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These results come as no surprise. But, already in 2000 the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers had urged for tolerance <strong>and</strong> action: 'Homosexuality can still give rise to powerful cultural reactions in some societies or sectors thereof, but this is not a valid reason for governments or parliaments to remain passive. On the contrary, this fact only underlines the need to promote greater tolerance in matters of sexual orientation.' 43 Good practice: In January 2005, ILGA Portugal launched a media campaign, including TV, radio, press <strong>and</strong> the Web in cooperation with the advertising agency W/Portugal, contributing pro bono work. The campaign included displays of affection between lesbian <strong>and</strong> gay couples on television <strong>and</strong> print media in order to enhance the visibility of LGBT persons through positive representations. 44 The significant contribution of the European Commission to improve public attitudes towards various minority groups, including LGBT persons, should also be highlighted. In particular the designation of 2007 as the European Year of Equal Opportunities <strong>and</strong> the awareness-raising activities that accompanied it were valuable contributions to attitudinal change. The pan-European truck tour which visited cities across the Member States in 2007 <strong>and</strong> 2008 constitutes one of many instances of direct contact with the general public to raise awareness of issues relating to discrimination. The European Commission also funded national awareness-raising events across the Member States. 45 Consequences of negative attitudes As the LGBT NGOs that were interviewed during the fieldwork told us, one of the defence strategies employed by LGBT persons to avoid discrimination, is to be ‘invisible’ in public, at work or in school. As a Slovenian study 46 , aptly called 'The unbearable comfort of privacy' noted: '…gays <strong>and</strong> lesbians resort to mimicry to adjust to the heteronormativity of public spaces. They outwardly redefine their partnership <strong>and</strong> recontextualise it as "just a friendship". Only in circumstances that appear sufficiently safe, do some allow the expression of intimacies that point to their sexual status. Gays <strong>and</strong> lesbians are as a rule aware of the environment in general <strong>and</strong> the hetero-normativity determining this environment.' 43 Situation of lesbians <strong>and</strong> gays in Council of Europe Member States, Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1474 (2000), Reply adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 19 September 2001 at the 765th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies. 44 See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtv2OjDV6t0 (17.10.2008) 45 See European Commission, ‘Communicating Equality <strong>and</strong> Non-<strong>Discrimination</strong> in the EU’, at http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/fundamental_rights/pdf/pubst/broch/thembroch08_en.pdf (12.01.2009) 46 R. Kuhar, A. Svab (2005) The Unbearable Comfort of Privacy: Everyday Life of Gays <strong>and</strong> Lesbians, Politike: Ljubljana, p. 95-96, available at: http://www2.mirovniinstitut.si/eng_html/publications/pdf/MI_gay_eng.pdf (12.01.2009) Part II - The Social Situation 37
<strong>Homophobia</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Discrimination</strong> on Grounds of Sexual Orientation <strong>and</strong> Gender Identity in the EU Member States 38 These strategies of ‘invisibility’, however, do not only influence the lives of LGBT persons, but also affect the extent to which indirect forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation can be detected. Homosexuals as Family Members The family is of pivotal importance to any person, whether a child, teenager or adult for the provision of emotional support. The LGBT NGOs interviewed across the EU confirmed that responses of families are a major issue seriously affecting the well-being of LGBT persons. Research in Pol<strong>and</strong>, 47 Portugal, 48 Malta, 49 Lithuania, 50 United Kingdom, 51 Italy, 52 Slovenia, 53 Latvia, 54 Germany, 55 Slovakia, 56 <strong>and</strong> France 57 shows that a significant number of LGBT persons conceal their sexual orientation from relatives to avoid experiencing discrimination within their family. These studies, however, also show that the majority of the respondents who are open about their sexual orientation meet acceptance within the family. Rejection by the family has emotional consequences, but it can also result in homelessness. A study 58 in the United Kingdom showed that 29 per cent of lesbian respondents <strong>and</strong> 25 per cent of gay male respondents became homeless when they 47 M. Abramowicz (2007) Situation of bisexual <strong>and</strong> homosexual persons in Pol<strong>and</strong> - 2005 <strong>and</strong> 2006 report, Warsaw: Campaign Against <strong>Homophobia</strong> & Lamda Warsaw 48 F.V. Silva, P. Policarpo, T.L. Monteiro (2006) Inquérito Nacional sobre Experiencias da Homossexualidade em Portugal, Lisbia: Centro de Investigacão e Estudos de Sociologia, Instituto Superior Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa. 49 Malta Gay Rights Movement (2003) Sexual Orientation <strong>Discrimination</strong> in Malta: A Report on <strong>Discrimination</strong>, Harassment, <strong>and</strong> Violence against Malta's Gay, Lesbian <strong>and</strong> Bisexual Community. Malta: Union Press 50 A. Zdanevicius (ed.) (2007) Nematomi pilieciai: apie homofobija ir homoseksualiu zmoniu diskriminacija Lietuvoje [Invisible Citizens: About <strong>Homophobia</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Discrimination</strong> against Homosexual People in Lithuania], Kaunas: VDU 51 S. Dick (2008) Homophobic hate crime - The Gay British Crime Survey 2008, Stonewall. 52 C. Saraceno (ed.) (2003) Diversi da chi? Gay, lesbiche, transsesuali in un'area metropolitana, Milan: DeriveApprodi 53 R. Kuhar, A. Svab (2005) The Unbearable Comfort of Privacy: Everyday Life of Gays <strong>and</strong> Lesbians, Ljubljana: Politike 54 A. Locmelis (2002) "Sexual Orientation <strong>Discrimination</strong> in Latvia", in: Sexual Orientation <strong>Discrimination</strong> in Lithuania, Latvia <strong>and</strong> Estonia, Vilnius: The Open Society Institute & Kimeta Society 55 Senatsverwaltung für Schule, Jugend und Sport, Fachbereich für gleichgeschlechtliche Lebensweisen Berlin [SENSJS] (2001) Sie liebt sie. Er liebt ihn. Eine Studie zur psychosozialen Situation junger Lesben, Schwuler und Bisexueller in Berlin. Berlin: Author. 56 A. Daucikova, P. Jójárt, M. Siposova (2002) Report on <strong>Discrimination</strong> of Lesbians, Gay Men <strong>and</strong> Bisexuals in Slovakia, Bratislava: Documentation <strong>and</strong> Information Centre. 57 France, country report 58 S. Averill (2004) How can young people be empowered to achieve justice when they experience homophobic crime? Thesis, Middlesex University, available at: http://www.schoolsout.org.uk/research/docs/Partnersper sent20Anper sent20updateper sent20toper sent20tacklingper sent20homophobia.pdf (30.07.2008)
Page 2 and 3: European Union Agency for Fundament
Page 4 and 5: Foreword On December 18 2008 the UN
Page 6 and 7: Contents FOREWORD .................
