IDAHOBIT: Rainbow Europe 2024

Each year, on May 17th, we celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT). This year, more than any other year (which, frankly, I think I said last year as well), it is absolutely vital that we, as a beautifully diverse race, stand together and fight for each other.

For those of you who don't know, ILGA-Europe published their 2024 Rainbow Europe Review this week. The results for the UK, while not entirely unsurprising, were incredibly disheartening.

In support of IDAHOBIT, and this year's theme of 'No one left behind: Equality, freedom and justice for all', I'd like to take you through the results of the Rainbow Europe Rankings in more detail, primarily focusing on the UK but with some insight into other countries rankings too where appropriate. The resources and information provided by ILGA, while incredibly extensive and informative, can be a rather daunting read, so my aim with this is to make the relevant information as digestible as possible while providing further resources based on taking action.

Before we get into that, though, here's a bit of background IDAHOBIT for you...

Understanding IDAHOBIT

The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia was established in 2004 to draw attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by 2SLGBTQIA+ people internationally. The date of May 17th was chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization's decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder. This day represents a significant step towards acknowledging the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and fostering a more inclusive society.

2SLGBTQIA+: Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Ally, Plus/Everything else!

Rainbow Europe: UK Scores by Category

The Rainbow Europe Ranking is made up of 7 categories in total, covering a wide range of topics from the basic rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ folk to family and asylum policy. Here's how the UK did in each of those categories...

Category 1 - Equality & Non-Discrimination

This category looks into effective anti-discrimination legislation that explicitly includes sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. Also taken into consideration are laws and policies banning conversion practices and allowing 2SLGBTQIA+ people to donate blood. In addition to legislation, effectively working equality bodies and well-implemented action plans are also looked into.

• UK score: 22nd of 39 (47.34%)
• EU average: 50.87%
• Europe average: 44.77%
• Highest scoring country: Greece (97.91%)
• Lowest scoring country: Azerbaijan/Monaco/Russia/Turkey (0%)

Areas where the UK does not comply

Conversion practices, which seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, are not banned based on either sexual orientation or gender. 2SLGBTQIA+ people don’t need to be cured, and interventions that seek to make a person straight or cisgender can and do cause significant long-term harm to victims. Have your say.

No national human rights bodies are in place to explicitly work on law/founding documents regarding sexual orientation, gender, or sex characteristics, meaning no work is being done on systemic issues.

An equality action plan based on sexual orientation and sex characteristics, while in place in Wales, is not in place in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England. This suggests no further work on the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ people is going to be carried out despite the continuing disparities.

An equality action plan based on gender identity, while in place in Wales and Scotland, is not in place in Northern Ireland, and England.

There is no law in place which explicitly protects people from discrimination within employment, goods & services, education, and health based on sex characteristics.

Category 2 - Family

This category looks into the recognition and protection of 2SLGBTQIA+ people’s family rights with consideration of laws on marriage equality, registered partnership, adoption, medically assisted insemination, and trans parenthood.

• UK score: 3rd of 18 (85.67%)
• EU average: 54.68%
• Europe average: 41.11%
• Highest scoring country: Belgium/Malta/Sweden (99.94%)
• Lowest scoring country: Azerbaijan/Lithuania/Poland/Romania/Serbia/Slovakia/Turkey/Ukraine (0%)

Areas where the UK does not comply

While same-sex partners can enter a registered partnership/civil partnership, the level of rights is significantly weaker than those offered by marriage.

There is no recognition of trans parenthood, so a child's birth certificate will not reflect the recognised name and gender of their parent if they are transgender. Parental markers are also limited to 'mother' and 'father', with no gender-neutral terms available for non-binary parents.

Category 3 - Hate Crime & Hate Speech

This looks into laws that include sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics in the hate crime and hate speech legislation as an aggravating factor. The category also takes into account the recurrent and continuing policies tackling hatred.

• UK score: 9th of 15 (41.59%)
• EU average: 41.27%
• Europe average: 34.21%
• Highest scoring country: Malta (100%)
• Lowest scoring country: Armenia/Azerbaijan/Belarus/Czechia/Italy/Poland/Russia/Turkey/Ukraine (0%)

Areas where the UK does not comply

There is no policy to tackle hatred based on sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.

Hate crime law and hate speech law based on gender identity and intersex status, while in place in Scotland, are not in place in Wales, Northern Ireland, and England.

Category 4 - Legal Gender Recognition

This category looks at laws and policies that ensure legal gender recognition for trans, non-binary and intersex people and the requirements and preconditions to access these procedures.

• UK score: 19th of 32 (43.21%)
• EU average: 49.27%
• Europe average: 40.70%
• Highest scoring country: Iceland (100%)
• Lowest scoring country: Bulgaria/Hungary/Russia (0%)

Areas where the UK does not comply

Legal measures as a whole, and the related administrative procedures, while in place in Scotland and Wales, are not in place in Northern Ireland and England.

