■ Felix Alvarez:  “It is a shame for Gibraltar that, despite all the spin we hear from those in power, human rights progress comes only as a result of external pressure and obligations.”

GIBRALTAR, October 16, 2007  –  The Gibraltar Equality Rights group, GGR, this afternoon welcomed the intervention of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown over the inequality of the UK’s self-governing overseas territory’s age of consent laws.

Yesterday, UK MEP Michael Cashman raised the matter with Mr. Brown at a meeting in 10 Downing Street.

“This comes after submissions recently made by GGR to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament,” Felix Alvarez, GGR chairman said in a statement.

“This is an opportune moment for Government and GGR to sit round the table and start a process of real dialogue towards progress for Gibraltar’s gay community.

“It is a good moment also for the new Justice Minister to play a role in reconciliation,” he added.

Mr Alvarez added that GGR is indebted to the support it has received from Mr. Cashman, one of its patrons, for raising the matter directly with the British Prime Minister.

“In a recent press release, we predicted that the unacceptable situation of same-sex partners in Gibraltar would lead to intervention similar to that of 1993, when the British Government had to enforce European Convention provisions on the Rock as a result of moral and legal failure on the part of our own authorities,” Mr Alvarez continued.

“It is a shame for Gibraltar that, despite all the spin we hear from those in power, human rights progress comes only as a result of external pressure and obligations.

“But it is a particular shame because such backward thinking and recalcitrant attitudes do not accurately reflect the overwhelming support the majority of the people of Gibraltar today express on this matter,” Mr. Alvarez continued.

“In 2007, Gibraltarians understand less and less why it is that prejudice and inequality in this area of social legislation should continue in our country,” he added.

“Just one small proof of this particular pudding and of the growing support being received on this matter is the growing heterosexual support being received on Gibraltar-based internet pro-gay rights forums which have spontaneously established themselves.

“As Chairman of GGR I will not cry victory until change has actually been introduced.  Today’s news, however, is without doubt a welcome breakthrough,” he added.

“Whilst this news may perhaps be a bitter pill for Mr Caruana to take, I once more stretch the hand of real and sincere dialogue with a real and sincere agenda for change on both sides in the hope that, on this occasion, and in contrast to the last time such dialogue was announced a few years back, a real commitment for effective and practical dialogue might be possible.

“If constructive attitudes on both sides are allowed to exist, I see no reason why bad feeling should continue to be the order of the day between GGR and Government,” Mr Alvarez concluded.

■ Last Thursday, Peter Caruana’s Gibraltar Social Democrat party won an unprecedented fourth consecutive term of office, scraping home by four per cent in the General Election who saw a record 81% of the electorate voting.

SEE ALSO

PM Brown To Take Up Gay Age of Consent Inequality in Gibraltar.  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to take-up the matter of the unequal age of consent still in place in Gibraltar, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.  ((UK Gay News, October 16, 2007)

Gay Age of Consent Equality: ‘We Have Given Gibraltarian Government Long Enough’.  A British Member of the European Parliament has pledged today to take the matter of equality of the age of consent in Gibraltar directly to the heart of Number 10 Downing Street. (UK Gay News, October 8, 2007)

Chief Minister Is ‘Passing the Buck’ to Gordon Brown on Gay Age of Consent.  Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana’s failure to act on the legal age of consent is degrading the constitution and turning the Rock’s highest law into a series of voluntary codes as far as human rights are concerned, Equality Rights GGR claimed last night.  (UK Gay News, October 7, 2007)

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Posted: 16 October 2007 at 15:30 (UK time)