-the-uk/#gs.NrS0gnA Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Gay Star News at https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lgbti-people-need-to-know-brexit-will-put-our-rights-at-risk/#gs.tj13=qU. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher. University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ BREXIT THE LGBT IMPACT ASSESSMENT LGBT RIGHTS as Britain prepares to leave the European Union FOREWORD Lord Cashman AUTHORS Jonathan Cooper OBE Peter Dunne Anya Palmer Keina Yoshida EDITOR IN CHIEF Tris Reid-Smith NOTE ON LANGUAGE In this report we use LGBTI to mean the whole LGBTQI+ community, in accordance with Gay Star News style. In the case of European rights and protections, it is often more accurate to refer to LGBT or to just LGB, so we have used those initialisms where appropriate. Photo by David Dibert BREXIT: THE LGBT IMPACT ASSESSMENT LGBT RIGHTS AS BRITAIN PREPARES TO LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD 04 PART TWO: EDITOR’S FOREWORD 05 WHAT WILL LEAVING THE EU ABOUT THE AUTHORS 06 MEAN FOR LGBT PEOPLE? INTRODUCTION 07 IS BRITISH LAW SUFFICIENT TO PROTECT US? 16 WHY SHOULD OUR COMMUNITY PART ONE: FEAR RIGHTS MAY BE UNDERMINED? 16 HOW EUROPE HAS SHAPED BREXIT HAS EVEN GREATER CONSEQUENCES FOR LGBT PEOPLE 17 BRITISH LGBTI RIGHTS EU MEMBERSHIP ADVANTAGES ENDING SEXUAL ORIENTATION THAT LGBT PEOPLE STAND TO LOSE 17 DISCRIMINATION AS A PRINCIPLE OF EU CITIZENSHIP 09 FREE MOVEMENT 18 UK GOVERNMENT TRANSITIONS FROM TRANSGENDER RIGHTS 19 OPPOSING EQUALITY TO WELCOMING IT 10 SEXUAL ORIENTATION THE UK FOLLOWS THE EU AND PUTS EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS 20 EQUALITY INTO PRACTICE 10 RELATIONSHIP RECOGNITION 21 THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS TAKES THE EU LEAD 11 ASYLUM LAW 23 EUROPE, WESTMINSTER AND WHITEHALL CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS DRIVE CHANGE TOGETHER 11 OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 23 THE EU CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS RAISES LEVELS OF PROTECTION 12 RECOMMENDATIONS 25 CEMENTING LGBT RIGHTS IN LAW 13 DOES EUROPE’S INABILITY TO PREVENT ALL ABUSES UNDERMINE ITS SIGNIFICANCE? 14 3 BREXIT: THE LGBT IMPACT ASSESSMENT LGBT RIGHTS AS BRITAIN PREPARES TO LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION ernment refuses to carry forward after we leave the European Union? This government, which has consis- tently questioned judgements on human rights and questioned whether we need to be committed to in- ternational human rights obligations. The Charter of Fundamental Rights is a stunning re- affirmation that rights will be protected against gov- ernments who would not otherwise give them, or wish to take them away. It is a Charter that has helped to progress human rights in other parts of the world too. It remains a powerful tool. Again, as I said in the House of Lords, when it comes to human rights and civil liberties I want more guaran- tees, even repeats of those guarantees, not less. The report you are about to read is a powerful remind- er that if we do nothing, then we could potentially lose all. They have woven together the story of the evolu- tion of the protection of rights, including LGBT rights, that might never have happened had it not been for FOREWORD persistence, vision and courage. A group of nations acting together to ensure that the past would never BY LORD CASHMAN be repeated and that voiceless minorities, however un- popular, would be protected. At times when either as individuals or as a nation we 30 years ago I never believed that any government, not face great and unprecedented change, we need more even a Conservative government in the United King- certainty not less. dom would’ve brought forward a piece of legislation to further undermine and indeed stigmatise a commu- Reassurance is absolutely necessary if we are to em- nity battling against AIDS and HIV. It happened. Sec- bark upon a journey whose destination we do not tion 28 happened. It was politically expedient and our know, and on a journey that needs to unite this divided Parliament passed it. country rather than imperil it. This should be our reminder that, in the landscape of Passionate words maybe, and I make no excuses for human rights, we always need to guard against the un- them. It is how I have argued in the defence of the expected. The Charter is one of our guardians, and Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU