ECPM is concerned about this report and agrees with what our associate Care for Europe wrote:

We fully support the principle of non-discrimination against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation alone. However, we are concerned that the provisions of the Gross Report go far beyond to what is necessary to prevent discrimination and protect concerned individuals from incitement to violent acts against them.

ECPM agrees with the following concerns that Care for Europe and other organizations have about the report::

1. It would undermine the sovereign right of States to make their own provisions for recognition of marital and family status. ECHR jurisprudence only requires that where States recognise unmarried couples for certain legal purposes (eg. inheritance or next of kin) this recognition should embrace both same sex and mixed sex couples.
2. It would undermine the right to freedom of expression, opinion and conscience, particularly for religious organisations and individuals. References to so-called ‘hate speech’ and ‘negative attitudes’ are too open-ended and make no distinction between criticism of persons and criticism of particular forms of conduct. There is also no clear link to intention to incite violence. National jurisdictions where such provisions have already been enacted have seen the prosecution of church ministers, speaking on church premises, for explaining doctrine in the area of sexual morality.
3. The references to the ‘transgender’ issue contain factual inaccuracies and seek to divorce any State response from the use of objective criteria. As with sexual orientation, gender identity can cover a broad spectrum of conditions and experiences. States have rightly to date limited any provisions for alteration of individual gender records to the use of objective criteria (eg. gender reassignment surgery). The Report seems to advocate the change of objective legal records on the basis of temporary subjective experience alone.

It is encouraging to see that many partners and friends from our network are involved in trying to reach the PACE members to explain them the dangers for this report. Besides Care for Europe, we also thank the European Evangelical Alliance for keeping us informed about the latest developments regarding this report. A day prior to the vote, a lunch will be organized by Care for Europe, World Youth Alliance – Europe and the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe with as theme: "Equal Rights and The Family: A Clash of Rights?” We hope and pray for wisdom and Gods guidance for the meeting of the Council of Europe.