Today, on International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has published the results of its online survey on the experiences of hate crime and discrimination by LGBT people.
The results draw on the responses of over 93,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans people living in the EU member states and Croatia, making it the largest such survey of its kind to date.
- Almost half (47 %) said that they had felt personally discriminated against or harassed on the grounds of sexual orientation in the past year.
- Over 80 % from every EU member state remembered negative comments or bullying of LGBT students at school.
- One in five of those who were employed and/or looking for a job felt discriminated against. This figure rises to one in three for trans people.
- More than four fifths said that casual jokes about LGBT people in everyday life were widespread.
- Three in 10 trans people had experienced violence or threats of violence more than three times in the past year.
- Fewer than one in five of all those who had experienced hate-motivated violence towards them reported it to the police. The main reason for not reporting was the belief that no action would be taken.
Despite having the strongest legal protections in Europe, responses from people living in the UK were very close to the EU average in all these areas.
This challenges us to redouble our efforts to improve the working lives of our LGBT members by recruiting LGBT workers into UNISON, organising around LGBT equality, negotiating with employers for stronger policy and practice and campaigning for LGBT equality across society.
You can find out more here.
