The EU LGBTIQ Survey III, 2023

The EU LGBTIQ Survey was conducted by Agilis SA on behalf of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). This is the 3rd wave of the European survey among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, non-binary and other gender non-conforming people. In the survey period June 2023 to August 2023, people who consider themselves LGBTIQ, are at least 15 years old and live in the European Union, Albania, Serbia or North Macedonia were asked in online interviews (CAWI) about their views and experiences of discrimination, violence and harassment in various areas of life such as employment, education, healthcare, housing and other services. Respondents were selected through a self-selective sample recruited through advertising campaigns in traditional media, mainstream and LGBTIQ-specific social media channels and dating apps.<br>1. Screening: Age; self-description today (e.g. as a trans woman/ girl, trans man/ boy, etc.); trans person; current gender identity; sex assigned at birth; sexual orientation; queer; intersexual; country of living; duration of residence in the country; country of citizenship (citizen, non-citizen, but EU 27-citizen, non-Eu-citizen); country of birth; resident country is the same as country of citizenship/ as country of birth; part of any of the following, other than LGBTIQ (a minority in terms of skin color, a minority in terms of ethnicity or migrant background, asylum seeker or refugee, a religious minority, a person with a disability, other minority group).

2. Openness and safe environment: age when realized for the first time being LGBTIQ; age when first told somebody being LGBTIQ; respondent avoids holding hands in public with a same-sex partner for fear of being assaulted, threatened or harassed; avoiding certain places or locations for fear of being assaulted, threatened or harassed because of being LGBTIQ; where avoiding being open as LGBTIQ for fear of being assaulted, threatened or harassed by others (e.g. at home, around the family, at school, workplace, etc.); openness about being LGBTIQ to how many of the following people (family members, friends, neighbors, work colleagues, schoolmates/ University co-students, immediate superior/ head of department, customers, clients, etc. at work, medical staff, healthcare providers).

3. Trans-respondents: intervention to change the body so it better matches own gender identity; age at first intervention (nominal, age groups); reasons why the respondent did not have any kind of invention to change the body; went abroad or considered going abroad for medical treatment to alter physical appearance, including buying hormones over the internet from other countries; change of legal gender; reason for not changing legal gender.

4. Intersex-respondents: type of variation of sex characteristics; how first realized a variation of sex characteristics; variation of sex characteristics was determined by medical professionals; time when variation of sex characteristics was determined by medical professionals; age at first determination (age groups); any medical treatment or intervention to modify sex characteristics; kind of treatments related to being intersex (surgery, hormonal treatment, other treatment); age when the first medical treatment or intervention to modify sex characteristics took place; first medical treatment or intervention related to being intersex; person who gave consent before the first medical treatment or intervention to modify the sex characteristics; respondent or his parents were explained in detail what the medical treatment involves and possible positive or negative consequences; actively seeked to undergo the first medical treatment or intervention; ever faced any obstacles registering the civil status or gender in public documents; kind of obstacles; support received as an intersex person by whom.

