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The 2023 LGBTIQ Survey III results reveal a surge of violence against LGBTIQ persons in almost all of the survey countries. They also show that intersex respondents are affected by higher levels of violence and harassment compared with other survey respondent groups and the results of the 2019 LGBTI Survey II. This chapter presents the main results and areas of concern in combating hate crime and harassment against intersex persons.
As shown by the EU LGBTIQ survey, intersex persons are disproportionately at risk of experiencing hate crimes, physical violence and harassment compared with other LGBTIQ survey groups. In some cases, the lives of intersex persons are at risk because they are intersex, endangering their fundamental right to life (Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter)) and undermining their dignity and their right to physical and mental integrity (Article 3). Similarly, Article 4 ensures protection against severe forms of violence and harassment, while harassment on several grounds, among which sexual orientation and sex, is prohibited under EU anti-discrimination law.
The EU LGBTIQ Survey III asks respondents how many times, in the past five years they have been physically or sexually attacked at home or elsewhere (on the street, on public transport, at the workplace, etc.) because of being LGBTIQ. The results below reveal the violent reality of the lives of intersex persons.
The section below, presents the trends and changes between the 2019 EU LGBTI II and the 2023 EU LGBTIQ III survey, using appropriate scientific methods to allow comparisons. Due to differences in the sample make-up of the 2019 and 2023 surveys, small differences can appear in the percentages for the 2023 survey, presented later in the chapter. For more information see Comparing survey results from 2019 and 2023.
Among all LGBTIQ respondents, intersex respondents report the highest increase in physical or sexual violence experiences in the five years before the survey compared with other LGBTIQ survey respondent groups, as shown in Figure 16B, p. 56 of the main results report LGBTIQ Equality at a Crossroads – Progress and challenges. The comparison between the 2019 and 2023 surveys shows a marked increase in violent experiences among intersex respondents (from 22 % in 2019 to 34 % in 2023). Half of them say they have experienced three or more attacks (51 %), a notable increase from the already high rate of victimisation recorded in the 2019 survey (43 %).
Intersex respondents also report an increase in harassment experiences, from 42 % in 2019 to 74 % in 2023 (based on properly weighted datasets comparing the two surveys), a trend that concerns all LGBTIQ respondent groups.
Figure 1 shows the high prevalence of physical or sexual attacks against intersex respondents by country. One in three intersex respondents says they suffered an attack of this kind at least once in the past five years (32 %). Intersex respondents in Austria (45 %), Spain (42 %) and Ireland (41 %) report the highest levels of violent experiences, while in Finland (28 %) and Czechia (25 %) they report the lowest, disregarding the lowest percentages in countries with smaller and statistically less reliable samples such as Cyprus, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia and Belgium.
Figure 1 – Violence experienced by intersex respondents due to being LGBTIQ in the past five years
A map of Europe with different coloured countries/regions showing the prevalence of physical or sexual attacks experienced by intersex respondents due to being L G B T I Q in the past 5 years in all the 30 survey countries, the EU-27 average being 32%, the highest in Austria (45%) and the lowest in Cyprus (7%).
Source: EU LGBTIQ Survey III (2023), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
NB: ‡ Results with this sign are based on a small number of responses and therefore are statistically less reliable.
The survey data indicate a significant variation in the rate of violent victimisation among different intersex SOGIESC subgroups. The highest rates of violence in the past five years are reported by intersex trans women (42 %) and intersex trans men (44 %), followed by non-binary and gender-diverse intersex respondents (38 %) and cisgender intersex women and men (26-27 %).
Regarding sexual orientation, all groups report similar rates of violent victimisation, ranging from 27 % (bisexual) to 39 % (gay). Other groups report the following rates: lesbian intersex (31 %), bisexual intersex (27 %), pansexual intersex (32 %), asexual intersex (27 %) and straight intersex (36 %).
A further breakdown by SOGIESC reveals that some groups experienced much higher rates of violence at least once in the past five years:
- non-binary and gender-diverse gay intersex: 58 %;
- pansexual trans women or trans men intersex: 44 %;
- trans lesbian intersex: 30 %.
