Fear, violence and discrimination remain high among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTI) people, even though more of them are open about their identity today, finds European Fundamental Rights Agency survey (FRA), published this Thursday.
In the twelve months preceding the questionnaire, 43% of LGBTI people felt discriminated against, a figure up 6 points compared to the last survey carried out in 2012. For transgender people, this proportion even rose to 60%.
“Areas without LGBTI ideology”
Transgender and intersex people are twice as likely as other LGBTI groups to report an assault in the year before the survey. Half of them say they have difficulty supporting themselves. FRA interviewed 140,000 LGBTI people in 27 European Union (EU) countries, the United Kingdom, Serbia and North Macedonia in 2019. For the first time, its survey includes the experiences of intersex people and adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17.
According to this European agency based in Vienna, Austria, discrimination increases when a negative speech is made by the media, politicians or public figures. "We have recently witnessed attacks on the pride marches, the adoption of declarations of" areas without LGBTI ideology "", regrets, in a statement accompanying the report, the European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli, without citing directly to Poland where such events took place.
Disparities across countries
Malta and Ireland are two examples of countries in which respondents have perceived an improvement in tolerance towards them since 2012, according to the report. But six out of ten respondents avoid holding their partner's hand in public, this average masking marked differences between countries, with a proportion of eight out of ten in Poland, compared to four out of ten in Luxembourg.
On a positive note, among 15-17 year-olds, almost one in two respondents said they had received support within their school, whether they were comrades or teachers defending LGBTI rights. In particular, the FRA calls on governments to establish a culture of zero tolerance for violence and harassment, and to train the police to improve the recording of hate crimes.
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