In March, the TransAkcija Institute published a report analysing media reporting on LGBTI issues in Slovenia over the past year. The analysis identified a significant increase in hostile and stigmatising narratives targeting sexual minorities, including the use of inflammatory language, the framing of LGBTI people as a societal threat, and the repetition of misleading or negative stereotypes. The report linked these media trends to a broader climate of intolerance, noting their contribution to the normalisation of bias-motivated hostility and violence against LGBTI people. In July, the Journalists’ Tribunal of Honour (NČR) – a joint body of the Slovenian Journalists’ Association and the Journalists’ Union – issued its decision in the case of Legebitra Society v. journalist and Nova24TV’s editor-in-chief Marko Puš. The complaint argued that a piece published by Nova24TV contained factual inaccuracies, misleading images, opinion presented as fact, and the promotion of stereotypes and intolerance towards LGBTI people. The NČR found that the article in question violated multiple provisions of the Code of Journalists of Slovenia.

In late December 2024, an LGBTI event at the Pritličje bar in Ljubljana was targeted by two masked men, who entered the venue, performed Nazi salutes, and tore down an event poster. Ljubljana Pride Association underscored that this attack is not an isolated case but part of a wider pattern of organized hate speech and far-right intimidation.

In April, Ljubljana inaugurated Park Ada Škerl and Sonja Plaskan, the first park in Slovenia named after a same-sex couple. However, the park has since become a recurring target of vandalism. Just a month after its opening, the sign marking the park was damaged. In June, the Lesbian Quarter Festival team reported that the sign had been vandalized for a third time, describing the repeated attacks as homophobic acts against a symbol of inclusion and equality. By early September, the sign was stolen entirely. The Ljubljana City Municipality confirmed that the sign had been recovered and was being held by the Center Police Station as part of pre-trial proceedings. The municipality announced that the sign would be reinstalled and reiterated its commitment to protecting what it called an “important symbol of tolerance.”

In June, the Mariborka bookstore in Maribor was once again the target of a bias-motivated attack as three men aged between 30 and 40 forcibly tore down a rainbow flag displayed behind locked doors, also destroying signage and leaving homophobic graffiti. One of the perpetrators was eventually tracked down and arrested by the police.

In December, unknown perpetrators tore down and damaged the rainbow flag displayed on the façade of Kinodvor cinema in Ljubljana during the 41st LGBT Film Festival. The incident was reported to the police. Festival organiser ŠKUC described the act as part of a pattern of escalating vandalism targeting the LGBTIQ+ community. The Advocate of the Principle of Equality, Miha Lobnik, condemned the incident, stating that such acts can intimidate members of the community and may amount to harassment under the Protection Against Discrimination Act.

In July 2023, the Parliamentary Commission for Petitions, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities called on the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities to prepare and adopt a National Strategy for the Equality of LGBTIQ+ Persons by the end of 2024. At the ILGA-Europe Annual Conference in Ljubljana in October 2023, State Secretary Dan Juvan reaffirmed the government’s commitment to delivering Slovenia’s first comprehensive LGBTIQ+ strategy. The Ministry established a working group including relevant ministries, LGBTI NGOs and independent experts, which drafted several versions of the strategy addressing gaps in healthcare, education and legal protection. By early 2025, civil society expressed cautious optimism that Slovenia would adopt a dedicated national action plan. In autumn 2025, however, the Ministry announced that the strategy would be abandoned, citing “critical errors in assessment” during the drafting process. The decision followed a multi-year collaborative effort in which civil society had contributed substantial voluntary work. LGBTI organisations  strongly  criticised  the  withdrawal, describing it as a serious setback that undermined trust in political commitments and left Slovenia without a comprehensive policy framework ahead of parliamentary elections in March 2026.

Ahead of the Pride march in Maribor on 7 June 2025, organisers warned of rising hostile rhetoric and social tensions targeting LGBTI people. During the event, a small group of counter-protesters gathered near the route, displaying banners and chanting slogans opposing the existence of LGBTI people. For the first time, the Ljubljana Pride Association systematically documented hate incidents during the Maribor Pride. Participants reported eggs and firecrackers being thrown, as well as verbal abuse directed at attendees, including minors. Groups of mainly teenage boys and other individuals remained at the margins of the event and attempted to provoke participants. While the march proceeded without major injuries, the incidents illustrate a continued pattern of hostility surrounding Pride events in Slovenia.

