In June, a petition was submitted in Vienna calling for the introduction of designated time slots for queer people in public saunas. The required quorum was reached, and an official hearing was held before the Petitions Committee in November. VIMÖ submitted a statement in support of the petition. In December, the Committee rejected the request.

In July, the Ombud for Equal Treatment published a model complaint letter intended to assist intersex and non-binary individuals in challenging barriers to access arising from the lack of gender diversity options in online forms. The Ombud also issued recommendations for companies on developing gender-inclusive forms. Both publications were prepared in consultation with VIMÖ and VeNiB.

In March, Austrian authorities uncovered a neo-Nazi network responsible for orchestrating attacks against gay and bisexual men using fake dating profiles. The group allegedly lured victims to meeting locations under false pretences, where they were then ambushed, beaten, and humiliated by masked assailants. The attacks were filmed and disseminated online. Investigators reported that the perpetrators falsely accused their victims of being paedophiles.

In May, a total of 30 LGBTI organisations from Austria demanded a national action plan against hate crimes.

In July, the Linz Regional Court convicted two men for a series of hate-motivated attacks in Upper Austria’s Mühlviertel region, in which they lured victims via dating apps, threatened them with weapons, and extorted money. One of the attackers received an unconditional prison sentence of 33 months; the other was sentenced to 21 months, of which 14 must be served. The convictions include aggravated robbery, extortion, dangerous threats, and property damage. The verdict is not yet final.

In August, a 64-year-old man in Vienna was convicted for threatening a neighbor with homophobic violence. The Vienna Regional Court sentenced him to five months in prison, suspended under a three-year probation due to his prior record. The court confiscated a knife involved in the threats and ordered the defendant to pay symbolic damages of 200 euros to the victim. The judgment is not yet final, as the defendant did not have legal representation during the trial.

In February, Austria’s Ministry of Education introduced new rules governing outside providers of sex education sessions. Under the updated guidelines, only organisations that receive approval via a dedicated Office for Sex Education platform may offer such programs in schools. The reform was prompted by controversy surrounding the Christian group TeenSTAR, whose earlier materials – now allegedly revised – depicted homosexuality as a condition to be “cured” and masturbation as harmful.

In August, Austria issued a gender-neutral passport to a non-binary Austrian citizen residing in Germany and Austria, following a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union requiring Member States to recognise legally registered gender changes carried out in another EU country. Although Austrian law does not currently provide a general procedure for legal gender recognition for non—binary persons, the authorities complied with the ruling to ensure cross-border recognition. This marked the first issuance of a gender-neutral passport in Austria for a non-binary person

In October, Austria’s National Council voted to discontinue the use of gender-inclusive language in official documents, reinstating traditional grammatical forms of German.

The move ends the previous practice of using symbols like asterisks, slashes, or internal capital letters to denote gender diversity.

In June, Austria introduced a legislative package amending the Private International Law Act to ensure the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, even when one partner is not an Austrian citizen. The law is expected to be adopted within the current legislative period.

In March, the Vienna Labor and Social Court ruled in favor of a trans woman seeking reimbursement from her health insurance provider for laser facial hair removal. The court rejected the insurer’s claim that covering such treatment would violate the principle of equality, affirming that health insurance must cover the procedure for trans women.

In May, Austria’s Green Party submitted a proposal for the Conversion Measures Protection Act (295/A) aimed at banning conversion practices targeting sexual orientation or gender identity. The draft law specifically protects minors, young adults under 21 in vulnerable situations, individuals lacking decision-making capacity, and persons in dependent relationships, regardless of parental or legal consent. Violations could result in up to one year imprisonment or fines of up to €720 daily rates, with additional fines of up to €30,000 for advertising or commissioning such measures. The bill excludes legitimate therapeutic interventions, such as treatments for paraphilic disorders or psychotherapeutic support to strengthen queer individuals’ self-esteem.

In November 2024, the Ministry of Health (BMSGPK) published new recommendations concerning medical interventions on children with variations of sex characteristics, without prior consultation with civil society organisations. In response, VIMÖ reiterated the need for a legal prohibition of non-consensual, medically unnecessary interventions on intersex minors, alongside accompanying support measures. In February 2025, the newly formed government included a provision on the protection of intersex minors in its coalition agreement.

In July 2025, the Ministry of Internal Affairs published its Hate Crime Report 2024, documenting 6,786 hate-motivated offences and 7,614 recorded bias motives. Of these, 317 motives related to sexual orientation, marking a decrease compared to the previous year. Since January 2024, bias against trans persons has been recorded as a distinct subcategory within the “gender” motive, allowing for more precise statistical tracking. The report recorded multiple motives targeting trans persons, including cases of violent offences.

In May, Austria joined 15 other EU member states in a declaration urging Hungary to revise legislative and constitutional amendments adopted in March and April 2025, which could impose fines on participants and organisers of LGBTI events, authorise the use of facial recognition software at such gatherings, and potentially allow bans on them. The declaration was initiated by the Netherlands and co-signed by Finland, Germany, France, Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

In January, Austria’s Higher Administrative Court (VwGH) overturned a decision by the Vienna Administrative Court that had allowed a trans person to delete their gender entry from the civil registry. The VwGH rejected the request, asserting that gender registration is fundamentally based on biological and physical sex. The person concerned has since announced plans to appeal the ruling to the Constitutional Court.

In November, the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) presented a motion to amend the constitution to recognise only two genders, arguing that the measure was necessary to “return to biological reality.” The motion was dismissed by the majority of the parliament.

In January, Austria’s Supreme Court issued a ruling on the case of a trans woman who accessed legal recognition and subsequently applied for early retirement. The Pension Insurance Institution (PVA) contested the application, arguing that the applicant did not undergo hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery and claimed that the request was pursued solely to gain retirement benefits. While a lower court initially ruled in favour of the applicant, the appeals court reversed this decision, and the Supreme Court upheld the PVA’s right to challenge the request. LGBTI activists have raised concerns that the decision undermines self-determination and could lead to individuals being recognised only by their assigned sex at birth for legal and administrative purposes, including retirement eligibility.

In November, parents in Lower Austria raised concerns about the inclusion of Austria’s six officially recognised gender markers in a school registration form for new pupils. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) subsequently called on the Lower Austrian education authority to amend the form and restrict it to two gender markers. No formal change to the existing administrative practice had been reported by the end of 2025.