Folk are unable to self-determine their gender, resulting in the requirement for numerous gender identity clinic appointments to gain a diagnosis of 'gender identity disorder', the wait for which is upwards of 5 years.

There is no legal recognition for non-binary folk. Sign this petition to support this change.

There are restrictions in place that prevent trans people from legally starting the gender recognition process until they are 18 years of age, as a result, no legal gender recognition proceeders exist for minors. Alarmingly, the UK government are taking steps to further limit the healthcare of trans youth. You can take action.

There is zero coverage of depathologisation, meaning there is no cost coverage for trans-specific healthcare or support services for anyone without a mental health diagnosis assessment or diagnosis.

Category 5 - Intersex Bodily Integrity

The criteria under this category covers prohibition of any kind of surgical or medical intervention on an intersex minor before child is able to give informed consent. Additionally take into account is whether prohibition is universal to all persons, establishes a monitoring mechanism and provides access to justice for victims and reparations.

• UK score: 3rd of 3 (0%)
• EU average: 9.63%
• Europe average: 6.33%
• Highest scoring country: Greece (60%)
• Lowest scoring country: Albania/Andorra/Armenia/Austria/Azerbaijan/Belarus/Belgium/Bosnia & Herzegovina/Bulgaria/Croatia/Cyprus/Czechia/Denmark/Estonia/Finland/ France/Georgia/Hungary/Ireland/Italy/Kosovo/Latvia/Liechtenstein/Lithuania/ Luxembourg/North Macedonia/Moldova/Monaco/Montenegro/Netherlands/ Norway/Poland/Romania/Russia/San Marino/Serbia/Slovakia/Slovenia/ Sweden/Switzerland/Turkey/Ukraine/United Kingdom (0%)

Areas where the UK does not comply

There is no prohibition of medical intervention without informed consent, meaning parents and medical professionals can decide on their preferred course of intervention of an intersex child without their preferences being taken into account.

There is no universal prohibition on medical interventions.

There are no effective monitoring mechanisms in place. While we have approximate numbers on the population percentage of those with intersex characteristics in the UK, there is no monitoring of nonconsensual medical intervention and any resulting physical and/or psychological disorders.

There is no access to justice and reparations for victims of nonconsensual medical intervention. As a result, those who feel the incorrect sex was chosen for them during early nonconsensual medical intervention, and those who did not want medical intervention at all are not eligible for compensation from those who made decisions about a body that was not their own.

Category 6 - Civil Society Space

This category is about laws, policies and practices that allow for full exercise of freedom of assembly, association and expression for 2SLGBTQIA+ people.

• UK score: 1st of 7 (100%)
• EU average: 93.21%
• Europe average: 85.15%
• Highest scoring country: Albania/Andorra/Austria/Belgium/Croatia/Cyprus/Czechia/Denmark/Estonia/ Finland/France/Germany/Iceland/Ireland/Italy/Kosovo/Latvia/Liechtenstein/ Luxembourg/North Macedonia/Malta/Moldova/Monaco/Montenegro/ Netherlands/Norway/Portugal/Slovakia/Slovenia/Spain/Sweden/Switzerland/ United Kingdom (100%)
• Lowest scoring country: Belarus/Russia (0%)

Areas where the UK does not comply

The UK complies with all civil society space requirements. Find out more about this category, here.

Category 7 - Asylum

• UK score: 6th of 7 (16.67%)
• EU average: 44.44%
• Europe average: 32.99%
• Highest scoring country: Spain (100%)
• Lowest scoring country: Andorra/Armenia/Azerbaijan/Belarus/Bosnia & Herzegovina/ Bulgaria/Estonia/Georgia/Lithuania/Monaco/Russia/San Marino/Turkey/Ukraine (0%)

Areas where the UK does not comply

There are no 'other' legal or non-legal positive measures related to asylum that have specific provisions addressing the needs and rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ refugees and/or asylum seekers based on sexual orientation.

There is no asylum law at all addressing the needs and rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ refugees and/or asylum seekers based on gender identity. As a result, transgender men and women are likely to be placed in facilities that do not align with their recognised gender.

Importantly, these are two areas that the UK did comply with in the 2023 rankings, highlighting the UK's backtracking on asylum policy as a whole.

There is also, and has never been, any asylum law at all addressing the needs and rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ refugees and/or asylum seekers based on intersex status.

Overall Ranking Results

Based on the categories above, the relevant overall rankings are as follows:

• UK score: 16th of 49 (51.87% - down from 53.38% in 2023)
• EU average: 50.60%
• Europe average: 42.06%
• Highest scoring country: Malta (87.83%)
• Lowest scoring country: Azerbaijan/Russia (2%)

Other Key Points

• Malta, while still in 1st place, scored less this year overall (87.83%) than last year (89.30%), and scored their lowest score since 2021 (93.88%) due to a year-on-year decline.

