ILGA-Europe Warns LGBT+ Rights Are Moving Backwards
The European activist group International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) have released their annual Rainbow Europe Map and Index which charts the progress of LGBT+ rights across the continent. They’ve warned that the index shows a regression.
The index ranks 49 European countries on their LGBT+ equality and non-discrimination laws, legal gender recognition and bodily integrity, protection from hatred and violence, family rights, and spaces in civil society.
They’ve found that Poland “no longer provides access to medically-assisted reproduction for single women,” and Bulgaria has “removed all their administrative and legal procedures for changing name or gender marker in the official documents for trans people.”
The UK, which sat at the top of the index for four years has slid to number 8, while Malta has taken the number one spot.
The countries that ranked the worst were Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
“If ever there was a time to put high political priority on LGBTI equality, it is now!” said Evelyne Paradis, the Executive Director of ILGA-Europe.
“Last year, we warned about the dangers of thinking that the work was done. Sadly, this year, we see concrete evidence of roll-back at political and legislative levels in a growing number of countries. There is no more time to waste.
“In the current increasingly polarised social and political climate, laws and policies are often the last lines of defence for LGBTI communities. That’s why we need national and European decision-makers to redouble efforts to secure equality in law and in practice for LGBTI people.”
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