A high level conference ‘Advancing LGBTI equality in EU: from 2020 and beyond’ was held in Brussels, organised jointly by the European Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the EU and aimed to take stock of the achievements made since the Commission’s presentation of a ‘List of Actions to advance LGBTI equality’ in December 2015.
 
Participants at the Conference, which include representatives from Member States, the European Parliament, the European Commission and civil society, will also discuss how to advance LGBTI equality in the years to come.
 
It was also an occasion for the European Commission to present the 2019 LGBTI-specific data from the Eurobarometer on discrimination.
Even though figures show a significant improvement in how LGBTI people are perceived across the EU, discrimination remains widespread and varies widely across Member States.
 
More than half (53%) of Europeans say that in their country discrimination based on sexual orientation is widespread.
 
EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourová said: “Four years ago, I presented a List of Actions to advance LGBTI equality. Since then, we supported civil society organisations in almost all Member States in drawing up a Code of Conduct together with major IT companies to combat hate speech online, we created awareness-raising campaigns and we supported Member States in improving the situation for LGBTI people in their country.
 
The Eurobarometer survey on discrimination published today shows that 76% of Europeans agree that gay, lesbian or bisexual people should have the same rights as heterosexuals. This is an improvement compared to our previous survey in 2015, but there’s still work to do.
 
Discrimination, harassment, hate speech and violence continue to be a daily reality for many LGBTI people in the EU. I thank the Finnish Presidency for co-hosting this high-level conference that shows our willingness and determination to continue to fight all forms of discrimination.” 
 
The results of the Special Eurobarometer on discrimination are available here. You can find an overview of the main results in a factsheet online.