Rainbow Europe Map details LGBTI progress
And Elon says you can't say this word on Tw*tter
Before I launch in on my first newsletter since finally getting home from my little holiday, I want to take a moment to thank all of my readers, especially the paid subscribers. You all help me keep this thing going! And your contributions really help keep this something I can devote the time I need to maintain a high-quality newsletter.
Thank you all, so much.
Europe: ILGA-Europe released its annual Rainbow Europe Map today and it shows how much progress has been made on LGBT rights across the continent in the past year, while also highlighting which countries are backtracking.
In the past, I’ve been critical about the Rainbow Map module, because it produced absurdities like giving Montenegro a high score than countries like France and the UK. Some of that seems to have been mitigated in this year’s edition – although the relative scores still leave some headscratchers (Montenegro still outscores Czechia, Estonia and Italy, and is only slightly behind Slovenia, Austria, and the UK, for example). There are some other logical absurdities in the rankings – for example, a country with marriage equality loses points if it doesn’t also offer some lesser forms of family recognition like civil unions or registered cohabitation.
But it’s a useful progress tracker. This year’s module also lets you see how individual countries’ scores have changed over time, although I suspect this often reflects IGLA’s shifting set of criteria rather than actual legislative changes – for example, the UK’s score has dropped from 81% to 55% as ILGA added more criteria related to trans and intersex rights.
I’m going to have more on the Rainbow Map release in this week’s Out in the World for the Los Angeles Blade.
The ILGA report comes on the same day the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency has released a report showing that LGBT people face alarming discrimination and violence across the continent.
Liechtenstein: Speaking of the Rainbow Map’s limitations, the newest incarnation won’t include the fact that Liechtenstein’s parliament is expected to pass the equal marriage bill into law tomorrow. The bill already had substantive debate in March, and enjoys near-unanimous approval from parliamentarians. The Prince will be expected to sign it into law shortly after, and it will come into effect Jan 1. (To be fair, ILGA points out Liechtenstein’s many other legislative shortcomings, particularly on trans and intersex rights, and non-discrimination law).
Philippines: The House of Representatives began consideration of a SOGIESC bill banning discrimination against LGBTI people after a year of delay. Let’s not get too excited — the same bill has been in debate for more than twenty years and is still not likely to pass.
Taiwan: President Tsai Ing-wen hosted RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Nymphia Wind at the presidential palace, where she performed a drag set. Tsai remarked that this is probably the first time a drag performance has been hosted at a presidential palace, but I cannot confirm that.
Peru: I may have been too quick to report that the state effectively barred medical conversion therapy – it appears that the same directive also lists transgender identity as a mental illness. I’ll keep watching to find out what’s going on.
Duly Noted:
X, the app formerly known as Twitter has start restricting posts that include the words “cis” or “cisgender,” reflecting owner Elon Musk’s incorrect belief that these words are slurs, which he posted about last June between sharing memes from Nazis and white supremacists.
Meanwhile, in the States…
The FBI is warning of threats to LGBTQ and Pride events from foreign terror groups, which at least gives us a change from the usual domestic far-right terror groups.
Florida, Georgia, and Alabama: The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found that denying trans health care through health plans is effectively illegal discrimination against trans people, in violation of federal law, relying on new regulations put in place by the Biden administration and the Supreme Court’s findings in the Bostock case. The decision impacts these three states.
North Carolina and Florida: Queer activists are flipping the script and going on the offensive, by filing discrimination complaints to the US Department of Education over policies that cause the removal of books with LGBT content from libraries and schools.
Massachusetts: The state still lacks laws which recognize same-sex parents equally, 20 years after same-sex marriage became legal. A bill to rectify the situation has languished in the state house for a decade – just like the sodomy law repeal bill has. The legislature has until the end of June to pass both bills.
Minnesota: The state house delayed consideration of both the proposed equal rights amendment and the gay panic defense ban on Monday, and it’s not clear when they plan to debate them again. The legislature must end on May 20.
New Hampshire: The Republican-controlled legislature has advanced a bill that would ban LGBTQ topics in schools and forcibly out trans students to their parents. The bill only requires a final vote in the state senate to pass.
Arizona: While I was on holiday, lawmakers narrowly repealed the 19th-century total abortion ban that a panel of judges reinstated earlier this spring, leaving in place the 15-week ban modern (and I use the term loosely) Republicans installed. Arizona is a key battleground for Democrats seeking to gain control of state legislatures (not to mention keeping the White House and Senate) in November.