Aunt Hilda
07-06-2013, 08:50 AM
Beaten, Bullied, Badgered: EU Study Finds Widespread Homophobia in Europe (http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eu-survey-shows-widespread-homophobia-in-europe-a-900505.html)
Harassed at work and the doctor's office, bullied and assaulted in public: The gay, bisexual and transgender community is still widely discriminated against in Europe. In an new EU survey, the most comprehensive to date, more than 90,000 participants report on the extent of their harassment.
In Europe, the acceptance of homosexuals, bisexuals and the transgendered is far from a foregone conclusion. Many still facediscrimination, social isolation or outright assault. (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-with-dutch-gay-human-rights-activist-boris-ditrich-a-892800.html) That's the conclusion reached by the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in its largest study to date (http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/eu-lgbt-survey-results-at-a-glance_en.pdf). The survey shows that a large portion of the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community feels it cannot openly acknowledge its sexual orientation.
Nearly half of respondents (47 percent) said they had experienced discrimination because of their sexual orientation in the past year. With 46 percent, Germany came in one percentage point under the EU average. Around one in four participants reported being the victim of an assault (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/homophobic-violence-on-the-rise-does-germany-have-a-problem-with-gay-hate-crime-a-562638.html)or threats of violence in the past five years.Six percent of survey participants said they had been physically attacked in the past 12 months, a portion of which occurred within their own families. Women were more frequently the victims of sexual assault. Transgender respondents reported that they consistently experience more intolerance than do gays and bisexuals.
The FRA calls the study the most comprehensive of its kind to date. The data was collected online from more than 93,000 respondents, who came from the 27 countries of the European Union (http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/european_union/)and Croatia. All of the participants were over 18 years old and identified themselves as trangender, gay or bisexual. At least 20,000 of the answers came from Germany -- more than from any other country.
"My behaviour at work involves a lot of self-censorship and a certain guarded manner." -- 31-year-old gay man, Germany
"I feel strong enough to deal with street harassment now, but I feel upset about havign to justify my lifestyle to every doctor. It is alarming that medical staff have absolutely no awareness about LGBT needs, not even gynaecologists." -- 30-year-old lesbian, Czech Republic
"I had an experience at work in terms of discrimination: A colleague told me he respected me but thought I was abnormal ... in a few words, my sexual orientation was against nature in his opinion." 28-year-old lesbian, Italy
"I experience so much discrimination (http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/discrimination/), harassment and violence that it has become my daily life." -- 25-year-old transgender bisexual, Lithuania
"I got physically attacked by a bouncer in a nightclub who, when I was leaving, started talking to me. He asked me to go home with him, and I told him I'm not interested. He started pulling my coat and eventually I told him 'I am not interested, I'm gay.' After this he and his colleague beat me in the head, I fainted and when I woke up, my leg was broken." -- 27-year-old lesbian, Romania
read more on http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eu-survey-shows-widespread-homophobia-in-europe-a-900505.html
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Harassed at work and the doctor's office, bullied and assaulted in public: The gay, bisexual and transgender community is still widely discriminated against in Europe. In an new EU survey, the most comprehensive to date, more than 90,000 participants report on the extent of their harassment.
In Europe, the acceptance of homosexuals, bisexuals and the transgendered is far from a foregone conclusion. Many still facediscrimination, social isolation or outright assault. (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-with-dutch-gay-human-rights-activist-boris-ditrich-a-892800.html) That's the conclusion reached by the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in its largest study to date (http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/eu-lgbt-survey-results-at-a-glance_en.pdf). The survey shows that a large portion of the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community feels it cannot openly acknowledge its sexual orientation.
Nearly half of respondents (47 percent) said they had experienced discrimination because of their sexual orientation in the past year. With 46 percent, Germany came in one percentage point under the EU average. Around one in four participants reported being the victim of an assault (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/homophobic-violence-on-the-rise-does-germany-have-a-problem-with-gay-hate-crime-a-562638.html)or threats of violence in the past five years.Six percent of survey participants said they had been physically attacked in the past 12 months, a portion of which occurred within their own families. Women were more frequently the victims of sexual assault. Transgender respondents reported that they consistently experience more intolerance than do gays and bisexuals.
The FRA calls the study the most comprehensive of its kind to date. The data was collected online from more than 93,000 respondents, who came from the 27 countries of the European Union (http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/european_union/)and Croatia. All of the participants were over 18 years old and identified themselves as trangender, gay or bisexual. At least 20,000 of the answers came from Germany -- more than from any other country.
"My behaviour at work involves a lot of self-censorship and a certain guarded manner." -- 31-year-old gay man, Germany
"I feel strong enough to deal with street harassment now, but I feel upset about havign to justify my lifestyle to every doctor. It is alarming that medical staff have absolutely no awareness about LGBT needs, not even gynaecologists." -- 30-year-old lesbian, Czech Republic
"I had an experience at work in terms of discrimination: A colleague told me he respected me but thought I was abnormal ... in a few words, my sexual orientation was against nature in his opinion." 28-year-old lesbian, Italy
"I experience so much discrimination (http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/discrimination/), harassment and violence that it has become my daily life." -- 25-year-old transgender bisexual, Lithuania
"I got physically attacked by a bouncer in a nightclub who, when I was leaving, started talking to me. He asked me to go home with him, and I told him I'm not interested. He started pulling my coat and eventually I told him 'I am not interested, I'm gay.' After this he and his colleague beat me in the head, I fainted and when I woke up, my leg was broken." -- 27-year-old lesbian, Romania
read more on http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eu-survey-shows-widespread-homophobia-in-europe-a-900505.html
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