Irelands 2016 ILGA ranking in Europe

Ten of Swords

ILGA has released the 2016 europe rainbow map, an annual ranking of European countries by LGBT rights and acceptance. Bottom of this years list is once again Azerbaijan, followed closely by Russia and Armenia.

Last May Ireland was in 18th place at 48% (Thread here)

This year Ireland scores 55% and we placed joint 12th place (with Germany). Malta, Belgium and the United Kingdom came 1st, 2nd and 3rd

The executive summary for Ireland reads,

2015 was a very significant year for the LGBTI community in Ireland, not least as the country made history by becoming the first to introduce marriage equality by popular vote. After years of campaigning by trans activists and allies, the Gender Recognition Act introduced legal gender recognition based on self-determination for over 18s. Ireland’s outdated family laws were transformed and protections in employment law for LGBTI employees in religious run institutions (schools and hospitals) were also enhanced. Despite all this legislative progress, ensuring that equality is felt by LGBTI people all over the country remains a challenge. Several issues were unresolved at the end of the year; the blood donation ban was still in place, progress on hate crime legislation was slow and there were isolated bias-motivated incidents.

Annual review (Ireland on page 88)

Irish Aris

I will admit that I am rather surprised that my home country Greece has a higher score than Ireland. Comparing the 2, I would say that Ireland is way ahead in LGBT rights.

L1011

Greece that hasn't even got civil partnerships (just "cohabitation agreements" gets higher?

I'd love to see the calculation mechanisms for this.

Ten of Swords

Have a read of the executive summaries of the annual report, there's a lot of information in the full document but even the opening paragraph summarizes things. It looks like Greece did make a lot of progress in the last year, in particular it got rid of a barbaric law called Health Decree 39A which allowed police to detain anyone suspected of being HIV positive and force them to have a blood test against their will which led to the modern equivalent of witch hunts

Greece executive summary,

2015 proved to be an eventful twelve months for LGBTI activists in Greece. The election of a government led by Syriza, a long-time supporter of equality for LGBTI people, in January started the year on a hopeful note. Promises to introduce civil unions for same-sex couples were quickly reaffirmed but access to adoption was omitted and legislation was slow to progress. In December, civil partnership was finally introduced for same-sex couples by a large majority of parliamentarians. Intersex people were recognised in legislation for the very first time. In an unprecedented show of political support for the rights of LGBTI people, representatives from all the main parliamentary parties signed an equality pledge at the ILGA-Europe Annual Conference in Athens.