The Rainbow Europe ranking is an annual assessment of the legal and policy landscape for LGBTQIA+ rights in the Europe. Released by ILGA-Europe, an international LGBTQIA+ advocacy organisation, this ranking measures the progress made by each country in protecting and promoting the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals.
In this article, we will explore the 2023 Rainbow Europe results, highlighting the achievements and areas for improvement in LGBTQIA+ rights within the United Kingdom.
A brief overview of the Rainbow Europe ranking system
The Rainbow Europe ranking evaluates countries based on 7 key areas:
Equality and non-discrimination
Family
Hate crime and hate speech
Legal gender recognition
Intersex bodily integrity
Civil society space
Asylum
Each category is assessed using a detailed set of criteria to measure the level of legal protections and societal acceptance for LGBTQIA+ individuals.
The 2023 Rainbow Europe UK Ranking
When the Rainbow Europe Index launched in 2009 the UK ranked as the most LGBTQIA+-friendly place in Europe, and until 2015 was consistently leagues ahead of other nations in terms of rights, protections and freedoms afforded to queer people.
However, from 2016 onwards, our now Conservative-led country has continued to drop down the list each year. In the 2023 report, the UK achieved a disappointing overall score of just 58 out of a possible 100, placing them 17th out of 49 - A 3 place drop from their 2022 score.
So, what does that all mean?
Well, when the UK was placing 1st on the Rainbow Europe Index back in 2009 - 2015, the government was introducing the most basic rights and legislations...
Equality and Non-Discrimination: The UK has robust anti-discrimination laws in place, providing protections for LGBTQIA+ individuals in employment, housing, and public services. The Equality Act 2010 has been instrumental in ensuring equal rights and opportunities.
Marriage Equality: In 2014, same-sex marriage was legalized in England, Wales, and Scotland, granting LGBTQIA+ couples the right to marry and enjoy the same legal benefits as heterosexual couples.
Gender Recognition: The Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows transgender individuals to legally change their gender.
Since then, though, nothing has really changed. While other countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world continued to develop their legislations in favour of LGBTQIA+ rights, things in the UK remained mostly the same, and in some cases, they've even started to decline...
Out of Date Gender Recognition Producers: The legal gender recognition process remains complex and requires reform to ensure the rights and well-being of transgender. Advocates continue to push for self-determination and simplified procedures, however, given the UK governments 2023 block on the Scottish governments attempt to introduce a self-determined gender recognition procedure, we're likely still a ways off!
Conversion Therapy: Conversion therapy is a harmful practice that seeks to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence outlining the physical and mental harm of such a barbaric practice, the UK has STILL not implemented a comprehensive ban on conversion therapy that explicitly includes all genders and sexualities!
LGBTQIA+-Inclusive Education: While there have been advancements in LGBTQIA+ inclusive education, there is still a need for comprehensive and standardised curricula that address the experiences and contributions of LGBTQIA+ individuals. As it stands, whether students are educated around significant LGBTQIA+ individuals and events is very much at the digression of each individual school. While some are embracing LGBTQIA+-centric topics, others are going as far as banning books that have LGBTQIA+ related themes!
Non-Binary Exclusion: While non-binary folk are able to identify as such when it comes to employment and non-legally binding procedures, by law non-binary is not a recognised gender. This means that while non-binary folk are able get a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, legal documents such as birth certificates, passports, marriage documents and financial documents can only be changed if a person if changing their gender from male to female, or female to male.
Intersex Bodily Integrity: There are no laws in place to support the bodily integrity of intersex individuals - in fact, we scored a big fat ZERO when it comes to our intersex community! This means that parents of children that are born intersex are able to force medical intervention without the child providing informed consent, effectively giving the parents the ability to choose their child's gender regardless of the child's preference. There are also no monitoring systems in place to record such decisions, and should the child grow up with medical or psychological complications as a result of their parents decision, there are no protections in place for them.
The LGB Alliance: In 2021, the UK's Charity Commission granted the LGB Alliance charity status. With the organisation blatant anti-transgender narrative, questions have been raised by transgender advocates around the Commissions decision to grant charity status to an organisation that is actively fighting against the transgender community.
Malta are continuing to lead the way
I'm highlighting Malta in this article for 2 reasons...
Because I'm half Maltese/Gozitan.
Because for the 8th year in a row, they've not only come out on top with an overall score of 89, but they're so far in front that they're more than 10 points ahead of the the second and third place countries!
I feel incredibly proud to be connected to an island nation that has made and continues to make such huge strides towards LGBTQIA+ equality. Despite same-sex marriage only becoming legalised in 2017, Malta, with a population of little more than 500,000, has some of the most progressive legislation in the world.
With a long history of LGBTQIA+ acceptance, Malta is one of the few nations where LGBTQIA+ rights are recognised at a constitutional level, and rather than remaining complacent with the basics, they have developed and still continue to develop, expand and fight for true equality. For example...
LGBTQIA+ people have been allowed to serve openly in the Maltese military since 2002
Progressive gender reforms have been introduced which remove unnecessary bureaucracy and surgical requirements for gender recognition
Conversion therapy is banned for all adults and minors
Gender neutral toilets in all government official buildings
During my most recent visit to Gozo, the small island just off of Malta that falls under the Maltese government, I took some time to visit the Pride monuments that have been introduced all over the island, and the LGBTI+ Gozo centre which is located at the heart of Gozo's capital city, Ir-Rabat (Victoria). With a population of less than 7,000, I was blown away by how important their LGBTQIA+ community is to them.
Growing up visiting the island, I knew that religion was a vital part of their culture. For the longest time, this clouded my judgement when it came to letting myself be myself out there. I assumed that I would not be accepted by my incredibly religious family. But I was wrong. For the last two years I've visited Gozo with my girlfriend, who has been welcomed into the family with open arms. My aunties and uncles out there keep me up to date on the how the LGBTQIA+ community is progressing throughout Gozo and Malta, and let me know when Pride events are happening incase I'm able to take a trip over to attend.
As a queer, non-binary, non-religious person I've found that the LGBTQIA+ community is so often told by mainstream media that religions are against us. The reality is that behind this curtain of assumptions and unprogressive societies is people who are all individually making their way through life. Sure, some will and do continue to use religion as a reason to not accept the LGBTQIA+ community, but it should absolutely not be a blanket assumption that this is always going to be the case. If we as a community believe that people with religious backgrounds should develop their beliefs to celebrate LGBTQIA+ folk, then we must in turn try to open our minds to the possibility of acceptance.
The LGBTQIA+ community has had and continues to have a lot of awful experiences where religion is concerned, and I wouldn't blame any member of the community for being cautions, but we must not forget that at our core, we are all people who are capable of change.
This year, Malta are hosting EuroPride in their capital city Valetta, and hundreds of thousands are expected to travel to the island in celebration of the European LGBTQIA+ community. The event will coincide with Malta's annual Pride event taking place in September.
Gozo also held its first ever independent Pride march last year, which is due to return in September for 2023 to also coincide with EuroPride. In 2022, the march was attend by members of the LGBTQIA+ community and a huge number of allies, consisting of men, women, and families with young children.
So, back to the UK, what's next?
This years Rainbow Europe ranking serves as a reminder that the journey towards full equality is ongoing, and there is still so much work to be done in almost every every area of criteria. During Pride Month, I'd encourage you to familiarise yourself with the areas of growth and development that are needed, and ensure that you are supporting causes that will someday help to get us there. Here are some resources to get you started...
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