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“The UK provides the best legal environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people in the EU while Bulgaria offers the least protection for sexual minorities,” proclaims the EUobserver reporting news of a new investigation into treatment of sexual minorities throughout Europe.
The Rainbow Europe report, published on May 16, gives the UK a score of 77 per cent in terms of providing the best legal protection for LGBTI people, including legislation on “non-discrimination, gender recognition and hate speech.”
Belgium scores second highest with 67 per cent, followed by Sweden, Spain and Portugal, each receiving 65 per cent, and France with 64 per cent. Bulgaria scored only 18 per cent for having “no laws banning hate speech and violence against LGBTI people, no laws on gender-change and only four of the 13 listed laws on equality and anti-discrimination.” Summing up the findings, the website reports –
There is no absolute geographical divide but, as a rule of thumb, the map indicates that the further east in Europe, the more legally precarious the situation is for sexual minorities. [...] In wider Europe, the scoreboard suggests that Russia (7 per cent) is no place for sexual minorities, scoring a perfect zero when it comes to anti-discrimination, freedom of assembly, anti-hate speech and asylum laws.
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