during our this story is it’s evolution. debates in the House of Lords on our withdrawal from the European Union. We have been told time and time again by the gov- ernment, and some legal experts that we do not need the Charter, that it is unnecessary because the rights already exist in other domestic legislation and interna- tional conventions. That is plainly untrue. But if that was the case, then why is it that this is the one piece of EU law this gov- Michael Maurice Cashman, Baron Cashman, CBE is a British Labour politician and former actor. He was a co-founder of Stonewall. He was a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency from 1999 until he stood down in 2014. He has since then been appointed to the House of Lords. On 23 September 2014, Cashman was appointed the Labour Party’s special envoy on LGBT issues worldwide. 4 BREXIT: THE LGBT IMPACT ASSESSMENT LGBT RIGHTS AS BRITAIN PREPARES TO LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION rights on the day we exit the EU. That is likely true, although this report shows we will lose benefits. More- over, Europe will no longer drive the agenda on sexu- ality and gender identity rights in the UK, as it has for two decades. Even more seriously, we will lose the EU’s guarantees on the rights we have. LGBT Britons have frequently relied on those guarantees and there is no UK consti- tution to replace them. LGBT people in this country remember the spectre of Section 28. We know there- fore, that an unfriendly future government can enshrine homophobia or transphobia in law. Our UK community is also well connected to LGBTIs in other parts of the world and has witnessed many examples of politicians reversing their rights with devastating consequences. Britain has advanced in its overall attitudes to LGBTI people. But many of the senior UK politicians backing Brexit have openly homophobic and transphobic re- cords. Trusting the future of the rights we have worked so hard to achieve to their goodwill seems to me to be EDITOR’S FOREWORD reckless. BY TRIS REID-SMITH Immediately after the June 2016 Brexit vote, we saw that attitudes can rapidly change on the streets. In July, August and September of that year, hate crimes against You may think it is inevitable, in the complexity of the LGBTI people rose 147%, measured against the same Brexit negotiations, that the needs of minorities, in- period in 2015. cluding LGBTI people, will be overlooked. As a community we can pretend this danger isn’t loom- We have certainly seen no evidence that the UK Gov- ing. Or we can do what we have always done – take ernment has paid any attention to LGBTI citizens in the responsibility personally and collectively for the pro- Brexit process. And so, with this report, we take it on tection and promotion of our rights. I believe we are ourselves to assess the impact of Brexit on our commu- well-motivated to act. A straw poll carried out by Gay nity and to provide recommendations. Star News just before the 2016 Brexit vote indicated that 77% of our readers wished to remain. More gener- The UK Government’s current view is that they can jetti- ally, polling since the referendum has seen a slow, but son the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – the highest consistent, shift to scepticism about Brexit. standard of protection for LGBTI people currently avail- able in international law – as superfluous. That certainly Brexiteers have argued that pro-EU voices in the UK indicates trouble may lie ahead. should silently accept the course they are now plotting for us. But it is an exercise in democracy to openly ar- If you think that your sexuality or gender identity has gue for the future we wish to see. little to do with what you stand to lose in the Brexit pro- cess, this report may alarm you. It sets out that LGBT I am deeply indebted to the report’s authors for taking rights have been driven forward by our EU membership on my commission pro-bono and for providing their un- and are underwritten by it. And it argues that LGBT paralleled expertise on this subject. I hope their words people are even more likely than others to use rights will be read with care, and their warnings heeded, be- granted by the EU. fore it is too late. The UK Government has stated we will not lose LGBT Tris Reid-Smith is a journalist, the founder and editor of Gay Star News. While studying psychology at Reading University he helped to edit the student newspaper.