Across eastern Europe, it’s still very difficult to pass laws and policies designed to advance LGBT inclusion. With LGBT+ History Month underway, some Ukrainians are worried that their country’s fragile progress in LGBT rights will be set back by a Russian invasion. A top court in Hungary has just ruled that it was acceptable for a pro-government newspaper to run an article describing a book of queer fairy tales as “paedophilic”.
Georgia’s pride march was cancelled in 2021 after LGBT activists and journalists were violently attacked by far-right groups. Around the same time, Polish municipalities were declaring themselves to be “LGBT-ideology free zones”. And there was a spate of violent attacks against LGBT people in Turkey.
To combat LGBT discrimination in eastern Europe and around the world, one answer might be to demonstrate that equal rights might have widespread economic benefits. To this end, we have just published research into what determines support for sexual minorities in Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. We chose these countries because they have some of the lowest rates of social acceptance of sexual minorities in Europe, and among the most restrictive laws and policies towards LGBT people.
