On 25 January, the European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup issued a press release regarding Turkey’s leading party’s proposals to amend the Constitution on the grounds of ‘constitutional guarantee for the headscarf and protection of the family’. The proposals seek to redefine marriage by stipulating that “marriage shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman”. THe LGBTI Intergroup said “Draft amendments to the Turkish Constitution threaten to further rollback on LGBTIQ rights and violate European Convention on Human Rights.”

On 23 January, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that labelling a book of fairy tales as harmful to children solely because of LGBTI content breaches the European Convention. The case concerned a book that was entitled ‘Amber Heart’ (‘Gintarinė širdis’), and contained fairy tales with story lines about relationships and marriages between persons of the same sex. The publishing house suspended distribution of the book in March 2014. A year later distribution was resumed, with the book bearing a warning label that it might be harmful to children under 14 years of age.

On 12 January, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted a draft law on combating the spread of diseases caused by HIV, and legal and social protection of people living with HIV. The law revokes the “risk groups” but introduces “risky practices” and guarantees universal access to HIV-related services for everyone, including people without Ukrainian citizenship and refugees.

ILGA-Europe joined European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) and 7 other international organisations to conduct a survey of individuals belonging to and/or working with populations most affected by HIV in Europe and Central Asia. This community survey seeks to understand specific community perspectives on how HIV combination prevention services are designed and delivered at local level. The survey is anonymous, available in English and Russian and takes about 10 minutes to complete.

On 16 December 2022, the Minister of Health of Armenia issued a ministerial order changing the procedures to donate blood and lifting the ban on gay men for blood donation. The new procedure introduces the requirement of “not having sex with a non-permanent partner in the last 6 months.” The new changes are the results of advocacy works of the Community, Rights, Gender (CRG) work group of Country Coordinating Mechanism against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (CCM), where LGBTI activists were part of.

On 22 December, the Spanish Parliament approved the LGTBI and trans laws with a final vote expected in February. The trans law regulates legal gender recognition based on human rights standards. Among other improvements, LGTBI law will ban conversion therapies and intersex genital mutilations and provide medically assisted reproduction for lesbian, bisexual and trans and non-binary people with the capacity to become pregnant. (Photo: FELGTBI+)

On 22 December, the parliament of Scotland adopted a reform on legal gender recognition based on self-determination. The reform improves the system by giving trans people over 16-years-old being able to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate in an easier, transparent, and just procedure. The adopted changes would come into effect after the government develops the new systems created by the Bill, however on 16 January the UK Government wrote to the Scottish Government to say that they would be using section 35 of the Scotland Act to block the Gender Recognition Reform. (Photo: Scottish Trans)

In an open letter published on 10 January, 170 organisations, including the members of the Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion, called on the Members of the European Parliament to reject any attempts to criminalise any aspect of sex work as a part of the Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence Report, that is currently negotiated in the European Parliament.

The European Commission published a new call for proposals to prevent and combat gender-based violence and violence against children. The call will finance a limited number of transnational, national or regional actors/intermediaries which will build the capacities of and re-grant to civil society organisations active at local, regional, national level. Through this mechanism, EU funding should help organisations active in preventing and combating all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls and all forms of gender-based violence, including against LGBTIQ people, women and children in the migration context, as well as different forms of violence against children.
Read more and apply before 19 April.