Today is the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia which is being marked for the 6th time. On this day in 1990, the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

To mark the Day, ILGA-Europe launches updated version of the Rainbow Europe Map and adds the Rainbow Europe Country Index. Additionally, ILGA-Europe organises an event in the heart of the EU quarter in Brussels called “Rainbow Buzz in the Heart of the EU” with a view to raise awareness on homophobia and transphobia and highlight our demands towards the EU institutions.

Updated Rainbow Europe Map, which we originally launched in July 2009, reflects European countries’ legislation which protects the human rights of and ensures equality for LGB people as well as laws and practices which discriminate against and violates the human rights of LGB people.

The Rainbow Europe Country Index rates each European country on its legislation affecting the human rights of LGB people. The Rainbow Index is based on the legislation and practices reflected in our Rainbow Europe map. The rating places a country on a scale between 10 (maximal positive score) and -4 (minimal negative score) and is an average of possible positive and negative points.

Positive points are awarded to a country which has

• legislation protecting from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation,
• recognising same-sex partnership,
• parenting rights of same-sex partners,
• recognising homophobia in hate speech/crime legislation.

The negative points are awarded to the countries which

• have law banning same-sex sexual acts,
• have unequal age of consent,
• violated the rights of LGB people to peaceful assembly and freedom of association.

The Map and Index do not reflect the situation for trans and intersex people in Europe. ILGA-Europe is working with Transgender Europe on identifying the categories and data collection which will enable to have such an overview. We expect to produce such map and index on trans and intersex issue in 2011.

The aim of our “Rainbow Buzz in the Heart of the EU” event is to raise greater awareness on homophobia, transphobia and the situation for LGBTI people in Europe. During the event ILGA-Europe will distribute a leaflet which summarises our demands towards the EU institutions and identifies what they can do to improve the situation. The event will culminate with the release of 300 rainbow colours balloons at 13:45.

Martin K.I. Christensen, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, said:

“The International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia is an appropriate occasion to revise the situation for LGB people in Europe. The Rainbow Index is a great tool to monitor the development of the legal situation for LBG people in Europe and useful tool for our advocacy work.

The only European country which scored 10 of 10 available positive points in our index is Sweden, our congratulations to this country for making sure its legislation and practices are fully inclusive and respectful of human rights of LGB people. Sadly, despite advances in many parts of Europe, we still experience human rights violations of LGB people in Europe. This year Russia and Ukraine are on the bottom on our Index with a score -2.”

Linda Freimane, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, added:

“We organise “Rainbow Buzz in the heart of the EU” to remind the EU institutions about what they can and should do to advance the human rights of LGBTI people in Europe and beyond. This is the first IDAHO since the election of this European Parliament and the formation of a new European Commission. We believe that the EU institutions can and should take an even greater role towards the elimination of injustice and inequalities, and we will be there to remind and help them.”