Intersex respondents avoid certain places or locations for fear of being assaulted, threatened or harassed due to being LGBTIQ, more than other LGBTIQ respondent groups: almost half of intersex respondents do so often or always (48 %) compared with all LGBTIQ Survey III respondents (29 % of the full EU LGBTIQ Survey average).
Moreover, intersex respondents say that they avoid being open about themselves as LGBTIQ for fear of being assaulted, threatened or harassed by others at their home (17 %, compared with 11 % of all LGBTIQ survey respondents) or around their family (32 %, compared with 27 % of all LGBTIQ survey respondents).
About three in four intersex respondents (72 %) who responded having suffered a hate-motivated physical or sexual attack because of being LGBTIQ have not reported it to the police or another organisation.
This was particularly the case for Poland, where 91 % of the intersex victims of violence did not report the attack to the police or elsewhere.
Figure 2 – Intersex victims not reporting hate-motivated violence to the police or elsewhere
A map of Europe with different coloured countries/regions showing the percentage of non-reporting of physical or sexual attacks experienced by intersex respondents due to being L G B T I Q to the police or elsewhere, in all the 30 survey countries, the EU-27 average being 72%, the highest in Poland (91%) and the lowest in Netherlands (59%).
Source: EU LGBTIQ Survey III (2023), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
NB: ‡ Results with this sign are based on a small number of responses and therefore are statistically less reliable.
The lowest proportion of violent incidents not reported to the police by intersex victims was in Netherlands (59 %).
The rate of not reporting hate-motivated attacks suffered is higher for some groups with intersecting SOGIESC identities, such as trans men intersex (84 %), trans women intersex (76 %) and asexual intersex (85 %), suggesting a mistrust of the police and low expectations of redress of or protection against violence.
Overall, intersex violence victims tend to report to the police or any organisation more often (28 %) than all LGBTIQ survey groups (18 %).
More than four in ten victims of violence who did not go to the police (43 %) say that the main reason behind not reporting or under-reporting was the fear of homophobic and/or transphobic reactions on the part of police officers. These figures reveal higher distrust rates compared with other LGBTIQ survey respondents’ groups who did not report the incident to the police as violence victims.
A similarly high percentage (38 %) say they do not trust the police, while 39 % say they did not think the police would or could do anything for them as victims. Other reasons, such as shame and fear of offenders or reprisals, were also reported by about one fourth of the intersex respondents who had been hate crime victims.
Figure 3 – Why intersex victims do not report violence to the police or elsewhere
Bar chart showing other reasons for which intersex respondents felt discriminated against, besides being L G B T I Q. Most frequent (35%), their sex (male/female) disability (20%), Age (19%).
Source: EU LGBTIQ Survey III (2023), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
In particular, trans men intersex (52 %) and trans women intersex (45 %) were more likely not to report hate-motivated violence against them because of fear of homophobic or transphobic reactions by the police officers.
The survey asked respondents about offensive or threatening situations they may have experienced in the 12 months before the survey at work, on the street, on public transport, in a shop, on the internet or anywhere else. This could include offensive or threatening incidents of a sexual nature.
Two thirds of the intersex respondents (67 %) said they experienced harassment because of being LGBTIQ, such as:
- offensive or threatening comments made in person;
- threats of violence made in person;
- offensive gestures or inappropriate staring;
- behaviour such as loitering or being deliberately followed by somebody in a threatening way;
- offensive or threatening emails or text messages;
- offensive comments made about them online.
These incidents could take place anywhere, in private or public settings.
Figure 4 shows the prevalence of harassment in the 30 survey countries.
Figure 4 – Harassment experienced by intersex respondents in the past 12 months
A map of Europe with different coloured countries/regions showing the proportion of intersex respondents who experienced harassment due to being L G B T I Q in the year before the survey in all the 30 survey countries, the EU-27 average being 67%, the highest in Austria (84%) and the lowest in Cyprus (51%).
Source: EU LGBTIQ Survey III (2023), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
NB: ‡ Results with this sign are based on a small number of responses and therefore are statistically less reliable.
