Queer rights under attack
In the name of ”family values” and social stability, politicians across Europe seek to ban queer topics from sex education or restrict access to healthcare for transgender people. A new report by LGBTQ+ rights group ILGA-Europe finds that hate crimes against queer people have reached ”record levels.”
Politicians in some countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia, have even introduced so-called 'LGBT propaganda' laws. These more broadly squelch discussion of LGBTQ+ issues or criminalise queer rights advocacy efforts.
Taking a page out of Russia's playbook, leaders in EU member states like Bulgaria and Hungary have proposed 'foreign agent' laws to further stifle opposition. Often targeting LGBTQ+ rights groups, such laws label civil society organisations that receive foreign funding as 'foreign-influenced'.
To top it all off, last year, only 18 out of 27 EU member states signed a declaration in defence of queer rights. Far-right political leaders across Europe, bolstered by electoral success last year, ”weaponise” LGBTI people to advance their broader conservative agenda, threatening freedom of expression, association and fair elections, the NGO says.
”We are entering a new era where LGBTI people have become the testing ground for laws that erode democracy itself”, says the organisation's executive director, who goes by Chaber. ”What begins as an attack on LGBTI rights rapidly grows into a wider assault on the rights and freedoms of all individuals in society.”
The findings cast a shadow on the supposed progress Europe has made on LGBTQIA+ rights. Some politicians are blaming queer people to boost their own political agendas. As a result, courts in the EU and individual countries have had to step in to protect key rights for queer people – such as the right to asylum, legal recognition of their gender, and sexual and reproductive rights.
The European institutions, too, have a role to play. While key policy areas like family law and social policy mostly fall under member states' national competencies, the EU can nevertheless pull some important levers. The European Commission could, for example, be a lot tougher on cooperative governments who violate the equality provisions of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as come up with an ambitious post-2025 LGBTQIA+ Equality Strategy.
And, with the negotiations for the EU's next seven-year budget beginning soon, sufficient funding should be provided to support civil society organisations and human rights groups.