5. Trends and responses to homophobia, transphobia, biphobia and intersexphobia: situation during the last 12 months when personally felt discriminated against because of being LGBTIQ (when looking for a job, at work, when looking for a house or apartment to rent or buy, by healthcare or social services personnel, by school/ university personnel, at a café, restaurant, bar or nightclub, at a shop, in contact with administrative offices or public services, when showing ID or any official document that identifies sex); personally felt discriminated against for any other reason besides being LGBTIQ during the last 12 months (ethnic origin or immigrant background, sex (male/ female), skin colour, age; too young, too old, religion or belief, disability, other); situation in which the discrimination took place (when looking for a job, at work, when looking for a house or apartment to rent or buy, by healthcare or social services personnel, at school/ university, at a café, restaurant, bar or nightclub, at a shop or any other private business, in contact with administrative offices or public services, when showing ID or any official document that identifies sex); reported most recent incident; reported to which organization or institution (e.g. trade union, staff committee employer, anti-discrimination agency, police; etc.); reason why the incident was not reported (e.g. fear of intimidation by perpetrators); paid job during the last 5 years; openness about being LGBTIQ to people at work; hidden or disguised being LGBTIQ from people at work; experienced negative comments or conduct at work because of being LGBTIQ; experienced a general negative attitude at work against people because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/ or intersex; openly talked about being LGBTIQ at school; hidden or disguised being LGBTIQ during time in school; experienced negative comments or conduct at school because of being LGBTIQ; heard or seen negative comments or conduct because a schoolmate/ peer was perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/ or intersex; problems when going to bathrooms and changing rooms during time in school; problems being accepted to play on a sports team matching own gender; ever been ridiculed, teased, Insulted or threatened because being LGBTIQ during time in school (by peers/ schoolmates, by teachers or other school staff, never); ever considered leaving or changing school because being LGBTIQ; received support or protection of rights as LGBTIQ person during school time; heard or seen anyone supporting, protecting or promoting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/ or intersex persons during time in school; school education addressed LGBTIQ issues; ever experienced any of the following situations when trying to access healthcare services as an LGBTIQ person (difficulty in gaining access to healthcare, having to change general practitioners or other specialists due to their negative reaction refused treatment, foregoing treatment for fear or discrimination or intolerant reactions, specific needs ignored, inappropriate curiosity or comments, being pressured or forced to undergo a certain medical or psychological test, never accessed healthcare services, avoided healthcare services); areas or healthcare in which the respondent encountered difficulties when using or trying to access healthcare services (mental healthcare, sexual health care, emergency care, other medical care); experienced interventions to change sexual orientation and/ or gender identity (by family members, prayer, religious ritual or religious counselling, psychological or psychiatric treatment, medication, physical violence, sexual violence, verbal abuse or humiliation, other, none of the above); gave consent freely or due to pressure or threats; ever heard of different equality bodies (e.g. commissioner for protection from discrimination, ombud for equal treatment, etc.); awareness of at least one Equality body; development in the country over the past five years related to prejudice, intolerance, and violence against LGBTIQ people; main reasons for the decrease in prejudice, intolerance and violence (e.g. positive changes in law and policy, enforcement of existing law and policies, etc.); main reasons for the increase in prejudice, intolerance and violence (e.g. lack of enforcement of existing law and policies, negative stance and discourse by politicians and/ or political parties, etc.); government in the country combats effectively prejudice and intolerance against LGBTIQ people.

6. Violence: frequency of being physically or sexually attacked at home or elsewhere in the last five years because being LGBTIQ; time of the last physical or sexual attack; kind of attack; one perpetrator or more perpetrators; perpetrator; gender of the perpetrator(s); location of the incident; incident reported to any of the following organisations or institutions (police, national human rights institution/ equality bodies/ obmuds persons, LGBTIQ organisation, general victim organisation, hospital or other medical service, someone in organisation/ institution where it happened, the media, other organisation, incident was not reported to any organisation; reason for not reporting the incident to the police (e.g. took care of myself, not serious enough, etc.); satisfaction with how the police handled the report or complaint; impact of this incident on health and well-being (e.g. I needed medical assistance or hospitalization, I became unable to work, etc.).

7. Harassment: frequency of the following incidents in the past 12months because of being LGBTIQ (somebody made offensive or threatening comments, somebody threatened with violence, made offensive or threatening gestures or stared inappropriately, somebody loitered, waited for the respondent or deliberately followed In a threatening way, send emails or text messages that were offensive or threatening, posted offensive or threatening comments on the internet); other reasons besides being LGBTIQ for offensive or threatening incidents (e.g. ethnic origin or immigrant background, sex, skin colour, age, etc.); time of the last offensive or threatening incident because being LGBTIQ; things that happened to the respondent at the last incident because being LGBTIQ (e.g. somebody made offensive or threatening comments, somebody threatened with violence in person, etc.); one perpetrator or more perpetrators; perpetrator; gender of the perpetrator(s); location of the incident; incident reported to any of the following organisations or institutions (police, national human rights institution/ equality bodies/ ombuds persons, etc.); reasons for not reporting to the police; satisfaction with how the police handled the report or complaint; frequency of perception in the last 12 months of the following online (calls for violence against LGBTIQ people, references to “LGBTIQ propaganda” or “gender ideology”, references to LGBTIQ people posing a sexual threat (e.g. in the context of access to toilets or changing rooms), references to LGBTIQ people posing a threat to “traditional values”, considering LGBTIQ people to be “unnatural” or mentally ill, other forms of hatred against LGBTIQ people).

