Growing anti-LGBTIQ narratives sparks 'alarm' across Europe
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 Flemish nationalist, right-wing political party, "actively promoted anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric through hate speech and bias-motivated discourse."
Commission withdrawal of equality initiative
The 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'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local France
5 hours ago
- Local France
France's Macron to visit Greenland
Macron's office said he had been invited to visit on June 15 by the territory's prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish leader Mette Frederiksen. The three will hold talks focused on North Atlantic and Arctic security, climate change, the energy transition and the supply of critical minerals, the French presidency said. The visit will contribute to fostering "European sovereignty" and was aiming at "strengthening cooperation" with Greenland, it added. READ ALSO: Norway 'in solidarity' with Greenland and Denmark after US threats Frederiksen called the visit "a concrete testimony of European unity" in a statement. "It has been uplifting to see the strong international support for Greenland and the Kingdom in the difficult foreign policy situation in recent months," she said. Danish and Greenlandic leaders have insisted that the autonomous territory, where a majority are in favour of independence in the long term, must decide its own future, and have repeatedly said Washington "will never get Greenland". Macron will travel on to Canada after the Greenland visit to participate in a G7 summit.
LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, in territorial escalation
Russia said Sunday, June 8 it was pushing into Ukraine's eastern industrial Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its three-year offensive – a significant territorial escalation amid stalled peace talks. Moscow, which has the initiative on the battlefield, has repeatedly refused calls by Ukraine, Europe and US President Donald Trump for a full and unconditional ceasefire. At talks in Istanbul last week it demanded Kyiv pull troops back from the frontline, agree to end all Western arms support and give up on its ambitions to join the NATO military alliance. Dnipropetrovsk is not among the five Ukrainian regions over which Russia has asserted a formal territorial claim. It is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv's struggling military and economy. Dnipropetrovosk was estimated to have a population of around three million people before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro. Russia's defense ministry said forces from a tank unit had "reached the western border of the Donetsk People's Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region." The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv's forces after months of setbacks on the battlefield. There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia's statement. Moscow in 2022 said it was annexing the frontline Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, which it did not have full control over. In 2014, it seized the Crimean peninsula following a pro-EU revolution in Kyiv. In a set of peace demands issued to Ukraine at the latest talks, it demanded formal recognition that these regions were part of Russia – something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out. Strategic setback Tens of thousands have been killed in Russia's three-year offensive, and millions forced to flee their homes, cities and villages across eastern Ukraine, devastated by relentless air attacks and ground combat. In more than a decade of conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists and the Russian army, Ukraine has never had to fight on the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region until now. The region – and in particular the city of Dnipro – have been under persistent Russian strikes for the last three years. Russia used Dnipro as a testing ground for its "experimental" Oreshnik missile in late 2024, claiming to have struck an aeronautics production facility. Earlier on Sunday, local Ukrainian officials said one person was killed in the region in an attack on a village close to the frontline.
France 24
6 hours ago
- France 24
Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region
Moscow, which has the initiative on the battlefield, has repeatedly refused calls by Ukraine, Europe and US President Donald Trump for a full and unconditional ceasefire. At talks in Istanbul last week it demanded Kyiv pull troops back from the frontline, agree to end all Western arms support and give up on its ambitions to join the NATO military alliance. Dnipropetrovsk is not among the five Ukrainian regions over which Russia has asserted a formal territorial claim. It is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv's struggling military and economy. Dnipropetrovosk was estimated to have a population of around three million people before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro. Russia's defence ministry said forces from a tank unit had "reached the western border of the Donetsk People's Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region." The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv's forces afer months of setbacks on the battlefield. There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia's statement. Moscow in 2022 said it was annexing the frontline Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, which it did not have full control over. In 2014, it seized the Crimean peninsula following a pro-EU revolution in Kyiv. In a set of peace demands issued to Ukraine at the latest talks, it demanded formal recognition that these regions were part of Russia -- something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out. Strategic setback Tens of thousands have been killed in Russia's three-year offensive, millions forced to flee their homes and cities and villages across eastern Ukraine devastated by relentless air attacks and ground combat. In more than a decade of conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists and the Russian army, Ukraine has never had to fight on the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region until now. Ukrainian military personnel previously told AFP that Russia could advance relatively quickly in the largely flat region, given there are fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv's forces. The region -- and in particular the city of Dnipro -- have been under persistent Russian strikes for the last three years. Russia used Dnipro as a testing ground for its "experimental" Oreshnik missile in late 2024, claiming to have struck an aeronautics production facility. Earlier on Sunday local Ukrainian officials said one person was killed in the region in an attack on a village close to the frontline.
