Yes, We Still Need Pride: UK Drops To Sixteenth Place in European LGBTI Rights Ranking
By Clara Günthner
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons // edited by Girl Dinner Magazin
With the end of Pride month near and London Pride taking place this weekend, now is a good time to reflect on why we need to continue to celebrate and fight for LGBTQ+ lives this June – and any other month of the year.
In May, ILGA-Europe, the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, released the 2024 ‘Rainbow Map’, putting the UK in sixteenth place for LGBTI rights in Europe.
ILGA-Europe annually ranks forty-nine European countries under seven categories with scores from 0% (gross violation of human rights) to 100% (full equality), looking at cultural and legal elements regarding the well-being, safety, and cultural happiness of LGBTI people.
In its ranking, the association considers issues like the recognition and protection of LGBTI families, anti-discrimination legislation, and legal gender recognition policies.
While the UK used to be a forerunner of LGBTQ+ rights in Europe with a score of 86% in 2015, our score has dropped steadily over the past nine years, putting us now just behind Ireland, the Netherlands, and France.
Considering that there is a sentiment among some that Pride celebrations are no longer needed, this year’s score might come as a surprise.
With 52%, the UK scored just above the EU average of 51% this year, the lowest scoring categories being ‘Intersex Bodily Integrity’ (0%) and ‘Asylum’ (17%).
There is currently no legislation in place that protects the bodily integrity of intersex people, meaning that people who are born with genitalia, chromosomes and/or hormones that do not fit the male-female binary are not guaranteed bodily autonomy under UK law. For example, intersex babies might be subjected to non-consensual, often unnecessary medical interventions to make them fit into ‘male’ or ‘female’ boxes.
Graph by Girl Dinner Magazine
UK immigration law also fails to protect LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.
In September 2023, then Home Secretary Suella Braverman said immigrants pretended to be gay to secure asylum status although only 2% of asylum seekers referenced sexual orientation as part of their claim in 2022.
Braverman also said that facing discrimination for being a woman or part of the LGBTQ+ community is no grounds for protection under UK law, a stance reflected in the Illegal Immigration Act adopted in 2023. The new act raised concerns over the safety of LGBTQ+ people fleeing persecution in their home countries.
Although the UK scored higher in the “Hate Crime & Hate Speech’ category (42%), according to the ILGA, anti-LGBTI hate speech “remains common”.
Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, has expressed concern for the British LGBTQ+ community, and particularly trans people, amid a “growing toxic and hostile environment”.
He said: “I am deeply concerned about increased bias-motivated incidents of harassment, threats, and violence against LGBT people, including a rampant surge in hate crimes in the UK.”
Just last week, a gay couple was assaulted by eight masked men in an unprovoked homophobic attack at a railway station in Blackburn, leaving the victims Jordan Brook and Daniel Timothy in fear of their lives.
But the attack in Blackburn was not an isolated incident: in May, a man was attacked after proposing to their boyfriend and holding hands with him in Cardiff, suffering a broken jaw. Another had his eye socket broken in a homophobic attack in Bristol in February. In January, a gay man was beaten by three men in a pub toilet in Bournemouth. Another man was punched in the face, bitten and spat on on his way home from a gay pub in Nottingham earlier the same month.
While the number of homophobic hate crimes decreased by 6% between 2022 and 2023, the number of hate crimes against transgender people increased by 11% in the same period and has more than doubled since 2018.
In February, an 18-year-old trans girl was stabbed fourteen times by four teenagers in Harrow, London, after being called transphobic slurs. The attackers have since been charged with attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
Photo credit: Karolynne Videira Hubert // Unsplash
The Home Office has admitted that the increase in hate crimes against transgender people may have been fuelled by politicians’ comments and trans issues being more “heavily discussed” in the media in recent years.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and others made transphobic comments at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester last year, and a leaked video showed the Prime Minister mocking trans peopleearlier in 2023.
During a time when extremism is on the rise across Europe, when our prime minister feels comfortable publicly mocking some of the most vulnerable groups in society, the government continues to fail LGBTQ+ people seeking protection in this country, and some still ask why we need Pride, we possibly need it more than ever.
London is still one of the world’s most LGBTQ+-friendly cities and we need to make sure it stays that way.
On Friday 29 June, thousands will descend on London’s streets to celebrate LGBTQ+ lives and fight for visibility, unity and equality.
Pride started as a riot and still is a protest at its core. In the current climate, it is more important than ever for allies to stand with and show support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Photo credit: Mercedes Mehling // Unsplash
