Eastern Europe was once a world lear on gay rights. Then ran out of spegoats | CNN

Contents:

• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• EUROPE’S EPENG DIVI ON GAY RIGHTS
• 9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE
• GAY RIGHTS AND LGBTQI MOVEMENTS EUROPE
• WHERE EUROPE STANDS ON GAY MARRIAGE AND CIVIL UNNS

EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS

Hungary’s hardle natnalist ernment passed a new law earlier this month banng ntent that “promot” homosexualy and genr change om beg shared wh children, effectively prohibg any discsn of LGBTQ them schools. In dog so, Orbán has followed the playbook of Poland’s ernment, which has been chippg away at the rights of the LGBTQ muny for a number of years, adoptg discrimatory rhetoric and stokg homophobia. “There’s a real regrsn happeng many different untri, and rights that had been regnized are now beg challenged, ” said Evelyne Paradis, the executive director of the European branch of the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA-Europe).

“You have plac like Germany, France, Spa where 85% or more say that homosexualy should be accepted by society and then once you’re past the dividg le, on the other si of the former Iron Curta, those numbers beg to fall pretty rapidly and then get even lower as you go to Rsia, ” he said. “When you look at the former Eastern bloc, the untri had a long tradn of really progrsive legislatn towards LGBTQ rights, Poland for stance crimalized homosexualy 1932, which is really, really early, ” Kościańska said. As of 2022, six untri' legal s specifilly prcribe the ath penalty for the "crime" of homosexualy and another five untri allow for the possibily of the ath penalty.

LGBT and LGBTQ+ have several addnal variatns, cludg LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, and 2SLGBTQIA+ (Two-spir, lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, qutng, tersex, and asexual, wh the + reprentg pansexual, agenr, genr queer, bigenr, genr variant, and pangenr). Two of the most notable advancements LGBTQI+ rights the US recent s are the legalizatn of gay marriage and the legalizatn of adoptn of children by same-sex upl.

EUROPE’S EPENG DIVI ON GAY RIGHTS

Gay marriage legalizatn expand om one state 2004 to all fifty stat 2015 through feral urt lgs, state urt lgs, state legislatn, and direct popular vot. Acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn's annual report State-Sponsored Homophobia, same-sex nduct was crimalized 67 of the Uned Natns' 193 member stat 2020 and was facto illegal two more. 2022's iendlit natn for LGBTQ+ travelers is Canada, the first untry outsi of Europe (and the fourth untry the world) to legalize gay marriage, which did on July 20, 2005.

9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE

Another of the world's most gay-iendly untri, Swen has legalized both marriage and adoptn for same-sex upl, stalled anti-discrimatn protectns for both genr inty and sexual orientatn, end nstutnal protectns agast discrimatn, and crimalized vlence agast LGBTQ+ people. Individuals arrted for homosexual nduct are often subjected to addnal mistreatment, om torture and forced anal exams by shady law enforcement officials to oversized sentenc or extend pre-trial rceratn that n last for years. Countri across Europe need to do more to protect the rights of lbian, gay, bisexual, trans and tersex (LGBTI) people, acrdg to a new x, which says law and policy advanc have slowed down across the ‘Rabow Europe’ x, released today by advocy group ILGA-Europe, ranks 49 untri the regn on their LGBTI equaly laws and polici, givg them a sre between 0% (gross vlatns of human rights, discrimatn) and 100% (rpect for human rights, full equaly).

The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey. Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment.

GAY RIGHTS AND LGBTQI MOVEMENTS EUROPE

Those Wtern Europe and the Ameris are generally more acceptg of homosexualy than are those Eastern Europe, Rsia, Ukrae, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Ai. In many natns, there has been an creasg acceptance of homosexualy, cludg the Uned Stat, where 72% say should be accepted, pared wh jt 49% as recently as 2007. In many of the untri surveyed, there also are differenc on acceptance of homosexualy by age, tn, e and, some stanc, genr – and several s, the differenc are substantial.

For example, some untri, those who are affiliated wh a relig group tend to be ls acceptg of homosexualy than those who are unaffiliated (a group sometim referred to as relig “non”). For example, Swen, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which have a per-pa gross domtic product over $50, 000, acceptance of homosexualy is among the hight measured across the 34 untri surveyed. The study is a follow-up to a 2013 report that found many of the same patterns as seen today, although there has been an crease acceptance of homosexualy across many of the untri surveyed both years.

Central and Eastern Europeans, however, are more divid on the subject, wh a median of 46% who say homosexualy should be accepted and 44% sayg should not be.

WHERE EUROPE STANDS ON GAY MARRIAGE AND CIVIL UNNS

But sub-Saharan Ai, the Middle East, Rsia and Ukrae, few say that society should accept homosexualy; only South Ai (54%) and Israel (47%) do more than a quarter hold this view. However, while took nearly 15 years for acceptance to rise 13 pots om 2000 to jt before the feral legalizatn of gay marriage June 2015, there was a near equal rise acceptance jt the four years sce legalizatn. More than eight--ten Democrats and Democratic-leang pennts (85%) say homosexualy should be accepted, but only 58% of Republins and Republin leaners say the same.

In 22 of 34 untri surveyed, younger adults are signifintly more likely than their olr unterparts to say homosexualy should be accepted by society. This difference was most pronounced South Korea, where 79% of 18- to 29-year-olds say homosexualy should be accepted by society, pared wh only 23% of those 50 and olr.

This staggerg 56-pot difference exceeds the next largt difference Japan by 20 pots, where 92% and 56% of those ag 18 to 29 and 50 and olr, rpectively, say homosexualy should be accepted by society. In most untri surveyed, those who have greater levels of tn are signifintly more likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted society than those who have ls tn. For example, Greece, 72% of those wh a postsendary tn or more say homosexualy is acceptable, pared wh 42% of those wh a sendary tn or ls who say this.