“Young LGBT people must never be made to feel afraid to express their sexual orientation and gender identity,” Jonas Gunnarsson (Sweden, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on the rights of LGBT people, said today, on the eve of the International Day against Homophobia (17 May). “Sexual orientation and gender identity are matters that are indissociably linked with personal identity, and no one should ever be pressured to conform to other individuals’ or society’s expectations in this field.”

“As the Assembly emphasised in its recent resolution on Discrimination against transgender people in Europe, transgender people, be they young people or adults, must be protected from transphobic crimes and discrimination. They must also have access to quick, transparent and accessible legal gender recognition procedures, based on self-determination,” he said.

“As we celebrate the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, I would also like to pay special tribute to the LGBT individuals that continue to have to fight for the right to be visible. Tuesday’s Identoba judgment of the European Court of Human Rights reaffirms that the national authorities have the duty to ensure the marches to mark this day can be held peacefully by sufficiently containing homophobic and violent counter-demonstrators,” he added.