2024 LGBTQ Global Rights Progress - Eastern Europe
Glimmers of hope heading into 2025, despite threats on the horizon
Today is part four of my look back at how the fight for global LGBTQ rights has evolved over the previous 12 months, focusing on Eastern Europe.
You can also still read my previous entries on North America, Latin America & Caribbean, and Western Europe.
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Southeastern Europe
Greece: One of the biggest surprises of the year came from Greece, where newly reelected Prime Minister Mitsotakis fast-tracked his promise to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption within the next four years and actually got it done by February. The law also ended “forced divorce,” which previously required trans people to divorce their spouse if they wanted to legally change gender. Together with several other reforms over the past decade, Greece has quickly shot up the rankings of ILGA’s Rainbow Equality Map of Europe module – it’s now tied with Finland for sixth, behind only Malta, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, and Denmark.
The marriage law hasn’t come without controversy. Various far-right and religious leaders have condemned it, and the far right party surged during EU Parliament elections, leading Mitsotakis to slow down progressive reforms (he’s a conservative, by the way, which likely has mitigated some of the blowback). A constitutional court challenge of the law has been filed, but I think it’s unlikely to go anywhere.
But Greece becoming the first Eastern Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex marriage has inspired activists in other parts of the region.
Cyprus: I would have thought that Greece’s legalization of same-sex marriage would have sparked debate on the issue in Greece’s Canada, but after an initial campaign from the country’s main advocacy group Accept LGBTI, there hasn’t been much news on the subject. The president has previously expressed support for equal marriage, though. The government has instead focused on creating a national LGBTI rights strategy to bring the country in line with EU standards. It also stiffened penalties for hate speech against LGBT people from a €5,000 fine to €10,000.
There was also talk that the government would bring forward legislation to update and simplify the legal gender recognition process, but that hasn’t happened from what I’ve seen.
In the breakaway Northern Cyprus, the biggest development was that the mayor of the capital Nicosia Mehmet Harmanci participated in the annual Pride parade for the first time. There was no progress made on resolving the five-decade-old dispute, in part because of developments in…
Türkiye: The narrow reelection of President Erdogan after he and his party campaigned hard against LGBT rights and “the West” was certainly not a good sign for peace or tolerance in the region.
LGBT organizations and Pride events faced crackdowns in 2024, and a film festival in Istanbul was cancelled after censors banned the film Queer from screening.
Erdogan has held a hardline stance on reunification of Cyprus, fueled strife in Syria and Libya, rattled sabers with Greece, and dragged out Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession until this year, all of which has put the country at odds with the EU. In addition to the deteriorating human rights situation, the country’s ambitions to eventually join the block remain effectively dead.
Albania: There was little progress on LGBT issues, although a lesbian couple staged a symbolic wedding in Tirana.
In September, Prime Minister Rama proposed creating a new “Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order” within Tirana, a sort of Vatican City for an Islamic sect. The proposal hasn’t really gone anywhere amid opposition from the public and some religious leaders. It would require a 2/3 majority in Parliament to amend the constitution to create it, and then recognition from other states, none of which has voiced support.
Kosovo: The government failed to pass its long-promised civil code reform, which would have legalized civil unions and opened the door to equal marriage. The Council of Europe punted its decision on allowing Kosovo to join.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: The EU agreed in principle to open accession talks with Bosnia, but it must meet certain criteria first.
Serbia: Ana Brnabić, Serbia’s longtime openly lesbian prime minister, resigned amid anti-government protests; she became president of the parliament. She had been PM since 2017.
The government says its still considering civil union legislation, first proposed in 2019, but has offered no timeline.
Serbia’s EU integration track seems to have stalled amid clear democratic backsliding.
Bulgaria: A major setback occurred in August, when Parliament passed an “LGBT propaganda” law banning discussion of LGBT issues in schools. Parliament has been basically deadlocked for years as successive elections, including two in 2024, yield no stable majority coalitions. But this was something they could apparently agree on.
