The ILGA annual report has been recently released showing data for 2024 and how Europe is doing with support for LGBTQIA+ rights with respect to human rights and full equality.
Unsurprisingly, but unfortunately, the UK has become a worse place for LGBTQIA+ people.
We remain 15th out of 48 countries, like the previous year, but our percentage has decreased from 54.84% to 51.88%. In 2023, we were 17th, in 2022 we were 14th. In 2021, we were 10th, and in 2015, we were 1st. Our percentage is the lowest since ILGA has been doing this (since 2013).
You can see the Rainbow Map at this link.
You can see data connected to the UK at this link.
The evolution of the UK scores by year are:
2013 – 76.50%
2014 – 80.25%
2015 – 86.00%
2016 – 79.19%
2017 – 75.73%
2018 – 73.48%
2019 – 67.62%
2020 – 66.16%
2021 – 63.74%
2022 – 53.40%
2023 – 53.40%
2024 – 51.88%
The UK currently stands at slightly above the European Union average, but we lag behind the following countries (in order from 1st to 14th): Malta, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, France, Netherlands and Ireland.
Countries below the UK are (in order from 16th to 48th): Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Montenegro, Estonia, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Czechia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Italy, Georgia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, San Marino, Monaco, Belarus, Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia (at just 2%).
Some of the key findings in the UK
- There is no intersex bodily integrity.
- Support for LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers is woeful, and nothing exists for gender identity or intersex people.
- So-called ‘conversion therapy’ is still not banned.
- There is no recognition of trans parenthood.
- Although there are laws against hate crime and hate speech with regard to sexual orientation, only Scotland seems to have laws against hate crime and hate speech against gender identity and intersex people.
- There are no policies tackling hatred towards sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex people.
- Non-binary people are still not recognised.
- Self-determination is still not recognised.
Looking at the percentages for each category for the UK:
Equality and Non-Discrimination: 47.43%
Family: 85.71%
Hate crime and Hate speech: 41.60%
Legal gender recognition: 43.21%
Intersex bodily integrity: 0.00%
Civil society space: 100%
Asylum: 16.67%
The UK is continuing to fail the LGBTQIA+ community in the country, particularly the trans community, the non-binary community, the intersex community and the LGBTQIA+ asylum community.
We in the community recognise the fall in support, although some members of the community would rather throw trans and non-binary people under the bus. I’m writing this short blog post to inform of the facts and the situation in the UK.