Some intersex respondent groups are significantly more affected by harassment in their daily lives: more than two thirds (68 %) of trans men intersex respondents say they had such experiences the year before the survey, while daily harassment affected even more trans women intersex (81 %), non-binary and gender-diverse (71 %), asexual intersex (84 %) and lesbian intersex respondents (79 %).
Figure 5 shows that the most frequent type of harassment experienced by intersex respondents in the year before the survey was ‘offensive or threatening comments due to being LGBTIQ’. At the EU-27 level, 70 % experienced it. The highest rate that is statistically reliable is reported in Italy (84 %) and the lowest in Sweden (51 %).
Figure 5 – Harassment – intersex respondents who experienced offensive or threatening comments
A map of Europe with different coloured countries/regions showing the proportion of intersex respondents who experienced offensive or threatening comments due to being L G B T I Q in the year before the survey in all the 30 survey countries, the EU-27 average being 70%, the highest in Belgium (92%) and the lowest in Denmark (45%).
Source: EU LGBTIQ Survey III (2023), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
NB: ‡ Results with this sign are based on a small number of responses and therefore are statistically less reliable.
Figure 6 shows how many intersex harassment victims did not report the incident anywhere. More than eight out of ten (82 %) have not reported harassment, while the highest statistically reliable rates of under-reporting are recorded in Czechia (94 %) and the lowest in Italy (71 %).
Figure 6 – Not reporting harassment to any organisation or institution
A map of Europe with different coloured countries/regions showing the proportion of intersex harassment victims who did not report the incident anywhere. The map shows in all the 30 survey countries, the EU-27 average being 82%, the highest in Czechia and Hungary (94%) and the lowest in Ireland (68%).
Source: EU LGBTIQ Survey III (2023), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
NB: ‡ Results with this sign are based on a small number of responses and therefore are statistically less reliable.
In the face of challenges regarding the need for a safer online environment for LGBTIQ people, the Digital Services Act aims to tackle any false or manipulated information that is intended to cause harm to users at risk of hate speech or discrimination, including LGBTIQ people, seeking to stoke polarisation and divisions in EU societies.
A study of the European External Action Service (EEAS) revealed that foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) is targeting LGBTIQ+ people via online hatred campaigns. The ‘3rd EEAS report on foreign information manipulation and interference threats’ (March 2025) notes that FIMI builds ‘narratives depicting LGBTIQ+ rights and gender policies as Western impositions meant to undermine traditional values’.
Recent findings of Commission research (EEAS, Tackling Disinformation, Foreign Information Manipulation & Interference; EU DisInfoLab, How to detect and analyse identity-based disinformation/FIMI) and the EU LGBTIQ Survey III indicate that identity-based disinformation targets LGBTIQ people and particularly trans and intersex groups, about whom the majority of the population has little knowledge or understanding.
The survey found that intersex persons encountered online hatred campaigns more often than other LGBTIQ survey groups. This finding supports the hypothesis that some LGBTIQ groups are targeted more than others by online hatred and disinformation campaigns that aim at polarising and sowing divisions within European societies. Two thirds (67 %) reported often or always seeing online references to LGBTIQ propaganda or gender ideology, while 69 % have, with the same frequency, seen references to LGBTIQ people posing a threat to ‘traditional values’ and 66 % have seen campaigns considering LGBTIQ people to be ‘unnatural’ or mentally ill.
Figure 7 shows that intersex respondents have, more frequently than other survey groups, seen online calls for violence against LGBTIQ people (e.g. threats of death, rape, beating, slapping) in the last 12 months. About half of them (47 %) did so often or always, while this was the case for only 38 % of all LGBTIQ respondents.
Figure 7 – Frequency of seeing online calls for violence against LGBTIQ people in the last 12 months
Bar chart showing other reasons for which intersex respondents felt discriminated against, besides being L G B T I Q. Most frequent (35%), their sex (male/female) disability (20%), Age (19%).
Source: EU LGBTIQ Survey III (2023), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
More than two thirds (69 %) of intersex respondents also said they had encountered/seen online references to LGBTIQ people posing a threat to ‘traditional values’ in the last 12 months.