Commission builds on Union of Equality with adoption of new LGBTIQ+ Equality strategy

Everyone in the European Union should feel safe and free to love whomever they wish and be their authentic self. To this end, today the European Commission adopted its LGBTIQ+ equality strategy for 2026-2030. It builds on the strong foundation of the first LGBTIQ equality strategy 2020-2025 to pave the way for further progress, and ensure LGBTIQ+ equality is mainstreamed across all EU policies.

While social acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people has increased across the EU in the last five years, LGBTIQ+ people continue to experience disproportionate and unacceptable levels of hate, violence and discrimination. For example, around 1 in 4 LGBTIQ+ people, and almost half of trans men and trans women, have experienced some type of “conversion” practice in the form of physical or sexual violence, verbal abuse and humiliation.

The 2026-2030 strategy fights against hatred, promotes freedom and diversity in the EU and around the world and sets out targeted measures around three main pillars, to:

• protect LGBTIQ+ people from violence in all its forms,
• empower LGBTIQ+ people to live free from discrimination and have equal rights in all areas of life, and
• engage society as a whole at all levels, to advance LGBTIQ+ equality, together.

Key actions in the new Strategy:

To support Member States in banning conversion practices, the Commission will assess their nature, prevalence and impact on LGBTIQ+ people in view of proposing appropriate action to stop them. The Commission will notably take into account the European Citizens Initiative to ban conversion practices. The strategy will also seek to tackle hatred offline and online. For example, the Commission will set up a knowledge hub to collect intelligence on illegal hate online. This measure will enhance the monitoring of the Code of Conduct+. The Commission will further adopt an EU action plan against cyberbullying to protect minors, with particular attention to LGBTIQ+ youth.

Equal opportunities for LGBTIQ+ people strengthen social cohesion and diverse societies foster entrepreneurship and innovation, contributing to Europe’s competitiveness. At present, the EU loses up to €89 million in GDP every year due to discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Commission will publish a report on the implementation of the Employment Equality Directive in 2026 and continue to ensure its rigorous application. Alongside this, the Commission will set out new guidance on inclusive hiring practices.

Engagement with civil society is key when LGBTIQ+ rights and freedoms are under threat. Our existing funding under the CERV programme will continue until 2027. In the framework of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), funding will be provided under the CERV+ strand of the AgoraEU programme, which will include up to €3.6 billion to uphold equality and non-discrimination, combat gender based-violence and promote democratic participation.

Next steps

Combating inequality in the EU is a shared responsibility that requires joint action. The Commission calls on all Member States to adopt their own national action plan or LGBTIQ+ equality strategy and stands  ready to support them.  Other EU institutions are encouraged to support the implementation of this strategy, which the Commission will regularly monitor and present a mid-term review by 2028.

Background

The LGBTIQ+ equality strategy 2026-2030 is one of the key deliverables of President Von der Leyen‘s political guidelines and Commissioner Lahbib‘s mission letter. The European Commission remains fully committed to defending equality and non-discrimination whenever they are under threat.

Today’s Strategy builds on legislation such as the new binding standards for equality bodies, adopted in May 2024. These guarantee the independence, powers and resources of equality bodies, and strengthen the protection to victims of discrimination based on their gender reassignment. The Code of conduct+ strengthens the way online platforms deal with content that EU and national laws define as illegal hate speech.

More information: European Commission