Over the past five years, the Grand Duchy has already made some progress in terms of equal rights and protection for the LGBTIQ+ community, progress that has been rewarded with third place in ILGA Europe's Rainbow Index. As a national interest group, Rosa Lëtzebuerg participates each year in the development and surveys of this important international index concerning Luxembourg.
After coming third three times in a row, behind Malta and Belgium, the Grand Duchy fell to fifth place in 2022. In 2023, Luxembourg dropped another two places. This was not because the legislative situation in Luxembourg had deteriorated in the meantime, but because no further legislative initiatives had been presented to parliament in the last three years and other countries had made further substantial improvements.
However, there are many areas in which the LGBTIQ+ community in Luxembourg has long hoped for improvements. Certain legislative proposals, such as the prohibition of surgical operations on intersex children without their informed consent or the automatic recognition of parenthood for same-sex couples, even after many years, are still in the preparatory phase or even gathering dust in government departments, waiting to be dusted off.
Many relatively simple projects, such as banning conversion therapy, are not even considered urgent.
The working groups within Rosa Lëtzebuerg revised the list of demands at the beginning of 2023 and sent it to all parties in May, asking them to include as many demands as possible in their election manifestos for the general election on 8 October 2023.
1. Equality and non-discrimination
1.1 Amend the Constitution as soon as possible to explicitly mention grounds of discrimination related to sexual and emotional orientation, gender identity, gender expression and gender characteristics.
1.2.1 Establish a ministry for diversity and anti-discrimination.
1.2.2 Mandatorily involve LGBTIQ+ interest groups in the legislative process (e.g. by mandatorily requesting opinions).
1.2.3 Set a time limit for the government's LGBTIQ+ action plan and make the evaluation mechanism mandatory.
1.3 Total ban on conversion therapies.
1.4.1. Inclusion of sexual characteristics as grounds for discrimination in Article 454 of Chapter IV of the Penal Code.
1.4.2. Mention concrete measures to promote equality for persons with disabilities.
Variations in sexual characteristics in the next government's LGBTIQ+ action plan.
1.5.1 Establish a modern and non-discriminatory framework for whole blood donation for all LGBTIQ+ individuals.
1.5.2. Establish a compensation fund to support the Red Cross.
2. Family
2.1 Law regulating all forms of cohabitation (cohabitation), prohibiting, in particular, excessive registration procedures.
2.2 Full coverage by the National Health Insurance (NHI) of the costs of assisted reproductive therapies for all intended parents, regardless of the parents' gender or gender identity.
2.3. Opening up the concept of altruistic surrogacy.
2.4 Automatic recognition of both parents for same-sex couples, regardless of their legal relationship.
2.5. Introduction of a general birth 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 gender-neutral term “parents” on birth certificates.
3. Security, hate crimes, and hate speech
3.1.1 Expand hate crime legislation in criminal law to explicitly include hate crimes and hate speech also based on (perceived) sexual characteristics and variations in sexual characteristics as an aggravating factor.
3.1.2 Create tools to collect statistics on crimes based on grounds of discrimination.
3.1.3. Expand the article on aggravating factors for crimes in terms of concrete procedures and develop a permanent strategy for public actors to combat hate crimes and hate speech against LGBTIQ+ people.
3.2.1 Create a central point of contact for LGBTIQ+ individuals within the police force.
3.2.2 Establish ongoing training for police officers with a focus on LGBTIQ+ issues (local).
3.2.3. Increase the visibility of police work in relation to the LGBTIQ+ community.
4. Gender diversity
4.1.1 Introduce a third, neutral option in the short term for voluntary gender identification in the RNPP and other public registries; remove gender from official documents and registries in the long term; and remove gender identification from all public databases, such as the RNPP.
4.1.2 Information on gender registration may only be provided with the explicit consent of the person concerned.
4.2.1. Complete removal of gender indicators from the student database* and creation of a procedure for changing names on student cards* by simple request to the relevant ministry.
4.2.2 Amend building codes for public buildings to require the creation of unisex restrooms.
4.3.1. Adapt the conditions of the National Health Insurance (NHI) to allow free access to and reimbursement of trans-specific healthcare (TSHC) for adults and young people, without assessment of their mental health. Access to and coverage of the costs of support services for trans and gender-variant children in pre-adolescence must be guaranteed, without a diagnosis of “gender incongruence in childhood” (ICD-11) or an equivalent diagnosis.
4.3.2 Coverage by health insurance funds of additional measures and treatments in the field of gender reassignment therapy, in addition to the procedures already covered.
5. Inter
5.1.1 Systematically prohibit any type of medically unnecessary intervention in children with variations in sex characteristics until the person concerned can give informed consent.
5.1.2 Establish oversight 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 Involve advocacy groups for intersex, intersex, and transgender individuals.
Luxembourg asbl and Rosa Lëtzebuerg asbl as experts in the development process.
legal texts.
6. Asylum
6.1 Recognize membership of the LGBTIQ+ community as grounds for asylum and define countries where it is proven that LGBTIQ+ people are not safe as unsafe countries of origin.
6.2 Create structures for gay refugees.
7. Education
7.1 Comprehensive study to determine the extent to which LGBTIQ+ issues are already mainstreamed in current school curricula. Firmly anchor LGBTIQ+ issues in school curricula.
8. Queer culture
8.1. Guarantees from future governing parties that promote the creation, preservation, and encouragement of gender equality
Promote gender equality and ensure continued support for Rosa Lëtzebuerg's Rainbow House project.
9. Health
9.1 Facilitate access to PrEP treatment by extending consultation services to all general practitioners or family doctors. PrEP should also be available in all pharmacies.
9.2 Provide healthcare providers with training to raise awareness of LGBTIQ+ health issues, with a focus on non-discrimination.