European organization ILGA-Europe published the results of their assessment instrument Rainbow Europe for 2023.
Despite intense anti-LGBTI attacks in several countries, equality is still advancing across Europe.
While the public discourse around trans people is still polarized and violent, a number of countries have introduced legal gender recognition using a self-determination model. The strong support for queer people had benefits for the politicians as well. It’s more visible in the countries, which ban surgical procedures on intersex genital mutilation (IGM).
According to this year’s map, Spain moved from the 6th place to the 4th place, Finland entered the top ten, and Greece moved up by 4 positions. The definition of sexual orientation and gender identity as hate-motivated aggravating circumstances in anti-discrimination legislation has brought Belgium and Iceland to the level of Spain. Malta is at the forefront.
Noteworthy, Moldova moved up by 14 positions, as the country’s legislation banning discrimination in addition to hate crimes and language, crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity were also extended to the areas of employment, education, trade, and services, as well as health.
Slovenia and Switzerland have legalized same-sex marriage and joint adoption. Switzerland has additionally allowed in vitro fertilization for queer couples. Croatia has also allowed adoption for queer couples.
Georgia still holds its 25% rating (in 2015 this number was 25%), which means that in terms of the full recognition and respect of the LGBTQI people’s rights at the legislative level, the country is behind by 75%. However, it is still ahead of a number of countries such as Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Latvia.
Of course, the existence of legislation does not necessarily mean its protection, and in this regard, the legal situation of the LGBTQI community in Georgia, according to the reports of the Public Defender and community organizations, is quite difficult. According to the results of the study from 2021, 7 out of 10 queers experienced physical violence at least once in the last 2 years, and 68.7% of respondents experienced psychological violence.
ILGA-Europe’s tool Rainbow Europe annually evaluates 49 European countries according to 74 criteria. More information can be found on the following link: www.rainbow-europe.org/about
