A European survey across the LGBT community reaches a record 140,000 people. Thanks to LUI magazine, there is no shortage of data from the Czech Republic and Slovakia
2012 vs. 2019
A unique insight into the lived experience of LGBT people, the problems of non-acceptance, discrimination, violence and harassment was already provided by the first FRA(European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) survey in 2012, which involved over 90 000 respondents from all over Europe. This year, this figure was far surpassed by the second pan-European survey on the position of the LGBT community in society, with 140 000 respondents completing the questionnaires. The results, which will be published early next year, will also serve as a comparison with the 2012 data, help assess the effectiveness of anti-discrimination policies, but also provide a detailed insight into the evolution of the LGBT situation over the last seven years.
As adequate companies, organisations and media focusing on the LGBT community in each country were contacted to conduct the survey, LUI magazine under the leadership of Jakub Starý was of course unable to meet - thus ensuring the media coverage and dissemination of the questionnaires among the readership in the Czech Republic and also in Slovakia. It is in our eastern neighbours that the LGBT community has still not managed to achieve not only social recognition, but also any form of formalisation of coexistence.
Human rights = LGBT rights
Not only in Slovakia, however, LGBT people face many obstacles on a daily basis. In many EU countries, LGBT people are at risk of discrimination and harassment. Intolerance (and not infrequently so-called hate crimes, i.e. various forms of hate violence) is fuelled by deep-rooted prejudices and misconceptions about homosexuality, transsexuality and different gender identities. Thus, already in 2012, a key finding of FRA research was that LGBT people still face numerous verbal and physical attacks.
Whether (and to what extent) the situation has changed (for better or for worse) will be indicated by the results of this year's survey. They will also serve as a basis for identifying areas where concrete changes need to be made in relation to equality for LGBT people. Given that the issue of same-sex marriage in particular, as well as the legal regulation of the relationship between children and their social parents, is still a topic of great passion in the Czech Republic, the results could also be used as a basis for domestic activist organisations to help them in their efforts to push for change.
