In short, Europe is bursting at the seams again. While some countries paint zebras in the colors of the Pride flag and make equality laws easier than ordering coffee in the app, others are shrinking the space to the size of a church parish.
📉 Regression is not a big word
In many countries of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, LGBTI+ people are again being squeezed out of the public field: fewer rights, more censorship, and all under the sauce of "traditional values". Judges, deputies and priests are playing the old game – "we don't hate you, just don't show yourself."
📈 Progress, however, remains steady in the western and northern parts of the continent.
Where the law is not just written, but also works. Where the police do not turn a blind eye, and the courts function. Where "equality" is a household norm.
🎭 Politics is the main director of this drama. The louder political parties shout about “national values,” the fewer rights those who don’t fit into their narrative have. This is no accident—it’s a strategy: intimidate, divide, and distract from the real problems.
And this is where international pressure comes in – the EU, the courts, human rights organizations. Without them, the process would be much slower. Because, as practice shows, democracy loves not only internal maturity, but also external control.
🌈 As a result, Europe 2025 is not a single space of freedom, but a mosaic of light and dark zones. Somewhere under the rainbow it is really light, and somewhere it is still cloudy and smells of mothballs.
In short, Europe is bursting at the seams here too. Moreover, this seam is visible to the naked eye.
In many countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, LGBT people are once again being pushed out of the public sphere: fewer rights, more censorship—all under the familiar guise of “traditional values.” And, of course, we’re hearing that very same slogan that started it all: “Do whatever you want, but keep it behind closed doors.”
But progress is stable in the western and northern parts of the continent - where human rights do not depend on the mood of parliament and the church calendar. The louder the parties shout about "national values", the fewer rights those who do not fit into their scenario have. And we have already gone through this – too often the "LGBT card" is pulled out precisely when it is necessary to divert attention from real problems.
As a result, Europe 2025 is not a single space of freedom, but a mosaic of light and dark zones. Somewhere under the rainbow it is really light, and somewhere it is still cloudy and smells of mothballs.
Source of the study
https://rainbowmap.ilga-europe.org
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