• Greece has made the largest improvements, scoring 70.77% in 2024 compared to 56.70% in 2023.

• Other countries showing improved scores from 2023 include Iceland, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Croatia, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Andorra, Estonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Cyprus, Slovakia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Czechia, Italy, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, San Marino, Monaco, Armenia, and Turkey
• All countries showing decreased scores from 2023 include Malta, Sweden, France, Montenegro, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Azerbaijan.
• Montenegro had the largest decrease in score from 2023 (61.44%) to 2024 (48.20%).
• Russia scores the lowest score in 2024 with only 2%.

• The lowest score in 2024 (2% - Russia) was lower than the lowest score in 2023 (2.41% - Azerbaijan).
• Overall category scores show less than 50% compliance to ILGA recommended practices across Europe.

What does this all mean?

While I've tried to make this as digestible as possible, I fully appreciate that this is still a whole lot of information to take in. So, based on the information that I've presented above, here are some key takeaways:

• The UK is in the minority of countries that had reduced scores from 2023 to 2024.
• One reason for the reduction in score for the UK is due to the wider issues regarding refugees and/or asylum seekers, which are affecting not just 2SLGBTQIA+ folk, but cisgender and/or heterosexual folk too.
• Based on the improvement in scores from other countries, the UK would have actually scored much lower if Scotland and Wales had not recently improved their policy regarding the trans and non-binary communities.
• No countries scored above 90% for the second year running.
• While it is, of course, important to look at those countries with high scores, equal recognition should also be given to those countries who have made improvements, no matter how small. Malta being in first place again is fantastic, and as someone with personal/family ties to Malta, I'm incredibly proud of their accomplishments, but we must not ignore the continued reduction in score simply because they are in first place. 2SLGBTQIA+ rights are not a static matter, they must be continuously developed and improved if true equality is to be achieved.

• We are failing our intersex community. Approximately 1.1 million people meet the intersex classification in the UK alone. That's 1.1 million people with no legal protection and no access to rights that enable them to highlight the use of nonconsensual medical intervention which continues to put their natural bodies in the hands of those who have no right to them. In most cases, children born with intersex characteristics will have their sex chosen for them by a parent or medical professional based on their preference. While Intersex law, in general, is lacking, initial laws are being passed in some European countries that prohibit medical intervention until the individual is of consenting age, allowing them to make the decisions concerning their chosen sex and medical intervention.

• Non-binary remains an unrecognised gender in the UK, which, as a non-binary person, is utterly ridiculous because hello, I exist. What this ultimately means is while non-binary folk can go through the process of being medically diagnosed with a gender identity disorder, they cannot change their legal gender markers because there is nothing to change them to.
• Despite pledged legislation in both 2021 and 2022 to ban conversion therapy in the UK, it remains a legal practice based on gender identity and sexual orientation in the UK. More than that, while the Scottish government published a detailed document on their plans to end conversion therapy practices in January 2024, the English government have publicly taken any plans to ban conversion therapy off the table.

As we commemorate IDAHOBIT, it’s clear that our journey towards full equality and acceptance for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is far from over. The 2024 Rainbow Europe Review offers a sobering snapshot of where the UK stands in this struggle. Despite some progress, particularly in Scotland and Wales, the overall decline in the UK's score underscores a troubling trend of stagnation and regression in key areas of 2SLGBTQIA+ rights.

This year's theme, 'No one left behind: Equality, freedom and justice for all,' is a call to action. We must not rest on past achievements or become complacent in the face of ongoing challenges. Instead, we need to harness the momentum from the improvements seen in other countries and apply that energy to reinvigorate our efforts here in the UK.

The Rainbow Europe review highlights critical areas where the UK must urgently address deficiencies: banning conversion therapy, improving asylum policies for 2SLGBTQIA+ refugees, providing legal recognition for non-binary and intersex individuals, and ensuring comprehensive hate crime legislation. These steps are not just bureaucratic necessities; they are essential to the dignity, safety, and well-being of countless individuals.

IDAHOBIT is a crucial reminder of the work still needed to ensure equality for all. By reflecting on the data, listening to the voices of the marginalised, and taking concrete action, we can move closer to a world where everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, is free to live authentically and without fear. Let’s commit to being allies to all 2SLGBTQIA+ folk, and humanity as a whole, every day, not just on May 17th. Together we can make huge changes which, if we push hard enough, can contribute to next year's Rainbow Europe ranking. Let's commit to doing what we can to push the scores back up for 2025.

For full details on the 2024 Rainbow Europe rankings, click here.

For the interactive Rainbow Europe map, click here.

For more information about International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, click here.