Positive state obligations under European law: A tool for achieving substantive equality for sexual minorities in Europe

Tryfonidou, Alina (2020)

Article

This article seeks to examine the development of positive obligations under European law in the specific context of the rights of sexual minorities. It is clear that the law should respect and protect all sexualities and diverse intimate relationships without discrimination, and for this purpose it needs to ensure that sexual minorities can not only be free from state interference when expressing their sexuality in private, but that they should be given the right to express their sexuality in public and to have their intimate relationships legally recognised. In addition, sexual minorities should be protected from the actions of other individuals, when these violate their legal and fundamental human rights. Accordingly, in addition to negative obligations, European law must impose positive obligations towards sexual minorities in order to achieve substantive equality for them. The article explains that, to date, European law has imposed a number of such positive obligations; nonetheless, there is definitely scope for more. It is suggested that European law should not wait for hearts and minds to change before imposing additional positive obligations, especially since this gives the impression that the EU and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are condoning or disregarding persistent discrimination against sexual minorities.

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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Unless otherwise noted, copyright in all submissions is retained by the author. Permission is granted for non-profit purposes to download and print material in Erasmus Law Review and to distribute this material to others provided the author’s name, place of publication and copyright notice remains secured on all copies