2026 Rainbow Map Delivers Mixed Picture on LGBTQ+ Rights
Spain’s top ranking follows new legal protections, while the report says assaults on LGBTI people there rose from 7% to 22% in two years.
- Spain claimed the top spot in ILGA-Europe's 2026 Rainbow Map, ending Malta's ten-year lead in the annual ranking of laws and policies affecting LGBTQ+ communities across 49 European countries.
- Spain's advancement follows new legal protections, an independent non-discrimination authority, and full depathologization of trans identities in healthcare. Deputy Director of ILGA-Europe Katrin Hugendubel attributed this to deliberate government choices to advance equality.
- Scores varied widely across the continent: the UK ranked midway at 44%, while Russia and Azerbaijan scored just 2%. Hugendubel identified trans rights as a main battleground in this year's map.
- Despite legal progress, assaults on LGBTQ+ people in Spain have risen from 7% to 22% in two years, highlighting the gap between policy and daily reality. Remy Bonny of Forbidden Colours warned that positive legal moves do not necessarily mirror lived experience.
- Bonny warned that far-right parties increasingly threaten LGBTQ+ protections across Europe, stating, "They start with one minority group, then they take the rights of everyone." He argued minority rights serve as a crucial test for liberal democracies.
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Cyprus ranks 30th in Europe on LGBT rights index
Cyprus ranked 30th among 49 European countries in ILGA Europe’s 2026 Rainbow Map, scoring 33.69 per cent on legislation and policies affecting LGBT people across the continent. The annual index, published on Tuesday, assesses countries on areas including equality, non-discrimination, family rights, hate crime legislation, asylum protections and civic freedoms.…
2026 Rainbow Map delivers mixed picture on LGBTQ+ rights
ILGA Europe has released its annual ranking of LGBTQ+ rights across Europe and Central Asia, with Spain taking the top spot for the first time. But behind the numbers, activists warn of a growing backlash against LGBTQ+.
Belgium has dropped to 4th place on the Rainbow Map, the annual European ranking for LGBTQIA+ rights. That is 2 places lower than last year. LGBTQIA+ umbrella organization Çavaria warns that other countries are overtaking Belgium because our country is neglecting a number of issues. Federal Minister for Equal Opportunities Rob Beenders (Vooruit) and his Flemish colleague Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) acknowledge that standing still sometimes means g…
The new edition of the Rainbow Map of ILGA, the largest international organization LGTBI, places our country in the number one position of the ranking and highlights "the determined struggle" of the central government against "the attempts of the extreme right" to put the legislation at risk
The Rainbow Map 2026, with data from 49 countries, makes the EU state the most guaranteed with the rights of the collective
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