International LGBTI human rights equality organization IGLA recently released its report on the state of human rights within Europe for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex, covering the events of 2013 for it’s 2014 annual report, and it’s a study in contrasts, from western country’s growing acceptance of full equality for LGBTI citizens on issues ranging from marriage equality and legal gender recognition on one hand, to eastern Europe, headed in the opposite direction, with new forms of criminalisation of LGBTI people through the spread of so-called “anti-propaganda” laws.
For the third year running, the UK has the highest score on those issues of concern to the LGBTI communities, ranking at 82% (out of a possible 100), up 5 points from last year, with the Russian Federation, with the lowest LGBTI human rights score, clocking in at 6%.
The report summarizes the current state of LGBTI rights within Britain as follows: “The UK continued to close existing legal gaps related to the protection of the human rights of LGBTI people, hence further progressing towards full legal and political recognition of LGBTI equality. England and Wales adopted marriage equality, while Scottish parliamentarians overwhelmingly adopted the measure during a first vote in November.” It wasn’t all sunshine and light for LGBTI rights in the UK however, as the report noted: “Northern Ireland turned its back on marriage equality, and has progressed slowly towards adoption rights and the modification of a ban for blood donations from gay and bisexual men. New national and European jurisprudence confirmed that the provision of goods and services to LGBTI people couldn’t be subordinated to providers’ religious beliefs, and LGBTI asylum-seekers continued to face sharp unfairness in the way their cases are dealt with.”
A map that shows the IGLA-Europe rankings of European nations shows a definite evolution of increasing acceptance of LGBTI equality gaining significant ground across Western Europe and Scandinavia, the primary outliers to the trend being the Republic of Ireland at 34% and the principality of Andorra at 21%, surrounded by a sea of high-scoring nations, represented in green on the map.
On the other extreme, is the Russian Federation which only managed a 6% score, and in looking at the data, all of the points it has managed, relate to gender reassignment, which while laudable, also represent their societal forcing of hetero-normative policies, similar to how Iran of all places is the second most prolific nation when it comes to gender reassignment surgery, not out of compassion, but trying to enforce the notion that male-female parings are the only acceptable forms of pair-bonding.
