Be prepared - results of the largest European LGBT survey soon to be published
On 17 May, International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) will publish the results of its online survey on the experiences of hate crime and discrimination by LGBT people. The results draw on the responses of over 93,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans people living in the EU Member States and Croatia, making it the largest such survey of its kind to date.
Print HTMLThe LGBT Survey was commissioned by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and is conducted by GALLUP, one of the leading agencies on opinion polls.
At a time when the fundamental rights of LGBT persons are being discussed in national parliaments across the EU, initial survey findings reveal that nearly a half of all respondents had felt discriminated against on grounds of sexual orientation in the past year before the survey. These and other findings will be discussed during a panel debate at the conference.
The aim of the LGBT Survey was to gather more details and evidence about the experiences of LGBT people in the European Union in order to support equal treatment legislation and policy making. The European Union made significant progress towards equality and human rights of LGBT people already, but there are still many areas of life in which the EU does not have any legislation and/or policies. Consequently, while in some EU Member States LGBT people might enjoy equality and protection from discrimination, in other EU Member States they do not even have an opportunity to redress discrimination.
Currently in the European Union,
- LGBT people are not protected from discrimination in such areas as access to goods and services, and housing;
- homo- and transphobic bullying is an acute occurrence throughout the EU which in some extreme cases leads to tragic instances of teenage suicides;
- homo- and transphobic motivation in hate crimes are not recognised in half of the EU Member States.
Therefore this Survey is of great importance towards improving the EU standards when it comes to equality and human rights of LGBT people, particularly because some opponents are claiming LGBT people are not subjected to discrimination or it is insignificant.
The LGBT Survey asked a range of questions including:
- Personal circumstances
- Public perceptions and responses to homophobia and/or transphobia
- Discrimination
- Rights awareness
- Safe environment
- Violence and harassment
- The social context of being an LGBT person
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