While the UK, Hungary and Georgia captured the negative spotlight on this year’s Rainbow Map, deeper changes are reshaping the LGBTI rights landscape across Europe.
This is the first of a two-part blog series exploring key insights from ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map 2025. While much media attention has focused on countries with steep score drops like the UK, Hungary and Georgia, we’re taking a closer look at quieter changes.
While the Rainbow Map measures legal and policy changes, it also reflects deeper political shifts. Not all regressions show up as dramatic drops, and not all threats make headlines. But behind the headlines, far-right ideologies and restrictive laws are gaining ground.
Italy: silencing dissent in the name of public order
Italy is now down at 35th place for LGBT rights,, but the political context tells a larger story about democracy. The Italian government is advancing Bill 1660, a piece of legislation that would severely restrict the right to protest. It introduces criminal penalties for demonstrations that disrupt transport or infrastructure, and even allows for pre-emptive bans based on prior reports.
The proposed law is not explicitly anti-LGBTI, but its potential impact on Pride events, LGBTI protests and NGO advocacy is clear. Italy’s democratic space is narrowing, and this bill could criminalise peaceful activism.
Slovakia: complying on paper, attacking in practice
Despite its score reflecting that public events are still taking place, Slovakia is rapidly becoming hostile to LGBTI organising. In July 2024, the government passed the so-called “Lex assassination” law, giving municipalities sweeping powers to ban gatherings on vague grounds like public order or potential conflict. This sets a dangerous precedent for arbitrary bans, and LGBTI groups fear that future Pride events could be targeted.
The same government pressured the Slovak Erasmus+ agency to block EU funds destined for LGBTI organisations. Meanwhile, LGBTI activists regularly face hate speech from politicians, and police protection for public events is minimal, even amid warnings of potential violence. Slovakia’s legal framework might still tick some boxes, but the political reality is deteriorating fast.
Bulgaria: rolling back visibility and access
Bulgaria’s score dipped due to new laws restricting the representation of LGBTI identities in schools. Falsely framed as child protection, these measures align with anti-gender rhetoric and mirror trends in neighbouring countries. More concerning are several proposed amendments that could severely limit expression, healthcare and organisational activity for trans and intersex people.
These proposals include banning medical support for gender-diverse youth, limiting the legal recognition of gender identity, and introducing “foreign agent” laws to target NGOs receiving international funding. While some of these measures have not yet passed, their continued reintroduction signals a clear political direction. Bulgaria may not have fallen dramatically on the Rainbow Map, but it is following a familiar and dangerous trajectory.
Listen to our latest podcast, which explores how Hungary’s Pride ban could spread to Bulgaria and beyond.
Next week, in the second part of this blog, we will shift the spotlight to countries where progress is being made, even in difficult political climates.
Photo by Lucas Calloch on Unsplash
