Despite some positive developments, many LGBTI people in the European Union (EU) still feel that they need to hide who they truly are to avoid discrimination, hate or even violence.
In 2012, FRA carried out the first ever EU-wide survey of everyday experiences of LGBT people. Over 93,000 LGBT people from across the EU (including Croatia, which at the time was not an EU Member State) took part. The results showed that fear, isolation and discrimination were all too common in Europe’s LGBT community.
Since then, several EU countries have put in place measures to better protect the rights of LGBTI people. These range from legal gender recognition, to victim support and promotion of equality. Many have put in place same-sex partnership legislation.
Following calls from the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, FRA repeated the survey in 2019 to see how has the situation of LGBTI people changed. This time, about 140,000 LGBTI people took part in the survey. Intersex people and those aged 15 to 17 were included for the first time in this listening exercise.
In the 2019 survey, the LGB categories cover respondents who self-identified as lesbian women, gay men, bisexual women or bisexual men. Trans or intersex respondents who also identified as L, G or B are covered by the trans and intersex categories.
The findings provide national and European policymakers with much needed evidence on progress made in the EU, as well as in the United Kingdom and in the candidate countries of North Macedonia and Serbia. It gives them evidence-based information so that they can put in place measures to effectively protect and promote the rights of LGBTI people.