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A rise in attacks on LGBTIQ people across Europe reflects a troubling trend of growing acceptance of discrimination and more restrictive laws, according to a new report.
Attacks against LGBTIQ people are rising across Europe, indicating a worrying trend of normalisation and an increase in discriminatory legislation, according to a new report by ILGA-Europe, an NGO umbrella organisation. Civil society organisations and politicians warn of the spread and political mainstreaming of anti-LGBTIQ narratives across Europe. “Reading this review, we can only be alarmed and worried”, said Ana Carla Pereira, Director of the Equality and Non-discrimination Unit at DG JUST in the European Commission. While acknowledging some progress in recent years, she warned that the overall situation is becoming increasingly troubling. “This report provides us with a reality check of the work that still needs to be done”, agreed MEP Alessandro Zan (Italy/S&D). Katrin Hugendubel, Advocacy Director at ILGA-Europe, emphasised during the report’s presentation that anti-LGBTIQ campaigns are paving the way for restrictive legislation in many European countries. She warned that ongoing homophobic and transphobic hate and misinformation campaigns have laid the groundwork for laws such as anti-propaganda laws and foreign agent laws, which, while ostensibly targeting LGBTIQ rights, extend much further—introducing censorship, stigmatisation, and the persecution of human rights defenders and opposition figures. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s so-called “Child Protection Law” has been challenged by the European Commission at the European Court of Justice for allegedly violating EU treaties. Similarly, Bulgaria’s anti-propaganda laws have faced widespread EU criticism. “In 2024, politicians in many countries —including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Moldova, and Romania— weaponised discriminatory narratives against LGBTIQ people during election periods specifically,” added Hugendubel. One example shown in the report is Belgium, where, in the run-up to the national and regional elections in June, Vlaams Belang, a Belgian political party, “actively promoted anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric through hate speech and bias-motivated discourse.” Commission withdrawal of equality initiativeThe report comes just a week after the European Commission announced the withdrawal of a directive aimed at ensuring equal treatment regardless of age, disability, sexual orientation, or religious belief. Lawmakers and civil society groups have condemned the decision, warning that it weakens the EU’s commitment to equality. “It has been quite a hard hit that the Commission decides to withdraw the horizontal discrimination legislation,” said Kim Van Sparrentak, Dutch MEP from the Greens. “We have to make sure that the Commission realises that this is not what we want, […] in the Parliament we were ready to work on it and we are not going to let this happen without a fight”, she added. Alessandro Zan also called for new and stronger legislative proposals following this withdrawal as “giving it up without replacement will waste years and years of political progress”.
