Across Europe and Central Asia, the criminalisation of LGBTI people is quietly re-emerging. It is not returning through overt bans, but through an expanding web of so-called propaganda laws, foreign agent regulations, and restrictions on civic space, advocacy umbrella organisation ILGA-Europe writes.
Each year, as ILGA-Europe publishes its Annual Review, it reflects on the realities observed through its work and through the contributions of more than 200 activists and legal experts across 55 countries. The report is structured thematically, alongside detailed country chapters and an institutional overview, allowing comparison of responses from bodies such as the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations.
Limited progress amid broader decline
There have been some positive developments during 2025. Denmark adopted a policy and action plan to improve healthcare for LGBTI people, courts in Italy issued rulings on parenthood recognition, and Lithuania moved forward on recognising same-sex partnerships.
At the Council of Europe level, the Committee of Ministers unanimously adopted a recommendation on the human rights of intersex people, setting standards on bodily integrity, legal recognition, and protection from discrimination.
However, ILGA-Europe underscores that these advances are overshadowed by a broader and deeply concerning decline in human rights, democracy, and the rule of law across the region. The organisation identifies a rapidly accelerating trend: the reappearance of criminalisation in new and often indirect forms.
The tools of restriction
Across a wide range of political systems, similar tools and tactics are being deployed. These include criminal provisions framed around “propaganda” or “extremism”, restrictions on foreign funding, and the misuse of administrative powers to shut down organisations. Constitutional amendments increasingly define sex in strictly binary biological terms, excluding trans, intersex, and non-binary people from legal recognition. Limitations on assembly, speech, and expression are frequently justified under the guise of “child protection” or “public order”.
Taken together, these measures reshape civic participation by determining who can organise, who can speak, who can gather, and ultimately who is recognised under the law. Step by step, they redraw the boundaries of legality and belonging.
How this plays out in practice
The report documents how these dynamics are unfolding in practice.
In Hungary, the mayor of Budapest was investigated for his role in organising Pride, leading to an indictment, while similar proceedings targeted organisers in Pécs.
In Turkey, eleven activists from the Young LGBTI+ Association faced charges under the Associations Law.
Belarus introduced amendments classifying so-called propaganda of homosexuality and gender reassignment as harmful to children, opening the door to criminal sanctions.
In Kyrgyzstan, draft legislation proposes prison sentences for disseminating information seen as promoting “non-traditional” sexual orientation.
In Russia, enforcement of the 2023 designation of the “international LGBT movement” as extremist intensified, resulting in raids, prosecutions, website blocks, and the creation of a database of LGBTI individuals.
Legal harassment and smear campaigns reinforce this broader crackdown. In Turkey, the editor-in-chief of the LGBTI news platform KaosGL.org was arrested on allegations of terrorist organisation membership, while other journalists reporting on LGBTI issues have faced investigations under disinformation laws.
The targeting extends beyond LGBTI communities, as illustrated by the arrest of Council of Europe Youth Delegate Enes Hocaoğulları after he spoke about police violence, democratic backsliding, and the erosion of local governance. These developments are not merely procedural; individuals face real criminal charges and the possibility of imprisonment.
Closing civic space
At the same time, many LGBTI organisations are being effectively shut down, not always through formal bans but through administrative pressure and legal obstacles.
In Georgia, new anti-LGBTI legislation has been coupled with a foreign agents law requiring organisations receiving external funding to register as such and face heavy penalties for non-compliance.
In Serbia, draft legislation proposes similar requirements for NGOs and media outlets receiving significant foreign funding.
Assigned at birth
A growing number of policies are also grounded in the assertion that there are only two sexes, fixed at birth. This approach restricts the ability of trans and gender-diverse people to live openly and participate fully in society, affecting legal recognition, employment, education, and access to services.
In Slovakia, proposed constitutional amendments would recognise only two sexes and severely limit gender recognition.
In the United Kingdom, a Supreme Court interpretation of sex as biological sex at birth has effectively curtailed protections for trans people under equality law.
In Georgia, lawmakers have advanced changes removing references to gender identity from equality legislation.
Erasure through education and language
This process of erasure often begins in educational settings. When certain identities are excluded from curricula or discussion, it sends an early message about who belongs in society.
Hungary’s Child Protection Act restricts school content deemed to promote deviation from assigned sex at birth or homosexuality.
In Italy, educational projects addressing gender identity have faced political resistance.
In France and Germany, equality and diversity programmes have been publicly challenged or scaled back, while in Austria and Germany authorities have restricted the use of gender-inclusive language in certain contexts.
These trends coincide with a rise in homophobic and especially transphobic rhetoric and hate, both online and offline, including within parliamentary debates.
Signs of resistance and resilience
Yet ILGA-Europe emphasises that backsliding is not inevitable. In Poland, the final “LGBTI-free zone” resolution was repealed in April, marking the end of a policy that had symbolised institutional stigmatisation.
In Spain, regional parliaments have resisted efforts to dismantle equality frameworks. Across the region, Pride marches continue to take place in growing numbers, despite an increasingly hostile climate.
Such examples demonstrate that democratic institutions can act decisively, including by linking funding to respect for fundamental rights and by exercising clear political leadership.
A blunt message for Europe
The central message of ILGA-Europe’s 2026 Annual Review is stark: progress is not guaranteed. Rights that have been secured can be rapidly reversed. Preventing backsliding is far easier than rebuilding protections once they have been dismantled.
Ukraine offers a striking example. Even while resisting Russia’s ongoing invasion, civil society organisations continue to advocate for stronger hate crime legislation and legal recognition of partnerships. This underscores what is ultimately at stake: not only individual rights, but the resilience of democracy and the ability of people to participate fully in public life.
The issue extends beyond LGBTI communities. It concerns who is allowed to exist openly, who can organise, who can speak freely, and who is recognised by the law. The same mechanisms initially used against LGBTI groups are increasingly being applied to restrict civic space more broadly.
ILGA-Europe concludes by posing a fundamental question to European institutions: whether they will match the determination of those on the ground who continue to defend rights, even as pressure intensifies.
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