To celebrate Pride Month, we conducted this interview with ILGA-Europe. They share with us their advocacy for LGBTQI+ persons with disabilities, delve into the impact of their initiatives, and discuss the future of policy. We also explore the path forward for achieving full equality and inclusion in the next EU mandate.
Thank you, ILGA-Europe, for joining us in this interview and sharing your invaluable insights and experiences in the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights and equality.
Question 1: What are some of the unique challenges that LGBTI persons with disabilities face in their daily lives and in accessing services in the EU?
In 2019 we hosted a gathering of LGBTI activists with disabilities from Europe who clarified their priorities with us: connecting voices, visibility, educating organisations, and the fundamental necessity for LGBTI people with disabilities to lead this work. Following this initiative, we launched a funding call aimed at developing projects that would support activism at this intersection. Our essential learning from these projects was that there is a pressing need for ensuring that experiences of LGBTI people with disabilities are fully acknowledged, visible and represented in our work and they are in leading positions.
When it comes to the community, in 2019, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) conducted the second round of the LGBTI Survey which shows experiences of discrimination and exclusion LGBTI people experience in daily life across the EU, North Macedonia and Serbia. ILGA-Europe disaggregated FRA’s data creating sub-populations of respondents with disabilities, and thus identified the unique challenges and experiences LGBTI people with disabilities have compared to all respondents.
- Socioeconomically, respondents with disabilities encountered greater difficulties in making ends meet, particularly trans women with disabilities faced significant financial hardships.
- In terms of healthcare, LGBTI persons with disabilities encountered higher barriers in accessing healthcare services, with trans women, intersex and non-binary individuals facing the highest level of discrimination. They also reported higher rates of inappropriate curiosity or comments from healthcare providers. LGBTI people with disabilities face higher levels of harassment and violence compared to all respondents.
- Intersex people, trans women and non-binary people with disabilities experience particularly high rates of harassment, including offensive comments in person and online. They are also more likely to be exposed to physical and sexual attacks, with almost half of the attacks involving a sexual component.
Question 2: Can you discuss specific instances or patterns of discrimination that LGBTI persons with disabilities commonly encounter?
The FRA survey asked respondents if they felt discriminated against for being LGBTI in several areas of life, during the last 12 months. Overall, LGBTI people with disabilities experienced higher levels of discrimination in all areas of life compared to all respondents. Over a third of LGBTI people with disabilities felt discriminated against at work (33.48%) and by healthcare or social services personnel (33.25%), and almost one third felt discriminated against at cafes, bars and restaurants (29.47%) compared to all respondents (20.83%, 15.73% and 22.47%, respectively).
Within the group of respondents with disabilities, all trans people and ethnic minorities and trans women face the highest level of discrimination in all areas of life. Discrimination against trans men and trans and ethnic minority people with disabilities is highest when looking for work (over 50% compared to 10.17% of all respondents), while trans women face higher levels of discrimination when at work (49.9% compared to 20.83% of all respondents), preceded by none-cis and ethnic minority people with disabilities (53.95%).
Question 3: What specific legal protections or policies do you believe are essential for ensuring the rights of LGBTI persons with disabilities in the next legislative mandate?
Just this June, we once again have seen the German government blocking the EU’s Equal Treatment Directive (2008/0140(CNS)) from being adopted in the EU Council. This directive, as imperfect as it is, is an important step to tackle the remaining gaps against discrimination outside the labour market. Germany needs to lift general reservation to finally allow EU to close gaps on anti-discrimination at a time when racism, xenophobia, LGBTI-phobia and sexism are visibly on the rise across the EU.
Furthermore, we noted advances in Equality which have been made by the European Union during this mandate. Equality and non-discrimination policies and initiatives became more visible and were addressed through several proposals such as standards for equality bodies, a Directive to combat violence against women, a legislative proposal on the European Disability Card and Parking Card, the action plan against racism, and a proposal for cross-border recognition of parental rights. However, the EU is far from being a Union of Equality. This is a work in progress, and right now, we witness rising backlash, racial injustice, inequality and discrimination. This needs urgent attention both at the EU and national levels.
We need specific actions to guarantee that the European Union’s Institutions have adequate resources and staffing to prioritise and mainstream equality and non-discrimination, with special attention to vulnerable groups and intersectional discrimination. We need a renewed Disablity and EU LGBTIQ Equality strategy that work hand-in-hand and ensure intersectional discrimination is effectively tackled.
Question 4: What recommendations should the EU consider to better protect and promote the rights of LGBTI persons with disabilities?
ILGA-Europe recommends the EU institutions to systematically collect disaggregated equality data that includes sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics in relation to disability, socio-economic status, discrimination and violence; increase the visibility of LGBTI persons with disabilities and address the policy gaps they face, including in the EU LGBTIQ Equality Strategy and the EU Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as in the implementation of national equality strategies; and work closely with LGBTI persons with disabilities and organisations representing them in the development of laws and policies that concern them.
Question 5: What are ILGA-Europe’s upcoming projects specifically aimed at advocating LGBTI persons with disabilities?
All LGBTI people are still far from living in fully equal societies, but LGBTI people with disabilities face specific barriers and challenges when accessing human rights. As human rights organisations we have to ask ourselves who are we leaving behind and make space among our priorities. Although, accessibility and inclusiveness are increasingly present in LGBTI groups’ conversations and practices, most LGBTI people with disabilities continue to be marginalised in LGBTI movements.
At ILGA-Europe, we want to contribute to changing this. For some years now, we’ve been working together with international organisations like the European Disability Forum. We’ve learned and readjusted our own practices regarding online and in-person events, language, social media and much more, as well as taking in these lessons in our advocacy work with EU institutions and the Council of Europe.
At ILGA-Europe we are committed to continue doing our best to ensure we learn, to develop and change as we learn, and to find more ways to support LGBTI activists with disabilities in Europe and Central Asia.
About ILGA Europe
ILGA-Europe is an independent, international non-governmental umbrella organisation that work for a world in which each and every LGBTI person is free, equal and safe.