During the Pride Parade in Ljubljana on 14 June 2025, participants again reported eggs and other objects being thrown, rainbow flags being torn from participants, and verbal abuse. While similar incidents had been recorded in previous years, the organisers noted an increase in hostility around the main venue and in the surrounding area during the evening programme. Groups of young men repeatedly entered the area and engaged in verbal and physical harassment of attendees. Observers highlighted a pattern of increasingly visible and emboldened hostility, particularly by younger perpetrators. Civil society actors linked these developments to broader social polarisation and a shrinking space for LGBTI people in public life.

In April, Slovenia’s Advocate of the Principle of Equality found that a gynecologist discriminated against a LGBTI patient by refusing to provide pregnancy care citing a conscientious objection against services related to same-sex couples. The Advocate ruled that this refusal amounted to discrimination, as the patient was treated less favorably solely on the basis of her sexual orientation, depriving her of the right to health care. According to a public announcement from the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, the patient reached a settlement in January 2026, and the gynaecologist paid compensation to the patient.

On 10 January, the Peace Institute – Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies published a national report on anti-LGBTIQ hate crime in Slovenia. The report draws on desk and field research and highlights the need to strengthen cooperation between civil society and public institutions, including to improve support for people targeted by hate-motivated violence and to prevent re-victimisation.

According to data collected by Legebitra, the organisation provided legal counselling and advocacy support in a significant number of cases affecting LGBTI people in Slovenia during 2025. Legebitra worked on 6 cases involving homophobic and transphobic speech, 7 cases of bias-motivated violence, and 4 cases of discrimination. In addition, the organisation supported 17 cases related to parental rights and 26 cases involving LGBTIQ+ refugees and asylum seekers.

In May, Slovenia 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 Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden.

On 10 January, the Peace Institute – Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies published a national report on anti-LGBTIQ hate crime in Slovenia. The report draws on desk and field research and highlights the need to strengthen cooperation between civil society and public institutions, including to improve support for people targeted by hate-motivated violence and to prevent re-victimisation.

According to data collected by Legebitra, the organisation provided legal counselling and advocacy support in a significant number of cases affecting LGBTI people in Slovenia during 2025. Legebitra worked on 6 cases involving homophobic and transphobic speech, 7 cases of bias-motivated violence, and 4 cases of discrimination. In addition, the organisation supported 17 cases related to parental rights and 26 cases involving LGBTIQ+ refugees and asylum seekers.

In June, the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Act on Infertility Treatment and Biomedically Assisted Fertilisation Procedures to align Slovenian law with a Constitutional Court ruling that found restrictions on access to assisted reproduction unconstitutional. The changes, which were signed into law and entered into force in November, revise the purpose of the law to cover measures that help people conceive and enable them to decide on childbirth, and expand access to include single women and women in same-sex relationships, including through the use of donated reproductive cells (eggs and sperm).

Following the Ministry of Health’s 2024 confirmation that medical treatment is not required for legal gender recognition and its formal request to amend the relevant provision of the Civil Registry Act, no legislative amendment was introduced in 2025. Despite earlier commitments, there was no public communication regarding progress on reforming the legal gender recognition framework. The resignation of the Minister of the Interior in October 2025, amid broader political developments (See also under Police and Law Enforcement), further contributed to uncertainty around the timeline for the long-promised changes.

In February, Slovenia’s Ministry of the Interior acknowledged that police officers in Maribor had acted unlawfully and inappropriately in their response to a series of hate-motivated incidents targeting the LGBTI community. The incidents originated in June, during Pride Month, after a rainbow flag displayed at the Mariborka bookstore prompted escalating acts of hostility, including verbal abuse, Nazi salutes, spitting, vandalism, attempted theft, intimidation, and direct threats against staff (see also under Bias-motivated violence). Despite the seriousness of the situation, officers responding to the scene failed to secure evidence or initiate formal proceedings and instead attributed responsibility to the bookstore.

In November 2025, following a fatal violent incident in Novo mesto involving members of the Roma community and heightened public and political pressure to strengthen security measures, the National Assembly adopted the Law on urgent measures for ensuring public safety. The law expanded police powers, including broader use of surveillance tools and simplified procedures for action in designated “security-risk areas”. Human rights experts and civil society actors criticised the law as a disproportionate response that weakens safeguards and risks undermining fundamental rights in the name of public security. Shortly after its adoption, the Metelkova area in Ljubljana was classified as a high-risk zone. Metelkova is home to key LGBTI cultural and nightlife venues, including Klub Tiffany and Klub Monokel. The designation raised concerns about intensified policing and surveillance in one of the country’s central LGBTI spaces, illustrating how security-driven legislative responses can have wider implications for minority communities and for freedom of assembly and expression more broadly.