Be part of change with the Rainbow Map
Every year, ILGA-Europe holds 49 governments to account. Your donation keeps that pressure real.
Since 2009, one document has shaped the conversation about LGBTI rights across Europe more than any other. Every year, ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map ranks all 49 European countries on legislative developments in the arena of LGBTI human rights, holding governments to account and giving activists, lawyers and policymakers a shared language for change.
This is not just a map. Behind every data point lies a narrative, a story of struggle and success, of setbacks and victories. The Rainbow Map is a testament to the activism of LGBTI people across Europe for real change.
How you can help
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The Rainbow Map exists because people believe that facts matter, that visibility matters, and that LGBTI people in every corner of Europe deserve to live free from fear and discrimination.
Your donation to ILGA-Europe helps produce the research, sustain the network, and power the advocacy that turns data into dignity. It keeps the map accurate, the recommendations sharp, and the pressure on governments real.
At a moment when rights are being rolled back in countries that once led the way, the Rainbow Map is one of the most powerful tools the LGBTI movement has. Help us keep publishing it. Help us make it count.
Why the Map matters more than ever
The picture in 2026 is urgent, with a number of alarming developments are taking shape.
- In Albania, a referendum later this year threatens to repeal the new gender equality law, characterised by its opponents as an attack on traditional family values.
- In Belarus, a new anti-LGBTI propaganda law, a copy-paste of the Russian version. comes with criminal sanctions.
- Germany has declared its national LGBT action plan complete, despite significant gaps in implementation.
- Italy’s new security law contains provisions on demonstrations that risk being used to curtail freedom of assembly, including Pride marches.
- Portugal has passed two readings of a legislative package that would severely roll back protections for trans and intersex people.
- Slovakia has introduced constitutional amendments defining sex assigned at birth, making legal gender recognition impossible and restricting legal parenthood to a mother and father, a move serious enough to prompt the European Union to launch legal action.
These are not isolated incidents. They are the most striking examples of a broader trend in which LGBTI human rights are being systematically dismantled under the guise of preserving public order, paving the way for sweeping restrictions on fundamental freedoms, including the rights to protest and to political dissent.
But the Rainbow Map also captures resistance and progress.
Spain hit the top of the Rainbow Map for the first time this year, ending Malta’s ten-year reign. Its rise reflects a combination of achievements including new legal protections, a national LGBTI strategy, and a determined fightback against far-right attempts to dismantle trans rights.
And while anti-trans hate is rising across the continent, eight countries are moving reforms in the right direction, among them Sweden, up three places with a new legal gender recognition law, and Czechia, where gender markers can now be changed without sterilisation.
The power behind the data
The journey to publish the Rainbow Map each year is not a tale of an organisation in Brussels working alone. More than 250 people, including activists and lawyers, contribute their expertise and passion to this project, which has become a go-to for anyone wanting to understand the development of LGBTI rights in Europe.
The Rainbow Map is the engine of ILGA-Europe’s broader work. Equipped with the Rainbow Map, activists can leverage its insights to hold governments accountable, showcasing comparative data to drive policy reform and legislative action.
It feeds into lobbying and advocacy at EU institutions, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, and supports strategic litigation at the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union to end discrimination.
It anchors the country-specific recommendations that tell decision-makers and governments alike what needs to happen next.
ILGA-Europe provides funding and training for its 700-plus member organisations across Europe and Central Asia, to maximise the impact of advocacy work and ensure the sustainability of the LGBTI movement. When a Pride ban is rushed through parliament overnight, when a government strips protections from the law, when an LGBTI organisation needs to act fast, ILGA-Europe stands with LGBTI groups not only through advocacy, but also through direct financial support.