Bulgaria joined the Schengen area, deepening its EU integration, although land borders will persist for at least another six months. Bulgaria also plans to adopt the Euro, but the changeover date keeps being pushed back – it’s now planned for Jan 2026 at the earliest, although that still has to be ratified by parliament.
Romania: Romania lost a case at the EU’s top court, which ruled that EU members must recognize any legal gender change performed/recognized in any other EU member state. The ruling impacts the entire bloc. But Romania has been known to ignore LGBT rights rulings, including an earlier one establishing that EU members must grant residency to same-sex spouses of EU citizens.
Romania has been under a political crisis after what appears to be a massive Russian influence op threw parliamentary elections and the first round of the presidential election to a relatively minor pro-Russian far-right extremist party. The constitutional court nullified the presidential election, which has yet to be rescheduled. The upshot is that the other person who advanced to the second round of the original election was progressive who’s moderate on LGBT rights. We’ll see if she continues to have success whenever the election happens.
Romania joined the Schengen area with the same limitations as Bulgaria. It has no immediate plans to adopt the euro.
Croatia: Multiple “outing” scandals this year, as the president outed an opposition cabinet minister, and Zagreb Pride outed ten politicians.
Croatia’s Oscar submission this year is a historical gay epic set in a communist-era prison colony. I haven’t seen it yet.
Montenegro: Nothing new to report, but I will note that ILGA seems to have recalibrated its map module so that Montenegro no longer outranks places like France and the UK on LGBT rights. EU accession is slowly simmering in the background, but the country’s apparent tie to Serbia in negotiations seems to be holding it back.
North Macedonia: Bulgaria is still blocking the beginning of accession talks with the EU over arcane concerns about the constitutional status of the Bulgarian minority and language.
Eastern Europe
Czechia: Czechia ended a long-running debate on same-sex marriage with a disappointing compromise that appeared to leave activists and lawmakers equally stunned. Instead of passing equal marriage, civil partnerships were instead enhanced to be equal to marriage in all aspects except joint adoption; step-child adoption will be allowed. The law comes into force on Jan 1, 2025. It’s possible that the question gets revisited after parliamentary elections expected in October.
Shortly after the bill was signed into law, some senators proposed a law that would criminalize same-sex couples creating a child through IVF. The bill is unlikely to go anywhere.
In May, the constitutional court ruled that surgical and sterilization requirements for trans people to change their legal gender are unconstitutional, giving parliament until June to change the law.
The government also ended discrimination against gay/bi blood donors in July.
Slovakia: Most of the news in Slovakia was about the incredibly homophobic government directly attacking LGBT rights and expression.
The Russia-allied government has proposed bills inspired directly from the Kremlin, including a “foreign agents” law and an “LGBT propaganda” law, both of which are intended to shut down political expression it doesn’t like.
Members of the government have been called out for disrupting plays with gay themes and threatening the national theatre over gay-themed work. The minister of culture was investigated for hate speech after she spouted a bunch of racist and homophobic shit in an interview. And the government revoked citizenship given to the husband of a male Slovak national.
A case filed in 2023 by legislators asking the constitutional court to find the government’s refusal to recognize same-sex couples unconstitutional has not advanced.
Poland: The new coalition government of Donald Tusk has basically failed to deliver on its promises to the LGBT community this year, amid disagreements between coalition members. In the fall, a civil union bill was finally introduced, though debate in parliament has not yet begun. It’s still a question whether President Duda, an ally of the previous anti-LGBT government, would sign the bill if it passes. The next Presidential election is expected in 2026.
Tusk also finally approved of a hate speech bill that would include protections for LGBT people in November, but it hasn’t been brought to Parliament yet. This bill was part of the coalition agreement, so it ought to be easier to get through.
The last of the “LGBT-Free Zones” passed by local councils during the previous administration was finally repealed in February.
Estonia: Same-sex marriage became legal on Jan 1, 2024, the first post-Soviet country to legalize it.
