The Grand Duchy has made some progress in terms of equality and protection of the LGBTIQ+ community in the past five years, progress that was rewarded with third place in the ILGA Europe Rainbow Index. As the national advocacy group, Rosa Lëtzebuerg is heavily involved each year in the development and surveys of this important international index, particularly in relation to Luxembourg.

After securing third place three times in a row, behind Malta and Belgium, the Grand Duchy slipped to 5th place in 2022. In 2023, Luxembourg fell another two places. Not because the legal situation in Luxembourg has deteriorated, but because no further legislative initiatives have been introduced into parliament in the past three years and other countries have made substantial improvements.

There are many areas where the Luxembourgish LGBTIQ+ community has long been hoping for improvements. Some legislative proposals, such as the ban on operations on intersex children without their informed consent, or the automatic recognition of parenthood for same-sex couples, are still in the preparatory phase after many years, or have even disappeared into the drawers of the ministries, waiting to be brought back out. Many relatively simple projects, such as the ban on conversion therapy, are meanwhile not even considered a priority.

The working groups within Rosa Lëtzebuerg revised the catalog of demands in early 2023 and sent it to all parties in May, with the request to include as many demands as possible in their election programs for the parliamentary elections on October 8, 2023.

>> Here are all the demands with a detailed description in PDF form

1. Equality and Non-Discrimination

1.1. Prompt amendment of the constitution to explicitly name the grounds of discrimination such as sexual and affective orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.

1.2.1. Establishment of a Ministry for Diversity and Anti-Discrimination.

1.2.2. Mandatory inclusion of LGBTIQ+ interest groups in the legislative process (e.g., through mandatory hearings of their expert opinions).

1.2.3. Time limitation of the government’s LGBTIQ+ Action Plan and a mandatory evaluation mechanism.

1.3. Comprehensive ban on conversion therapies.

1.4.1. Inclusion of sex characteristics as a discrimination in Article 454 of Chapter IV of the Penal Code.

1.4.2. Inclusion of specific measures to promote equality for people with variations of sex characteristics in the subsequent LGBTIQ+ Action Plan of the next government.

1.5.1. Contemporary, discrimination-free framework for whole blood donations for all LGBTIQ+ people.

1.5.2. Establishment of a compensation fund to support the Red Cross.

2. Family

2.1. Law regulating possible forms of cohabitation (Cohabitation), including the prohibition of registration procedures with outing character.

2.2. Comprehensive coverage of costs by the CNS for assisted reproduction therapies for all prospective parents, regardless of the gender or gender identity of the parents.

2.3. Opening of the concept of altruistic surrogacy.

2.4. Automatic recognition of both parents in same-sex couples, regardless of their legal relationship to each other.

2.5. Introduction of a general maternity leave of 12 months for both parents, in addition to parental leave of up to 6 months.

2.6. Recognition of trans parenthood by using the neutral term “parents” on birth certificates.

3. Security, hate crime & hate speech

3.1.1. Expansion of hate crime legislation in criminal law to expressly include hate crimes and hate speech also based on (perceived) sex characteristics and variations of sex characteristics as an aggravating factor.

3.1.2. Creation of tools for collecting statistics on crimes based on discrimination motives.

3.1.3. The extension of the article on aggravating factors in crimes regarding specific procedures and the development of a permanent strategy for state actors to combat hate crimes and hate speech against LGBTIQ+ individuals.

3.2.1. Creation of a central contact point for LGBTIQ+ people at the police.

3.2.2. Establishment of further training offers for police officers with a focus on (local) LGBTIQ+ issues.

3.2.3. Increasing the visibility of police work towards the LGBTIQ+ community.

4. Gender

4.1.1. Short-term introduction of a third, neutral, option for voluntary gender marking in the RNPP and other public registers, long-term abolition of gender entry in official documents and registers, as well as deletion of gender marking in all public databases, such as the RNPP.

4.1.2. Information about gender entry may only be given with the explicit consent of the person concerned.

4.2.1. Complete removal of the gender specification from the student database as well as the creation of a procedure for changing the name on student cards through a simple request to the responsible ministry.

4.2.2. Modification of building regulations for public buildings to make the creation of unisex toilets mandatory.

4.3.1. Adjustment of CNS requirements to allow unhindered access to, and coverage of, trans-specific health care (TSHC) for adults and adolescents, without an assessment of their mental health. Access to and coverage of supportive services for trans and gender-variant children in pre-puberty must be guaranteed and without diagnosis of “gender incongruence 25 in childhood” (ICD11) or any equivalent diagnosis.

4.3.2. Health insurance coverage of additional measures and treatments in the area of gender reassignment therapy, in addition to the procedures already covered.

5. Inter

5.1.1. Consistent prohibition of medically unnecessary interventions of any kind on children with variations in sex characteristics until the individual can express informed consent.

5.1.2. Establishment of monitoring mechanisms to protect intersex minors from the medical interventions described above.

5.1.3. Access to justice for victims of interventions on intersex minors.

5.1.4. Inclusion of interest groups of intersex persons, Intersex & Transgender Luxembourg asbl as well as Rosa Lëtzebuerg asbl as experts in the drafting of legal texts.

6. Asylum

6.1. Recognition of membership in the LGBTIQ+ community as a reason for asylum and the definition of countries where LGBTIQ+ people are demonstrably not safe as non-safe countries of origin.

6.2. Establishment of structures for queer refugees.

7. Education

7.1. Comprehensive study to investigate the extent to which LGBTIQ+ already transversely occur in the current curricula. Firm embedding of LGBTIQ+ topics in the curriculae.

8. Queer culture

8.1. Guarantees of future government parties that promote the creation, preservation, and experience of queer culture as well as the guarantee of further support for the “Rainbow House” project run by Rosa Lëtzebuerg.

9. Health

9.1. Easier access to PrEP therapy by expanding consultation offers to all general practitioners and family doctors. PrEP must also be available in all pharmacies.

9.2. Health service providers should be offered sensitivity training on LGBTIQ+ health topics with a focus on non-discrimination.