The European Union (EU) is founded on the values of equality and non-discrimination, and through its policies works to combat discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) twins its research findings in the field with the relevant EU standards in a short and easy-to-read publication designed to equip those who shape policy with the information they need to develop a coherent and systematic approach to the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) rights.

This report updates the FRA comparative legal analysis of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity first published in June 2008. It presents the situation as it stood at the end of 2009, though information gathered in 2010 has been incorporated to the greatest possible extent. Five main trends among EU Member States can be noted from the information presented in this report.

The FRA delivered an opinion on 31 May on the proposed EU law on the property consequences of registered international partnerships, following a request from European Parliament on 25 April 2012.

In 2011—2012, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) will conduct an EU-wide survey on violence against women. This is the first survey of its kind to randomly sample and interview 40,000 women across the 27 EU Member States and Croatia. It will therefore furnish the robust, comparable data that policy makers need to shape informed, targeted policies to combat such violence.

In 2007, the European Parliament requested the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) to conduct research on discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. In 2008, the FRA published its first comparative legal analysis on homophobia, transphobia and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the European Union. This factsheet outlines the key legal trends resulting from the updated legal analysis that the FRA undertook in 2010.

Developments over the past years testify to the increasing awareness of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in the European Union. This factsheet presents the policy context and key findings of the FRA report on Homophobia, transphobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

This Report is the central part of a project which the Agency jointly conducted with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the Council of Europe's Migration and Roma/Gypsy Division.