LGBTQI+ rights: significant progress to be voted on in Germany and Belgium

It is “a historic day,” said government agent Sven Lehmann. According to AFP extension, the German government adopted an action plan for the rights of LGBTQI+ people on Friday 18 November. Among these measures, the strongest aims at enshrine the prohibition of any discrimination against an LGBTQI+ person in the Constitution. For this, it remains to obtain a majority of two thirds of the Parliament. A point on which the conservative opposition, made up of the parties of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) and the CSU (Christian Social Union), could still get stuck.

Family law and self-determination procedure

The government plan also provides for the separate registration of crimes suffered by LGBTQI+ people.. This is due to the high percentage of attacks they suffer, estimated at between 3 and 4 per day according to official statistics. The administrative rights of “Rainbow” families, and the culmination of the reform of the “self-determination law”. »for people who wish to change their gender, they are also among the subjects to legislate.

Conversion therapies soon banned in Belgium?

Even in Belgium, the rights of LGBTQI+ people are on the move. According to Belgian media RTB extension, on October 28, the council of ministers approved a bill aimed at banning conversion practices. Backed by Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities Sarah Schlitz, it must now be put to a vote in the House.

Measures in the form of positive signals, while policies hostile to LGBTQI+ people continue to spread in other European countries, such as Hungary in particular. In France, the ban on conversion therapy will celebrate its one-year anniversary on January 25.

Cover image: Unsplash / Raphael Renter