Studie der EU-Grundrechteagentur zur Situation der Homosexuellen, Bisexuellen und Transgender, 17.5.2013 (engl. Originalfassung)
Foreword
In the past decade, a growing number of international and national developments have addressed the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. Standards on non-discrimination and equality for LGBT persons have been further developed or reinforced by the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe and the United Nations (UN). Sexual orientation and gender identity have increasingly been recognised as grounds of discrimination in European and national legislation. Today, the situation of LGBT persons in the EU is no longer a marginalised issue but a recognised human rights concern.
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has, since its creation, contributed to these developments by providing robust comparative analysis of the legal and social aspects of the fundamental rights situation of LGBT persons in the EU. Although this analysis identified the main obstacles, it also highlighted that the situation on the ground across the EU remained largely undocumented and that existing data were not comparable.
European institutions also recognised the lack of robust, comparable data on the respect, protection and fulfilment of the fundamental rights of LGBT persons. Following calls from the European Parliament, the European Commission, in 2010, asked FRA to collect comparable survey data on hate crime and discrimination against LGBT persons in all EU Member States and Croatia. As a result of this request, FRA developed the ‘European Union survey of discrimination and victimisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons’, which was launched online on 2 April 2012 and ran until 15 July 2012. A very large number of respondents, 93,079, participated in the research, providing a wealth of comparable data.
In many respects, the results raise severe concerns: almost half (47 percent) of all respondents said that they had felt personally discriminated against or harassed on the grounds of sexual orientation in the year preceding the survey. A majority of respondents who were attacked in the past year said that the attack or threat of violence happened partly or entirely because they were perceived to be LGBT (59 percent). Respondents rarely, however, report discrimination or violence, mainly because they believe nothing would happen or change if they reported such incidents to the authorities.
The survey results provide valuable evidence of how LGBT persons in the EU have experienced discrimination, harassment and violence in different areas of life. By highlighting and analysing the survey results, this report, together with the accompanying EU LGBT survey – European Union lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender survey: main results report, will contribute to much needed discussions in the EU and its Member States about concrete legislative and non-legislative measures to improve the situation for LGBT persons living in the EU.
Why is this survey needed?
In 2012, almost half of all respondents to the EU survey on the perceptions and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) persons said that they had felt personally discriminated against or harassed on the grounds of sexual orientation in the year preceding the survey. Furthermore, a quarter of all EU LGBT survey respondents had been attacked or threatened with violence in the previous five years. This figure rises to 35 percent for transgender respondents. Rarely did respondents report discrimination or violence to the police or other authorities, mainly because they thought nothing would happen or change if they reported such incidents.
This type of finding provides policy makers with the robust, comparable data they need to develop effective laws and policies to fight discrimination, violence and harassment, thereby ensuring equal treatment across society. FRA therefore designed and carried out the present online survey, which collected the responses from more than 93,000 LGBT persons across the EU and Croatia. The results of the large array of questions that were asked are presented and analysed in detail in the EU LGBT survey – European Union lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender survey – Main results report.
On the basis of statistical evidence collected, FRA developed its policy-relevant advice to inform the development of legal and policy responses at EU and national levels. The aim is to ensure that the fundamental rights of LGBT people are effectively respected, protected and fulfilled. The European Parliament expressed its support for such EU-wide action in several resolutions calling on the European Commission to develop an LGBT Roadmap. Moreover, a coalition of seven EU Member States – namely Belgium, Finland, France, Latvia, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom – has launched an appeal to the European institutions that ‘an ambitious European strategy’ should be set up in the area of fundamental rights of LGBT persons.
Before this survey, and at the request of the European Parliament, in 2007, FRA collected data on discrimination against LGBT persons and the situation regarding homophobia in the EU. FRA published an analysis of the legal situation in a report in 2008, which was updated in 2010.3 A report analysing the social situation of LGBT persons in the EU followed in 2009. This report highlighted the lack of cross-national comparative data on the lived experience of LGBT persons in the key areas of discrimination, violence and harassment.
Die vollständige Studie finden Sie hier (pdf).