UK Ranked Second-Worst Place in Western Europe for LGBTI+ Rights

The UK has fallen to 22nd place in an annual index of LGBTI+ rights in 49 European countries, placing it below Estonia, Switzerland and Croatia.

Apart from Italy, the UK is now the worst country in western Europe for LGBTI+ people in terms of legal protections. 

According to the annual Rainbow Map of Europe, compiled by the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, the countries that best protect gay and trans rights are Spain, Malta and Iceland. 

Where a score of 100% signifies full equality, the UK has earned a rating of 43.9% this year, down from 86% in 2015. That year, the UK topped the European index, whilst its current score is an all-time low. 

The index produces each country’s score based on criteria including constitutional rights, employment law and marriage equality. In 2026, the UK scored worst on factors related to legal gender recognition, including recognition of trans parenthood and non-binary identities. It scored zero out of the four measures looking at intersex rights and earned only one out of six points for protection of LGBTI+ identity as grounds for asylum. 

Following a Supreme Court ruling on the interpretation of sex as biological in April 2025, public authorities were told that they could face prosecution if they failed to update guidance on the provision of single-sex services. 

Among the other policy directives affecting the UK’s worsening score were new laws announced in May 2025 that sports teams could ask to see birth certificates to determine a player’s sex, and former home secretary Wes Streeting’s announcement of a review into gender-affirming hormone treatment. Moves to criminalise conversion therapy have also been shelved. 

Leftwing journalist Owen Jones called the results “a cause for national shame”. 

The UK government has yet to issue a statement on the index.