Spain breaks Malta’s decade-long hold on Europe’s LGBTI rights top spot
As the rules-based international order fractures and democracy is under pressure from east and west, Spain’s top ranking in ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map of 49 countries on LGBTI human rights laws and policies stands as proof that political courage remains the most powerful answer.
May 12, 2026, Brussels: Published today, ILGA-Europe’s 18th annual Rainbow Map, ranking 49 European countries on laws and policies impacting LGBTI people, ends Malta’s ten year reign with Spain taking the top position. Spain’s rise to the top reflects a combination of achievements, including a fully functioning depathologisation of trans identities in healthcare, new legal protections, new national LGBTI and trans strategies, a new independent equal treatment and non-discrimination authority, and a determined fightback against far-right attempts to dismantle national trans protections.
Spain’s No’1 ranking is more than a measure of policy progress. At a moment when authoritarian forces are pressing in on European democracy from east and west, and when LGBTI rights are being heavily weaponised as a political tool, Spain’s forward momentum is a good example of what democratic leadership can look like.
Yet a top ranking on the Rainbow Map measures laws and policies, not lived reality. In Spain, as elsewhere, the gap between legal progress and daily experience remains stark. According to a report this year from LGTBI+ Spanish Federation, assaults against LGBTI people are up 15% since 2024, driven by a climate of hate speech that emboldens violence against vulnerable groups.
According to Deputy Director of ILGA-Europe, Katrin Hugendubel: “Spain’s number one ranking is a strong example of what becomes possible when a government makes a deliberate choice to advance equality rather than retreat from it. We see this same spirit in leaders like Zohran Mamdani in New York, who are refusing to bow to the authoritarian pressure of this moment and choosing instead to stand with their communities. Of course more needs to be done in Spain, but this is a reminder that political courage is a choice, and that governments who make it can effectively push back.”
Trans progress
While anti-trans hate is rising and many countries are undermining trans rights, this year’s Rainbow Map shows that courts are holding the line and eight countries are at least moving in the right direction even if the real legal reform is still missing. Albania (up two places to No’24), introduced new legislation saying discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation constitute gender based discrimination. In Czechia (up six places to No’26), and Latvia (up two places to No’32), legal gender markers can now be changed without sterilisation. Other countries are holding the line, while preparing the ground for necessary laws. Austria (remaining at No’16) introduced alternative gender markers for non-binary people, while in Croatia (one place up to No’19) and Poland (remaining at No’39), the administrative measures for legal gender recognition have been improved. Sweden is the only country to have introduced new legislation on legal gender recognition. While the reform is welcome, it still falls short of a self-determination model and continues to pathologise trans identities.
The wider picture
Beyond the scope of the Rainbow Map, but also showing leadership, are institutional directives and judgements, including the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issuing key judgements on trans rights and recognition of same-sex marriage across EU member states over the last year, and just last month ruling that Hungary’s 2021 “anti-LGBTI propaganda” law breaches Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU), which enshrines the Union’s fundamental values, as well as multiple EU directives, and several provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In October 2025 all 46 member states of the Council of Europe adopted the first comprehensive international legal instrument specifically dedicated to the human rights of intersex persons.
But while some countries and courts show positive leadership, across the continent, a number of damaging developments are taking shape. In Albania, a referendum threatens to repeal the new gender equality law, its opponents framing it as an attack on traditional family values. In Belarus, a new anti-LGBTI propaganda law modelled on the Russian version carries criminal sanctions. Germany has declared its LGBT action plan complete despite significant implementation gaps. Italy’s new security law contains provisions that risk curtailing freedom of assembly, including Pride marches. Portugal has advanced legislative drafts that would severely roll back protections for trans and intersex people. Slovakia has introduced constitutional amendments defining sex as immutable and assigned at birth, making legal gender recognition impossible and restricting legal parenthood to a mother and father. In Turkey, there is an alarming escalation in attempts to roll back rights, with draft legislative amendments in process, an adopted rollback on access to trans-specific healthcare, the dissolution of an LGBTI youth organisation, and a sharp increase in criminal lawsuits against LGBTI activists. Russia remains last in the ranking, where attacks on LGBTI human rights continue to escalate. For the first time, LGBTI organisations are being designated “extremist”, exposing those who work for or engage with them to significant risks of criminal liability.
Katrin Hugendubel concluded: “This year’s Rainbow Map tells two stories at once. One of genuine courage, in Spain, in courtrooms, and in leaders who are choosing to stand with their communities rather than scapegoat them. And one of real and growing danger that cannot be underestimated. The question every government in Europe must now answer is which story they want to be part of.”
