Europe’s anti-LGBTI crackdown is a red alert for everyone

Katrin Hugendubel is the Advocacy Director at ILGA-Europe, the umbrella organisation for the LGBTI activist movement in Europe and Central Asia. ILGA-Europe’s Annual Review can be found here.

A report published today confirms what those on the frontlines of defending LGBTI rights in Europe have been warning about for some years: A new era of coordinated attacks on fundamental rights and freedoms has taken hold, and anti-LGBTI laws are being used as a gateway.

For the past three years, ILGA-Europe’s Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of LGBTI People in Europe and Central Asia has been documenting a steady rise in anti-LGBTI hate speech from leaders across the region, and a subsequent rise in violent attacks on the streets. 

The latest edition, published today, shows this weaponising of LGBTI people has taken root as a strategy to erode the foundations of democracy. New anti-LGBTI laws are being used to curtail freedom of speech, civil society, and fair elections.

These attacks are not isolated. In seven countries - including Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and Slovakia - so-called ‘LGBT propaganda’ laws have been enacted or proposed, criminalising visibility and restricting discussion of LGBTI issues.

In parallel, ‘foreign agent’ laws targeting NGOs have been either proposed or introduced in Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, and Montenegro, forcing organisations to register as foreign-funded entities, thereby stifling human rights activism.

These measures are framed as protecting families and traditional values while specifically targeting LGBTI NGOs, and mimic Russia’s approach, where such laws have been used to silence independent voices.

Education has become a battleground. Attempts to remove LGBTI topics from school curricula have surfaced in at least 10 European countries, including Italy,

Norway, and Romania. In Turkey, authorities have gone so far as to erase references to gender and sexual orientation from medical oaths, reinforcing a state-backed narrative of exclusion.

The consequences are dire. Hate crimes have reached record levels, fuelled by a normalisation of hate speech by political and religious leaders. At the same time, fear-mongering often accompanies either proposed or enacted restrictions on trans healthcare in countries such as Georgia, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, and the United Kingdom.

Not providing healthcare for trans minors is increasingly framed as a matter of "protection," while restrictions on adults are justified as necessary to guard against the supposed threat trans people pose.

Even in traditionally progressive states like France, Austria, and Italy, new barriers to trans healthcare are emerging.

This repression extends beyond national borders. As governments intensify their crackdowns, LGBTI individuals are being forced to flee, yet many European countries - including Austria, Belgium and Ireland - are denying asylum claims on arbitrary grounds, with applicants rejected for not seeming ‘gay enough’.

This may seem like it’s just about LGBTI rights. But the data shows that what started as an attack on one vulnerable group is quickly expanding into a broader erosion of fundamental freedoms. The same governments pushing anti-LGBTI laws are also attacking academics, suppressing journalists, targeting artists, and undermining fair elections.

In European Union member state, Romania, anti-LGBTI sentiment has been leveraged in the presidential election to fuel nationalist rhetoric, distract from democratic backsliding, and rally support for far-right, pro-Russian candidates.

Hungary’s anti-LGBTI legislation has been accompanied by broader crackdowns on academic freedom and media pluralism.

In Slovakia, anti-LGBTI rhetoric has been employed to target artistic freedoms, with the culture minister dismissing heads of major cultural institutions for alleged "political activism" .

Among the other sweeping measures of Georgia’s new anti-LGBTI law, public gatherings that promote same-sex relationships are criminalised, further laying the groundwork for suppressing opposition voices.

The courts have provided some pushback, through key rulings on asylum, hate speech, and legal gender recognition. Yet, judicial wins alone are not enough.

Legal challenges can slow the erosion of democracy, but they cannot stop it when governments openly defy court rulings.

Political leaders across Europe must recognise that this is not merely an issue of minority rights.

The further erosion of fundamental freedoms that is happening in the wake of new anti-LGBTI laws is a tipping point. The European Union must take stronger action against states that violate fundamental rights, including by cutting EU funding and imposing fines and infringement procedures.

National governments must also act decisively, not just in courts, but through policy, funding, and international pressure.

If Europe fails to act quickly, the crackdown on LGBTI rights will serve as a blueprint for broader threats to the foundations of fundamental rights. This is an existential crisis for democracy. The time to fight back is now.