LGBT Rights and Abortion
Public attitudes in Monaco about LGBT rights and abortion tend to be influenced by the Catholic Church, although not a member of the European Union, Monaco also has strong ties to France, which has more liberal polices in these areas. Thus there is a mixture of both conservative and liberal attitudes in Monaco concerning these issues.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Monaco may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Monaco, when conducted in private between consenting adults. Cross-dressing is likewise not expressly illegal, but the law does not allow for transgender people to change their identity after gender reassignment surgery.
Monaco is scheduled to adopt anti-discrimination laws that will include "sexual orientation" as a protected category in areas such as employment, education, housing, health care, banking or public accommodations. Same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for any of the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples, although there has been some discussion in the Monaco parliament about offering same-sex couples limited legal protections under the cohabitation law. The French government provides for the nation's defense, which allows openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve.
Abortion in Monaco is only allowed in cases of rape, fetal deformity or illness, or fatal danger to the mother. The most recent abortion legislation was enacted on 8 April 2009; before then Monaco had one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, only allowing the procedure if there was a risk of fatality for the mother.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Monaco
Famous quotes containing the words rights and/or abortion:
“Human beings have rights, because they are moral beings: the rights of all men grow out of their moral nature; and as all men have the same moral nature, they have essentially the same rights. These rights may be wrested from the slave, but they cannot be alienated: his title to himself is as perfect now, as is that of Lyman Beecher: it is stamped on his moral being, and is, like it, imperishable.”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)
“If the vice president thinks it’s disgraceful for an unmarried woman to bear a child, and if he believes that a woman cannot adequately raise a child without a father, then he’d better make sure that abortion remains safe and legal.”
—Diane British (b. 1948)