UK plummets down rankings for LGBTQ+ rights

After the Supreme Court ripped up the Equality Act, the UK has dropped down the annual ranking of LGBTQ+ rights in Europe, crashing from 16th to 22nd place out of the 49 countries in the study.

According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association Europe (ILGA-Europe), which produces a Rainbow Map every year, only Hungary and Georgia have registered similar declines. The UK’s plunge comes ten years after topping the index in 2015.

But this is not all. The trans rights map created by Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU) reveals an unprecedented reversal: for the first time in 13 years, the setbacks in human rights of trans people outweigh the progress.

ILGA-Europe blamed the UK’s precipitous fall on the recent Supreme Court judgment and an interim ruling from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which mean that people with gender recognition certificates “will still be treated as their sex assigned at birth in various areas of public life”.

TGEU say it’s a “strategic assault on fundamental freedoms, equality, democracy, and on Europe itself” that is fueled by external factors “from Trump-aligned global networks to the Kremlin”.

“If left unchallenged” ILGA-Europe’s executive director, Chaber added, “these tactics risk spreading further across Europe, undermining a human rights framework that has taken decades to build. The time to push back is now, before the targeted attacks we’re seeing in countries like Hungary, the UK and Georgia become the norm rather than the exception”.

For Good Law Project’s executive director, Jo Maugham, the sharp fall in the UK’s ranking came as little surprise.

“Only ten years ago we were the best in the world in the annual LGBTI Rights Ranking,” Maugham said. “We’re now 22nd and making all the wrong headlines, alongside Hungary and Georgia, for the biggest decline in protections. This is not just an embarrassment abroad – it’s also a tragedy at home for tens of thousands of people struggling to live lives of quiet dignity.”

The report shows some signs of progress. Poland has moved up three places after abolishing its “LGBTQ+-free zones” and removing barriers for LGBTQ+ events. The introduction of a law extending rights for same-sex partners saw the Czech Republic rise three places, while Latvia’s law allowing same-sex couples to enter civil unions saw it rise four places.

ILGA-Europe also highlighted the importance of legal action, citing cases in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Spain, Croatia and Italy that show how “determined legal action can uphold and expand LGBTI rights even in hostile environments”.