An examination of the government’s national action plan for the development of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer people has found that while several of the measures laid out in the so-called PAN LGBTI have been addressed, there is still plenty of work to do.
Despite experiencing a “stagnation” in terms of the laws governing their rights, many LGBTIQ+ people still claim to feel “well represented from a legal standpoint” despite some sort of “stagnation” in terms of hate crime and discrimination.
In 2023, Luxembourg fell to seventh on the Western Rainbow Index, which measures a state’s LGBTIQ+ friendliness. The Grand Duchy had previously been in second place in 2022, having been in the bottom three since 2018, partially because it lacked a law prohibiting conversion therapy.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Diversity (MEGA), which took over the responsibility for LGBTIQ+ rights under the new government in November, released an evaluation of the state of the PAN LGBTI on Tuesday.
The University of Luxembourg collaborated with several government departments and civil organizations, including Rosa L.T.T., the Center for l’égalité de traitement (CET), the Consultative Human Rights Commission (CCDH), and the Ombudsman for children and youth (Okaju).
According to interviews conducted with these organizations in April 2023, the overall human rights situation in the Grand Duchy is respectable for LGBTIQ+ people. They did express concern that the legislative process aimed at advancing their rights had stagnated.
Apathy in relation to transgender and intersex persons
The organizations also identified significant differences between trans or transgender attitudes toward people who are trans or intersex. One speaker said, “We have the impression that there is still a sense of helplessness about what exactly needs to be done.”
LGBTIQ+ individuals in prisons and newly identified LGBTIQ+ people also face distinct challenges, the statement said. Numerous organizations have reiterated their desire to abolish the binary sex identification system and create more gender options in the legal status register. Some even suggested that it makes no sense to state a person’s gender on official documents and that omitting this information from both the law and operational documents could “increase some things.”
The majority of organization representatives expressed satisfaction with their presence in committee meetings on the national actions program, describing the discussions as transparent and creative. However, they claimed that it was frequently challenging to thoroughly comprehend the status of the PAN LGBTI and the actions being taken.
Progress made in the federal program
In a distinct part of the analysis report, the ten departments that were asked to evaluate progress on the PAN LGBTI’s stated objectives said that 68 of the 93 format measures had been processed, 40 of them thoroughly and 28 halfway.
One of the main arguments that departments provided was that during the Covid crisis, resources needed to be redeployed.
However, Yuriko Backes, the secretary of gender equality and diversity, is now eager to finalize the plan. The federal action plan can be modified according to the partnership agreement. It is important to analyze its content and draw the proper conclusions from the evaluation, she said, and it is a great place to work from here.
On Monday, the federal government agreed to her plan to revolutionize the Interministerial Committee for the Promotion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Rights.
The committee, co-chaired by MEGA and made up of representatives from all federal departments, will arrange plans for LGBTIQ+ people as well as monitor the implementation of the national action plan. Any recommendations it deems important in this area will be presented to the authorities.
