A report into the state of LGBTQ+ rights has revealed just how dangerous the world has become for members of the community.
Published by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue on Monday (20 October), the study showed that homophobic and transphobic rhetoric was on the rise across nearly all aspects of western society.
Analysing a variety of issues, including anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes and censorship, the report revealed that, over the past five years, even places such as the UK, the US and European countries had become increasingly dangerous.
The problem extends to online with social media platforms failing to protect LGBTQ+ people while allowing bigotry to proliferate.
“Anti-trans activists have harassed women in the public eye and others perceived to transgress stereotyped gender binaries, librarians have faced violent threats and lawsuits for refusing to remove books with LGBTQ+ characters,” the researchers said.
Hate crimes are reaching high levels
Violence against LGBTQ+ people has risen dramatically in every country across nearly all walks of life, according to the report.
In the US, nearly 20 per cent of all hate crimes were motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias, according to details released by the FBI in August. In 2024, GLAAD tracked at least 918 incidents, including seven fatalities and 140 bomb threats.
On the other side of the Atlantic, while the Home Office reported an 11 per cent decrease in anti-trans hate crimes in the year ending March 2025, this followed years of increases, particularly between 2021 and 2022 when there was a 41 per cent rise in the number of sexual-orientation hate crimes and 56 per cent when it came to crimes faced by trans men and women.
Things were found to be no better in parts of Europe. According to a survey for the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights in 2023, the number of respondents who had experienced discrimination at work fell from 42 per cent the previous year to 36 per cent, but those who had experienced hate-motivated violence increased from 11 per cent to 14 per cent, while 67 per cent reported anti-LGBTQ+ bullying in school, up from 46 per cent in 2019.
Politicians are increasingly relying on hate
The report pointed to politics as an area ripe with anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and homophobic policies.
An annual legislative tracker by the American Civil Liberties Union recorded more than 500 homophobic bills being proposed every year since 2023. There have already been 616 in 2025.
Since his inauguration in January, president Donald Trump has attacked LGBTQ+ rights, taking particular aim at trans men and women, including a ban on them serving in the armed forces.
In the UK, the Supreme Court ruling which determined that the 2010 Equality Act’s definition of a woman referred to a “biological woman” could set the stage for laws that amount to a blanket toilet ban.
While there have been no direct legislative attacks, a lack of action in several aspects of LGBTQ+ life, as well as explicit anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in political spaces, have diminished queer rights across the board, the new study showed.
A report from TransActual UK in 2021 revealed that, on average, one in every seven trans respondents had been refused healthcare based on their gender identity, while 57 per cent said they had avoided seeking healthcare over fears of discrimination.
Several countries in Europe have implemented direct legislative attacks against LGBTQ+ rights. Same-sex marriage has been banned in Georgia, while earlier this year Hungary outlawed Pride events.
Social media platforms are failing LGBTQ+ people
In its section on online harms, the report highlighted that the rise in hate on social media platforms directly contributed to an increase in hate crimes around the world.
Studying a variety of online spaces, including major platforms, image boards and forums, the report linked online hate to extremist activity in the real world, with trans people particularly at risk of violent attacks.
In June, anti-trans hate speech online made up 46 per cent of all anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech.
A variety of slurs, including the use of the word “groomer” which falsely links LGBTQ+ people with paedophilia, have been “re-weaponised” in the 2020s by neo-Nazi groups and right-wing pundits.
GLAAD’s 2025 Social Media Safety Index reported that platforms broadly un-moderated anti-LGBTQ+ hate content and over-moderated LGBTQ+ users.
Over-moderation included taking down hashtags containing phrases such as queer, trans and non-binary. In a 2024 survey of LGBTQ+ creators, one individual said simply identifying as transgender was considered “sexual content” on certain sites.
LGBTQ+ people are being silenced
Political pressure and widespread bigotry has caused an increase in the censorship of LGBTQ+ materials, including books and online resources, over the past five years.
Between 2023 and 2024, it’s estimated that more than 10,000 books were banned from US libraries. Forty-four per cent of those featured people of colour.
That trend of book bans has spilled over into the UK and Europe, with many British librarians facing growing pressure from US-based groups to censor LGBTQ+ titles.
In Europe, Hungary approved legislation restricting LGBTQ+ content in schools and media, similar to the so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda law passed in Russia. Other countries, including Bulgaria, Italy and Slovakia, have adopted censorship regulations.
Extremism is thriving on bigotry
Extremist groups have capitalised on ignorance to radicalise people online and offline, resulting in deadly attacks against LGBTQ+ groups and institutions.
In November 2022, a shooter, with links to neo-Nazis, left five people dead and at least another 18 wounded when he opened fire at queer bar in Colorado. A month earlier, two people were killed in a shooting in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava.
Extremist plots to attack LGBTQ+ gatherings have also become more common. In 2023, five members of white supremacist group Patriot Front were convicted of plotting to riot at a gay Pride event in Idaho. The same month, Austrian police foiled an alleged plot to attack people at Vienna Pride. Three people, aged 14, 17 and 20 were arrested.
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