Prominent European LGBT Organization Ranks Armenia Among Worse Violators of LGBT Human Rights

Every year on May 17, the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, ILGA-Europe looks at progress made by countries in Europe toward respecting human rights and ensuring full legal equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people by publishing the Rainbow Map and Index, according to an ILGA-Europe statement published Monday.

The main trends this year are that none of the countries observed can claim to provide full legal equality for LGBT people. Fourteen countries are in the “red zone,” among them Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Macedonia, Russia, and Turkey. Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine were ranked the worst.

Among the top five in order of having most respect for human rights and full legal equality of LGBT people are the UK, Spain, Sweden, Belgium and Germany.

ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Europe Map and Index rates each European country’s laws and administrative practices according to 24 categories and ranks them on a scale between 17 and -7. This is the first time the Map and the Index reflect categories on issues affecting trans people.