UK plummets down rankings for LGBTQ+ safety in Europe, following Supreme Court trans ruling
17 May 2025, 14:46
Since the Supreme Court ruled that gender is defined only by biological sex, the UK has hit its lowest ranking for LGBTQ+ safety since the chart started.
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The UK, formerly top of the chart between the years 2011 and 2015, has dropped to rank 22 out of 49 countries - the lowest rank it’s ever held.
Held at rank 16 in 2024, the UK had all of its points related to legal gender recognition stripped as a result of the Supreme Court ruling on trans identity in April.
In April, the Supreme Court ruled that under the 2010 Equality Act, a woman could only be defined as someone who had been born as a biological female.
The ruling disputed the meaning of “woman” and “sex” in the Act.
Read More: Trans women to be barred from women's football in England, FA says
Lord Reed, who presided over the case, concluded that while being trans is still a characteristic protected against discrimination, trans individuals could no longer claim discrimination against their self-identified gender.
ILGA Europe, the advocacy group that publishes the rankings, said it had removed the UK’s points as the Supreme Court ruling meant the UK’s “legal gender recognition is no longer fully effective”.
“Legal recognition should enable a person to legally function and be recognised in their affirmed gender, of all areas of life. This is no longer the case in the UK” they said.
“It is, in fact, impossible for a trans person to be fully legally recognised in their gender identity within the legal framework”.
The UK also lost points for not yet having a ban on conversion therapy, and having limited healthcare options for young trans people.
The Rainbow Map and Index, published annually since 2009, scores countries in Europe between 1 and 100 percent.
A score of 0% would mean that a country is grossly violating the rights of LGBTQ+ people, while 100% means it champions them.
Awarded an overall score of 46.65%, the UK still maintains an above average safety ranking for LGBTQ+ residents compared to the entirety of Europe.
Europe’s average score is 41.85% - however, this is brought down by extremely low scoring countries like Russia, who only scored 2%.
The UK did score less when compared to EU nations however, who scored an average of 51.13%.
Malta tops the list with 88.83%: still a 4% drop on their score from last year, however.
The UK has been gradually dropping down the charts over the past decade, losing points year on year. The biggest percent drop was between 2021 and 2022, when the UK lost over 10%, dropping from 63.74% to 53.4%.