Page 8 and 9: Executive Summary Background The pr
Page 10 and 11: Fear of discrimination, homophobia
Page 12 and 13: usually young men in groups. In rec
Page 14 and 15: Bullying and haras
Page 16 and 17: Asylum Although all Member States r
Page 18 and 19: Opinions According to Art 4(1)(d) o
Page 20 and 21: more public awareness on LGBT issue
Page 22 and 23: 25. Sports organisations or institu
Page 24 and 25: Introduction ‘Respect for the rig
Page 26 and 27: Clarification of terms and<
Page 28 and 29: assigned to them at birth. This inc
Page 30 and 31: Methodology The present analysis re
Page 32 and 33: PART I: Lesbians, gay men, bisexual
Page 34 and 35: in 2003 by the Campaign Against <st
Page 36 and 37: impact that I think profoundly affe
Page 40 and 41: ‘came out’ to their parents. In
Page 42 and 43: Legislation regarding homophobic ha
Page 44 and 45: and National Equal
Page 46 and 47: 'A group of young people from my to
Page 48 and 49: Several factors may contribute to t
Page 50 and 51: eveal that the National Equality Bo
Page 52 and 53: 'We must say a clear "no" to all th
Page 54 and 55: The Office of the Equal Opportuniti
Page 56 and 57: Bans In recent years there have bee
Page 58 and 59: news media. Violent attacks on demo
Page 60 and 61: efused to rent office space to the
Page 62 and 63: A Finnish study 153 indicated that
Page 64 and 65: National Equality Bodies There is a
Page 66 and 67: Interviews with National Equality B
Page 68 and 69: Research on workplace experiences T
Page 70 and 71: Another United Kingdom study, 194 b
Page 72 and 73: Conclusions LGBT persons are subjec
Page 74 and 75: In interview, the Belgian LGBT NGO
Page 76 and 77: ‘horseplay’ or ‘messing aroun
Page 78 and 79: LGBT youth examined suggested that
Page 80 and 81: educational curricula, as it contri
Page 82 and 83: on the grounds of their sexual orie
Page 84 and 85: 'I was an out patient at hospital <
Page 86 and 87: general population, and</st
Page 88 and 89:
I.7. Religious institutions It was
Page 90 and 91:
specified. The EU has criticized th
Page 92 and 93:
I.8. Sports This section addresses
Page 94 and 95:
issue of homophobia or the situatio
Page 96 and 97:
I.9. Media This section examines ho
Page 98 and 99:
appear as heterosexuals in order to
Page 100 and 101:
Conclusions Incidents of homophobic
Page 102 and 103:
In other Member States data indicat
Page 104 and 105:
interaction with police was support
Page 106 and 107:
Conclusions All the Member States i
Page 108 and 109:
National Council for Combating <str
Page 110 and 111:
empowering ethnic minority LGBT peo
Page 112 and 113:
Conclusions People with multiple id
Page 114 and 115:
ief overview is given here in order
Page 116 and 117:
e closely linked with, among other
Page 118 and 119:
sexual abuse (4 per cent) were also
Page 120 and 121:
eported that they were afraid of ha
Page 122 and 123:
The Labour Market There is no evide
Page 124 and 125:
to to provide LGBTQ student organis
Page 126 and 127:
towards gender identity are common
Page 128 and 129:
Good practice: In the United Kingdo
Page 130 and 131:
Elderly transgender people have bee
Page 132 and 133:
Homophobia, transp
Page 134 and 135:
Annex 1 Country Report Authors Coun
Page 136 and 137:
Annex 2 Stakeholder E - Questionnai
Page 138 and 139:
2. A minority accepts 3. Half of p
Page 140 and 141:
4. Almost full recognition 5. Tota
Page 142 and 143:
4. Good protection 5. High protect
Page 144 and 145:
31. Please state your assessment of
Page 146 and 147:
Asylum and family
Page 148 and 149:
48. Primary education (Basic school
Page 150 and 151:
Don't know Does not apply/Not rele
Page 152 and 153:
4. Somewhat high level of awareness
Page 154 and 155:
76. If you have any further comment
Page 156:
European Union Agency for Fundament
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