Homophobia and Discrimination on

Interviews with National Equality Bodies <strong>and</strong> LGBT NGOS in all 27 Member States
highlighted the fact that despite the implementation of EU legislation <strong>and</strong> transposition of
such law in national legislation around the EU, the amount of substantiated sexual
orientation discrimination cases is remarkably low.
In Latvia, the Office of the Ombudsman <strong>and</strong> the LGBT NGO Mozaika suggest that the
low number of discrimination cases can be attributed to a number of reasons, such as
the reluctance of LGBT persons to deal with the publicity of a court case <strong>and</strong> the lack of
recognition of the problems they face as discrimination. 166
As a representative from the LGBT NGO Mozaika, put it during interview: ‘Generally
people are not open about their sexual orientation at work <strong>and</strong> they don’t know their
rights <strong>and</strong> want to avoid publicity. There is also the issue of internalised homophobia;
Latvian society is so homophobic that LGBT people adopt negative views about
themselves.’ 167
At interview, the LGBT NGO Campaign Against <strong>Homophobia</strong> in Pol<strong>and</strong> noted that for
LGBT persons, filing a complaint poses a risk of losing one’s job. 168 With Pol<strong>and</strong>’s
relatively high unemployment rate, LGBT persons are fearful of being victimised, <strong>and</strong>
filing a complaint against an employer is perceived as lowering the chances of finding
new employment. 169 A representative from The Equality Authority in Irel<strong>and</strong> informed
interviewers that due to fear of publicity, even LGBT persons who are well aware of their
rights are reluctant to come forward <strong>and</strong> make claims. 170
In Greece, some limited discrimination testing research 171 showed that one in four
employers were reluctant to call c<strong>and</strong>idates which they know or presume are gay (‘gaylabelled’)
to job interviews. This percentage is higher for male employers (1 in 3).
In France, the LGBT NGOs Inter LGBT <strong>and</strong> L’Autre Cercle told interviewers of 'a
missing link' between the word 'discrimination' <strong>and</strong> sexual orientation: ''When you
mention the word 'discrimination' people automatically think of gender <strong>and</strong>
race/ethnicity—whereas the other grounds, including sexual orientation, are left far
behind. '' 172
Good practice: In France, HALDE [High Authority for the Fight Against <strong>Discrimination</strong>
<strong>and</strong> for Equality] has developed <strong>and</strong> distributed the Diversity Charter [la charte de la
166 Fieldwork meeting with the Office of the Ombudsman <strong>and</strong> Mozaika in (Latvia, 12 March 2008)
167 Fieldwork meeting with Mozaika (Latvia, 12 March 2008)
168 Fieldwork meeting with Kampania, (Pol<strong>and</strong>, 17 March 2008)
169 Fieldwork meeting with Kampania, (Pol<strong>and</strong>, 17 March 2008)
170 Fieldwork meeting with the Equality Authority Irel<strong>and</strong>, (Irel<strong>and</strong>, 4 April)
171 Drydakis Nick (2007), Dual Life for Equal Labour? Sexual Orientation <strong>Discrimination</strong> in the Greek
Labour Market, Department of Economics, University of Crete, B.E.N.E.Tec, available at
http://www.soc.uoc.gr/econ/wpa/docs/Sexual_Orientation_<strong>Discrimination</strong>_in_Greece_Drydaki
s.pdf (11.09.2009)
172 Fieldwork meeting with Inter LGBT <strong>and</strong> L’Autre Cercle, (France, 10 March 2008)
Part II - The Social Situation
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