8. Background information: highest level of education; employment status; urban-rural place of living; civil status; living together with a partner; partner’s sex; partner’s country of citizenship; ever moved to an EU country together with same-sex partner since marriage or registration of partnership; respondent or partner have been denied or restricted access to any benefits or services; household composition; children; biological parent/ legal guardian of one or more children); respondent raises a child/ children together with his/her partner; legal situation in the family; obstacles due to being an LGBTIQ parented family (legal recognition of parenthood, accessing medical care, accessing parental leave, accessing family or child related benefits, discrimination at school or in childcare, other, no obstacles); religion; assessment of health in general; long-standing illness or health problem; extent of limitation because of health problems for at least the past six months; assessment of household’s total income; experienced housing difficulties (e.g. I had to stay with friends or relatives temporarily, etc.); duration of the period of housing difficulty; main reason for the period of housing difficulty (e.g. sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, health problems, unemployment, etc.).

9. Health: satisfaction with life; mental problems: felt downhearted or depressed over the last two weeks; thought of committing suicide in the past year; ever attempted to commit suicide; diagnosed with cancer in the past 12 months; respondent has been treated for cancer in the past 12 months; last date of various preventive medical check-ups (mammography, cervical smear, colonoscopy, HIV test).

10. Perception of this survey (e.g. read about it in a newspaper, etc.); frequency of reading a newspaper (online or printed); frequency of receiving information from an LGBTIQ organisation or online network; frequency of receiving information from any other organisation or online network; ; frequency of receiving information on LGBTIQ issues from other people; frequency of visiting online a social platform on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.; frequency of visiting online a page or group you follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc; frequency of awareness of advertisements online about LGBTIQ issues; frequency of using a dating app; participation in FRA EU LGBTIQ surverys 2019 and/ or 2012 and in other surveys for LGBTIQ people; kind of involvement in one or more organisations for people who are LGBTIQ.

Additionally coded: respondent ID; sexual orientation; gender identification; gender expression, sex characteristics; weights; age group; country level (EU-27) , other (AL, RS, MK); GI-high level classification (Cis, Trans & Non Binary, Other (Not trans, not cis)); country; education; disability; socioeconomic status; minority belonging; employment status; lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, heterosexual/ straight, etc.; overall discrimination prevalence; overall discrimination prevalence (comparison with 2019); prevalence of discrimination when looking for a job, at work, when looking for a house or apartment to rent or buy, by healthcare or social services personnel, by school/ university personnel, at a cafe, restaurant, bar or nightclub, at a shop, in contact with administrative offices or public services, when showing your ID or any official document that identifies your sex; discrimination in employment, when looking for work, at work; age unspecified; reason for feeling discriminated (recoded); multiple grounds of discrimination: all combinations; multiple grounds of discrimination: combination (e.g. sex (male/female) & age too young); reported last discriminatory incidents; prevalence of hate motivated violence in the last 5 years, in the last 12 months, and by time of the most recent incident; incidence of hate motivated violence; reported last incidents of hate motivated violence; avoiding holding hands; avoiding places; prevalence of hate-motivated harassment in the preceding 12 months; reported last incidents of hate motivated harassment; openness to people: 4 levels of being open about LGBTI background; experiencing conversion practices: overall; conversion practice: Intervention by family members, etc.).