Why the fuck is the UK even listed at all? The country that proudly says, that it is determining sex based on what you were born with and that everyone has to use bathrooms AS according to their birth sex.
UK here. Starmer went full TERF for some moronic reason (far from his first bad decision), but we still have only non-gender-specific toilets at my rather large workplace. So it’s bigoted and nasty, but it hasn’t been applied with the fascist zeal that it would be in the States.
Because it’s a list about safety, not about beliefs. Regardless of what “the country says”, you are not in any danger if you disagree. And outside of that issue, it’s a very welcoming country for LGBT folks (yes, including T, despite what the government may say).
Especially since it’s in the context of travel, so citizen rights are less relevant as they don’t apply to you anyway, and it’s much more relevant how you are going to be treated as a tourist, as you choose from the several LGBT friendly pubs down the road.
And that’s still hyper focusing on one issue, totally ignoring the list also concerns safety for women and people of color, which can bring you up on the list.
it’s a very welcoming country for LGBT folks (yes, including T, despite what the government may say)
I live in a largely rural county, and that’s been my experience too. A lot of the pubs and clubs in town not only have substantial LGBT clientele, but also management, and the straight clients don’t seem at all bothered by that. And it’s common to see groups of neighbors and coworkers that include same-sex couples. I’d venture that racism and xenophobia are more pervasive here than homophobia. And even those don’t seem that bad-- my visibly foreign wife and kids got more shit in London than they do here. I’m foreign too, though not visibly, and I’ve never had problems, except a couple encounters with belligerent drunks, and those are easily handled. Those idiots would pick a fight with a hatstand and still manage to lose.
That would sure be nice, unfortunately the UK has the common problem of being able to either vote for the bad option or the worse option, neither of which is what most people want, they only disagree about which one is the worse one.
Unfortunately the current government was voted in under quite a different pretext to how they’re acting now. They were also the only other prominent option at the time.
Interesting to compare that to the ILGA Rainbowmap which just contains Europe.
The european countries from the list above rank as follows:
Netherlands 13th
France 15th
Austria 16th
UK 22nd (below EU average)
Ireland 14th
Iceland 3rd
Switzerland 18th
Now obviously they use different scoring (‘travel’ vs ‘living there’) but I think it is interesting that they differ that much. Also the groups differ and the one from the article seems pretty broad. I would hope everywhere with substantial progress in LGBTQIA+ rights would also have proper womens rights and protections as well, since it is the same side of the (manysided) equality-coin. Imo racism is still pretty bad and widespread across europe, so not sure how much that factors into the list (though if it would be a strong factor I would be surprised to see Austria and Switzerland on this list).
Absolutely - I was going to say, Spain is head and shoulders above the UK for LGBT safety (those are the only two countries I’ve spent a lot of time in recently).
Also worth noting, I’ve been in the non-touristy parts of north Vietnam for a month now (much more conservative than the south), and having talked to quite a few LGBT people here, it’s safe to live as an openly queer person, they just occasionally have to put up with assholes … just like everywhere else. And as a guiri, even the assholes don’t want to confront me, an obviously queer woman.
I’m surprised that the Netherlands don’t make it into the top 10 though. My German view is definitely biased, but when I travel there it just feels like (well, used to feel like) they got other stuff to think about than other people’s gender and sexuality. Be what you want to be, as long as you’re going to our coffee shops kind of.
As basically all European countries are shifting to the right more and more, I imagine the relaxed climate has also changed. Also the Netherlands are more than just the big cities, God knows how LGBTQA+ friendly they are in Overjissel. I only played cow cricket there.
From the Article:
Yeah that list is bullshit.
Why the fuck is the UK even listed at all? The country that proudly says, that it is determining sex based on what you were born with and that everyone has to use bathrooms AS according to their birth sex.
UK here. Starmer went full TERF for some moronic reason (far from his first bad decision), but we still have only non-gender-specific toilets at my rather large workplace. So it’s bigoted and nasty, but it hasn’t been applied with the fascist zeal that it would be in the States.
FWIW the Starmer thing everyone gets upset over was his office citing a recent court ruling.
How common are gender neutral restrooms in the UK in general? I’m generally curious, since at least in Germany its not that common to find some.
Because it’s a list about safety, not about beliefs. Regardless of what “the country says”, you are not in any danger if you disagree. And outside of that issue, it’s a very welcoming country for LGBT folks (yes, including T, despite what the government may say).
Especially since it’s in the context of travel, so citizen rights are less relevant as they don’t apply to you anyway, and it’s much more relevant how you are going to be treated as a tourist, as you choose from the several LGBT friendly pubs down the road.
And that’s still hyper focusing on one issue, totally ignoring the list also concerns safety for women and people of color, which can bring you up on the list.
I live in a largely rural county, and that’s been my experience too. A lot of the pubs and clubs in town not only have substantial LGBT clientele, but also management, and the straight clients don’t seem at all bothered by that. And it’s common to see groups of neighbors and coworkers that include same-sex couples. I’d venture that racism and xenophobia are more pervasive here than homophobia. And even those don’t seem that bad-- my visibly foreign wife and kids got more shit in London than they do here. I’m foreign too, though not visibly, and I’ve never had problems, except a couple encounters with belligerent drunks, and those are easily handled. Those idiots would pick a fight with a hatstand and still manage to lose.
The government of a country usually reflects, at least partially, what its voters/citizens think…
That would sure be nice, unfortunately the UK has the common problem of being able to either vote for the bad option or the worse option, neither of which is what most people want, they only disagree about which one is the worse one.
Unfortunately the current government was voted in under quite a different pretext to how they’re acting now. They were also the only other prominent option at the time.
proud of us 💪🇳🇱
Hell yeah, men noorderburen! (Aka: de niet verlegen scheten die Nederlands praten) ❤️🫡
wat de belgie???
What a low bar the world has for safety when this terf island is so high in the rankings
Interesting to compare that to the ILGA Rainbowmap which just contains Europe.
The european countries from the list above rank as follows:
Now obviously they use different scoring (‘travel’ vs ‘living there’) but I think it is interesting that they differ that much. Also the groups differ and the one from the article seems pretty broad. I would hope everywhere with substantial progress in LGBTQIA+ rights would also have proper womens rights and protections as well, since it is the same side of the (manysided) equality-coin. Imo racism is still pretty bad and widespread across europe, so not sure how much that factors into the list (though if it would be a strong factor I would be surprised to see Austria and Switzerland on this list).
I don’t think it’s surprising the lists differ a lot.
These are often very different, on any issue.
Absolutely - I was going to say, Spain is head and shoulders above the UK for LGBT safety (those are the only two countries I’ve spent a lot of time in recently).
Also worth noting, I’ve been in the non-touristy parts of north Vietnam for a month now (much more conservative than the south), and having talked to quite a few LGBT people here, it’s safe to live as an openly queer person, they just occasionally have to put up with assholes … just like everywhere else. And as a guiri, even the assholes don’t want to confront me, an obviously queer woman.
I’m surprised that the Netherlands don’t make it into the top 10 though. My German view is definitely biased, but when I travel there it just feels like (well, used to feel like) they got other stuff to think about than other people’s gender and sexuality. Be what you want to be, as long as you’re going to our coffee shops kind of. As basically all European countries are shifting to the right more and more, I imagine the relaxed climate has also changed. Also the Netherlands are more than just the big cities, God knows how LGBTQA+ friendly they are in Overjissel. I only played cow cricket there.
I’m not a woman, nor LGBTQ+, but to me at least, this graph looks a lot closer to reality.