Estonia also ended discrimination against gay/bi blood donors in March.
The coalition government has so far been unable to come to agreement on a proposed LGBT-inclusive hate speech law.
Latvia: A civil union law passed last year came into effect in July, after opponents failed to collect enough signatures to force a referendum on it.
Lithuania: It was mostly a year of setbacks. A civil union bill that required only one final vote to pass stalled after various parties couldn’t come to agreement, and the supposedly left-leaning opposition refused to support it supposedly out of spite for the government. That party then won elections in October and is now in a coalition with a far-right party, so it’s unlikely the bill will pass soon.
Another government bill to repeal an old “LGBT propaganda” law failed in parliament largely for the same reasons, but in December, the constitutional court gave us a reprieve by ruling the law unconstitutional.
Hungary: Hungary’s own LGBT Propaganda law faced a hearing at the European Court of Justice in December; the court has not yet issued a ruling.
Hungary’s rabidly anti-LGBT PM Orban and his Fidesz party appear to be rapidly losing support amid multiple sex and corruption scandals, although elections aren’t scheduled until 2026.
Belarus: In April, the Ministry of Culture expanded the definition of pornography to include any portrayals of LGBT people. Production, distribution, and possession of pornography is criminal in Belarus.
Belarus’ basic dictatorship is set to continue with President Lukashenko expected to run for a seventh term in 2025. The last election was marred by widespread vote rigging and massive protests.
Moldova: The country overcame a massive Russian influence operation to narrowly reelect its pro-Western President Maia Sandu and to pass a referendum enshrining the country’s goal of EU accession into its constitution. Moldova was also scheduled to fully leave the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States by the end of 2024; I can’t find any confirmation that’s been made official yet.
The breakaway republic of Transnistria, which is essentially a Russian puppet, has come under increasing strain this year as the war in Ukraine has cut off its traditional trade routes and gas supply. Sandu appears to want to peacefully reincorporate the territory, but this problem has been intractable for decades.
Ukraine: The ongoing war remains a major human rights and security crisis. Reelected President Trump has pledged to end the war on day one – lord only knows how.
In the meantime, Ukraine has made little progress this year on a civil partnership bill; it passed through the health committee, but is now stuck in the legal committee.
Ukraine ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Russia: Russia remains the biggest crisis country for LGBT people in Europe. In March, the government added the “international LGBT movement” to its list of “terrorist” or “extremist” organizations, following a ruling by the supreme court to that effect last year. That’s led to an increase in raids and crackdowns on LGBT clubs and organizations.
Russia has also actively intervened in elections around the world to promote extremist, anti-LGBTQ, anti-democracy, and pro-Russia candidates, particularly in Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Georgia, across the Sahel, and, ahem, the United States.
President Putin won reelection after killing or barring all his opponents from running against him.
Georgia: Georgia’s democratic backsliding continued as the Russia-influenced Georgian Dream party passed a “foreign agents” law meant to crack down on opposition voices and media, and then a sweeping package of anti-LGBT bills that banned same-sex marriage and adoption, banned portrayals or discussion of LGBT people in media, and banned gender transition. The bill was passed while the opposition were boycotting parliament.
National elections in October were widely denounced as fraudulent, but Georgian Dream has clung to power and proposed draconian laws to crackdown on nationwide protests that have continued since.
The entire situation has essentially frozen Georgia’s bid for EU accession, only months after it was approved to begin negotiations by the EU.
In the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, essentially a Russian puppet, authorities recently proposed an “LGBT propaganda” law.
Armenia: Armenia continued its slow drift out of Russia’s orbit, as it announced it was considering applying to join the EU and was planning to formally leave the Russian NATO, the CSTO, having already suspended participation. Joining the EU would be incredibly difficult for Armenia, as it’s surrounded by hostile countries and 1,000 kms away from the nearest EU country.
That’s all of Europe! Tomorrow I’ll be back with a look at Asia, Africa, and Oceania.