Anti-LGBTI rhetoric is “rising at an alarming rate” in the EU, particularly as transphobic rhetoric from politicians emerges. This is what the 13th tells us Annual report on the human rights situation of LGBTI people in Europe and Central AsiaFrom Ilga Europa, which highlighted hate speech by politicians in 32 countries in 2023, 21 countries are members of the European Union.
Homophobic and transphobic speech was recorded in 21 of the 27 EU countries, including Portugal.
The report describes the moment when a group of young conservatives invaded a meeting organized by the LGBTI Catholic community at the Nossa Senhora da Incarnazo church in Ameixeira during World Youth Day and vandalized works from an exhibition on hate. The LGBTI community in a church in Évora Examples of acts perpetrated against the LGBTI community.
And the Pride marches on Homosexual They were targeted for attacks in countries such as Austria where there were bomb threats, but among others France, Italy or Poland; LGBTI symbols such as flags were destroyed or burned in Belgium, Germany or Spain. Hate killings have occurred in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Turkey.
A common trend is to use children as tools for transphobic and anti-LGBTI rhetoric. The report warns of far-right forces seeking to limit sexuality education and create opposition to medical access for disabled children, spreading the idea that it is necessary to control information, calling it “gender ideology” – a term used by populists. Radical right including Portuguese to attack studies and gender issues.
Looking specifically at Portugal, the report highlights a 185% increase in anti-LGBTI content on social media recorded between 2019 and 2022. Most of these focus specifically on the concept of “gender ideology”. Another study shared by Ilga Portugal found that out of 164 reports of anti-LGBTI comments on social networks, only 37 were deleted. Without going further into policies, in 2023, the rights of people in Portugal dropped out of the top 10 in the LGBTQ rankings. , despite maintaining the previous year's score on the Ilga Europa Rainbow Map of 49 countries.
Daniela Bento, head of Ilca Portugal, points out to P3 that “hate speech is very prevalent” in the country, which “leads many people to ask for help”. platform Report form provided by the association. “Requests for help not only because of hate speech, but because they are homeless or unable to find a safe place in their family environment.”
But if there have been some changes to restrict sexuality education in countries such as Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, the opposite is true and highlighted in the report: in Portugal, for example, progress has been made in including topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity. schools. The Commission for Gender Equality launched the handbook Right to be in schoolsWith guidelines aimed at teachers and non-teaching staff, with the aim of creating a more inclusive school.
A law on gender self-determination was also approved by parliament, whereby students could change their name and gender on administrative documents, as well as access to bathrooms and changing rooms to guarantee their well-being, privacy was guaranteed. The legislation was vetoed by the President at the end of January.
The report raises a warning: anti-LGBTI rhetoric, coupled with laws that undermine rights, has an impact on suicide and mental health conditions. Of the 54 countries included in the report, only six reported no hate crimes of any kind in 2023: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, North Macedonia and San Marino. Ilga Europa says it is “difficult to explain” whether this is due to a lack of monitoring.
In 2022, NGOs and groups recorded 1016 anti-LGBT crimes in 35 states. There were 602 violent attacks against people, 332 threats and 82 attacks against property. “Trans people are especially at risk of physical violence. Physical attacks happen near pride parades Homosexual”, the report says.
“It is in this context that we go to the European elections in June. Public discourse is increasingly polarized and violent, especially against trans people and the LGBTI community, who have experienced the highest and most severe violence for decades”, lamented Katrin Hugendubel from Ilga Europa. “The values on which the EU was founded – respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy , equality – are being questioned and threatened from the far right. The rights of LGBTI people are being exploited to divide communities and undermine democracy and human rights.
On a positive note, the introduction of same-sex marriage in Estonia was mentioned. In Switzerland, 2,200 LGBTI weddings were celebrated after its introduction in 2022. The report says there is “slow but steady” progress in countries once known for discrimination against LGBTI people. In the Czech Republic, support for same-sex marriage has grown by more than 40% since 2019; In Hungary, in the last ten years, 150%.
The approval of the law criminalizing “conversion practices” of LGBTI persons, which comes into force on March 1, is one of the important moments highlighted by Daniela Bento. Gender Self-Determination in Schools Act: “We must guarantee the safety of all children, including surrogate children, who are at risk of harm. Bullying. It is important for children to have access and autonomy to know who they are, because children know who they are and need to be protected for that.
Regarding “perceived gender ideology”, Daniela insists that “it's important to provide the right information”: “We don't train children, so to speak, we tell them that they have the freedom to be who they are. It's very different from telling them they have to be X or Y.
“We have to think about the current political structure and what we have to do to not lose rights,” he warns. “We have to be very careful that the rights we have to seize do not go back.”
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