UK drops to 17th on LGBTQ+ rights ranking: 2023 Rainbow Map and Index

UK drops down the rankings of Europe’s LGBTQ+-friendly nations in the 2023 Rainbow Map and Index, released annually by ILGA-Europe. The UK’s score of 53.37% in LGBTQ+ rights is a far cry from its 86% score in 2015 when it was consistently ranked Europe’s most LGBTQ+-friendly country. Malta comes out on top of the rankings for the eighth year in a row with a score of 89%, making it a trailblazer for LGBTQ+ rights. At the bottom of the list, with a score of just 2%, sits Azerbaijan. ILGA-Europe cited anti-trans rhetoric, trans sports bans, hate crimes, and the continued stalling of the ban on so-called conversion therapy as reasons for the UK’s lower ranking.

The report reveals that hate crimes in the UK have reached “dramatic numbers”, with homophobic hate crimes increasing by 41% and transphobic crimes by 56% in England and Wales – the “starkest” increase since 2012. Hate speech and violence are serious issues in Azerbaijan, with nearly two-thirds of media coverage containing hateful or biased content against LGBTQ+ people and cases of murder, and abuse against queer people.

Charities and activists are blasting the UK result as a “matter of grave concern”, something they place at the feet of the Tory government. Robbie de Santos, the director of communications and external affairs at Stonewall, said: “The next government has the potential to get the UK back on track. Our party leaders must seize the opportunity to unlock the potential of all LGBTQ+ people across the UK. But, for now, it’s vital that the government delivers on its promise to ban conversion practices, and removes its block on the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill, to ensure it is at least ending the stagnation.”

ILGA-Europe recommends that the UK ban conversion therapy for LGB and trans people, adopt a “fair, transparent legal framework for legal gender recognition”, based on self-ID, and monitor and report the experiences and outcomes of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. Despite the UK’s low ranking, the attitudes of the general public are not in sync with the “hostile political discourse against trans people.” More in Common’s data suggests that most Britons have a “live-and-let-live approach”, rejecting US-style bans on drag, and believing trans women are women and trans men are men.

Sources:

• Pink News
• Diva