THE OMBUDSWOMAN has asked the Defence Ministry to change the content of discharge papers after a homosexual was denied a driving licence based on a military assessment that he had psychological problems.
Although homosexuals are – like all other men – obliged to do military service in Cyprus, they have been allowed to seek an exemption, though not on the grounds of their homosexuality. Instead, it has been standard practice in the army to grant exemptions on various psychiatric grounds, such as personality disorder or neurosis.
However, such references can deny people classed in this way other basic rights, such as a driving licence.
The case investigated by Ombudswoman Iliana Nicolaou was filed by a 28-year old homosexual, who was discharged from the army after being deemed “unsuitable” for health reasons. He had been examined by a military committee and classed as being “neurotic”. He was later unable to obtain a driving licence.
An official at the Road Transport Department told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that as far as he knew, when it came to issuing licences, there was no discrimination against homosexuals exempted from the army on psychological grounds. “We never refuse in such as case,” he said, adding that applicants in such cases were usually sent for a second opinion “to clear the case”.
“There is no discrimination,” he insisted.
Gay rights activist and architect Alecos Modinos, whose case at the European Court of Human Rights eventually brought about the decriminalising of homosexuality in Cyprus in 2000, also said he was not aware of any cases of discrimination against gays when it came to driving licences. He said the army had had a strong discrimination policy towards homosexuals in the past, but that it was not as prevalent today. “They used to class them as psychotics, but they have stopped,” he said.
However, in her report Nicolaou suggested that the Defence Ministry change the discharge papers of people exempted from military service for medical reasons to avoid their personal rights being violated. She also said that the issue of homosexuals and the military needed particular attention.
“Specifically, during the handling of these matters it must be taken into consideration that the sexual choices of these people attract social and moral scepticism, and consequently the voluntary or involuntary lack of action on the part of the authorities to regulate matters concerning homosexuals while at the same time they are subjected most of the time to daily discrimination,” the report said.
The battle between gays rights activists and the army has been a bone of contention for years. Homosexuals have in the past objected to being classed as psychologically disturbed on army discharge papers and the issue was raised in a case brought before the European Court of Human Rights in the mid-nineties.
In August 1994, the International Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Cyprus asked the Ministry of Defence not to use the sexual orientation of the applicant Stavros Marangos as a grounds for declaring him psychiatrically unsuitable for military service, as this would violate the Constitution and the country’s international obligations.
Six months later, the Ministry of Defence replied to the Human Rights Association that, although homosexuality was not considered a disease, the competent committee examined the presence of personality disorders.
In June 1995 the Cyprus Mail obtained a copy of a certificate of military exemption given to a gay man, which said: “Mr. S is unsuitable for military service because he suffers from a sexual perversion, being a passive homosexual”.
