European Parliament unequivocally calls for measures to protect trans people in the EU Gender Equality Strategy
In a pivotal step, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the forthcoming EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030, increasing pressure on the European Commission to strengthen protections for trans people within this framework.
With 310 votes in favour, 222 against, and 68 abstentions, the Parliament, representing MEPs from 27 Member States, made its position clear: trans people are disproportionately discriminated against and must be protected in their access to healthcare, employment, education, and other areas across this and all EU gender equality measures.
TGEU recalls that the Parliament had already called on the European Commission to implement concrete measures for trans people in the previous Strategy, a demand the Commission did not adequately address. Meanwhile, the challenges faced by our communities have intensified amid democratic backsliding and attacks on gender equality. TGEU welcomes the Parliament’s resolution and calls for a robust EU Gender Equality Strategy that is truly intersectional and responsive to the needs of trans communities.
Protecting trans people from poverty and exclusion
We welcome the Parliament’s stance, which recognises that trans women are placed at an unfair disadvantage by structural and cultural factors, putting them at higher risk of poverty.
The Parliament noted that housing is one such structural barrier and proposed to address it within measures supporting victims of gender-based violence. While almost one in five trans people in the EU report having experienced homelessness or severe housing instability according to the FRA EU LGBTIQ Survey III, gender-based violence is not the only driver of such exclusion. Discrimination is another: 25% of trans people have been directly refused a rental property or home purchase because of their gender identity. For young trans people, family rejection also often results in homelessness. We therefore urge the European Commission to address these specific barriers by strengthening EU-wide data collection on homelessness, with a focus on youth experiences and disaggregation across all SOGIESC grounds. We also welcome the Parliament’s call to actively consult women and girls in all their diversity in the development of the forthcoming Strategy. At the same time, we stress that dialogue is particularly needed between Member States, LGBTI civil society and youth organisations, and homelessness services to develop targeted strategies for trans youth.
Further, many trans people are pushed into sex work as a means of survival. Under laws criminalising “brothel-keeping”, landlords are pressured to evict tenants suspected of engaging in sex work. This disproportionately affects trans people due to pervasive assumptions that all trans women are sex workers, resulting in discriminatory treatment. We therefore regret the Parliament’s conservative stance on sex work, including its use of the term “women in prostitution” and its call for the punishment of clients. The criminalisation of sex work—even in the partial form advocated by the Parliament—is closely linked to structural inequality in the labour market. This contradicts the Parliament’s stated aim to remove structural barriers and protect people from discrimination and gender-based violence. We urge the European Commission to advocate for the full decriminalisation of sex work within the next EU Gender Equality Strategy, as this is the only viable path to protecting the rights of sex workers who face multiple and intersecting forms of marginalisation.
We welcome the Parliament’s call to address the lack of progress in implementing equality and anti-discrimination laws in Member States in the post-2025 Gender Equality Strategy, a vital step toward lifting trans people out of poverty. Furthermore, while the resolution emphasises that the Parliament will firmly oppose any attempt to withdraw or weaken the Pay Transparency Directive, we note with regret that there is currently no guidance to support a trans-inclusive transposition—an issue we hope the forthcoming Strategy will address.
Combatting gender-based violence against trans people
The Parliament recognises in the resolution, the heightened rates of violence and abuse faced by LGBTI people, including in the online environment, and that hate crimes disproportionately target LGBTI communities. It accurately draws a direct connection between these crimes and the deterioration of the rule of law, anti-gender movements, and attacks on democracy. Indeed, TGEU’s Trans Murder Monitoring 2025 reported that 281 trans and gender-diverse people were murdered in the past year alone, with a notable increase in killings of activists and movement leaders.
Our demands align with the Parliament’s position: to recognise, protect, and ensure the safety of LGBTI movement leaders; to establish comprehensive monitoring and accountability mechanisms to address the erosion of LGBTI rights; and to conduct research on anti-gender movements and rhetoric that fuel these crimes.
Furthermore, we urge the European Commission to ensure that all relevant professionals and police officers are trained to address cases involving trans people experiencing gender-based violence. This is a concern also highlighted by the Parliament, which notes that intersecting forms of discrimination exacerbate the effects of gender-based violence. Additionally, the systematic collection of official data to identify and record violent crimes against trans people, including trans sex workers, is urgently needed.
Comprehensive and inclusive healthcare for trans people
In a decisive step, the Parliament recognised that LGBTI people face high rates of discrimination when accessing healthcare, highlighting in particular the experiences of trans people, who report especially high levels of transphobic behavior from healthcare personnel. The Parliament demands universal, gender-responsive healthcare for all women and girls, training for healthcare personnel, and better-quality disaggregated data to capture groups that might otherwise be overlooked. Additionally, the Parliament urges the creation of a comprehensive, binding framework to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights, a welcome step by TGEU, but we note that such a framework must be developed in consultation with trans communities and explicitly address their specific needs.
We also welcome the Parliament’s call to combat forced sterilisation and the medicalisation of our identities and urge the European Commission to work with Member States to remove harmful mandatory requirements for legal gender recognition, including sterilisation and psychiatric diagnoses. The Parliament’s call for the Commission to promptly publish recommendations on preventing harmful practices against women and girls, including forced and coercive sterilisation and neglect in obstetric and gynecological settings, is strongly supported by TGEU. Furthermore, we demand the adoption of comprehensive inquiry and reparation schemes addressing past practices of forced and coercive sterilisation targeting trans people.
Despite these positive demands, the Parliament falls short of proposing concrete solutions to address broader healthcare barriers specifically faced by trans communities. Building on the Parliament’s demands, TGEU calls for the inclusion of SOGIESC-based identification questions in the 2027 European Health Interview Survey to collect data on health risk factors and healthcare usage; research into barriers faced by trans people in accessing trans-specific, general, and cancer-related healthcare; recognition of hormones and related medications (including Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone [GnRH] agonists) as well as HIV medication as essential medicines; and their inclusion on the EU’s Critical Medicines list.
Moreover, there is an urgent need to address gaps in comprehensive HIV care, the availability of viral hepatitis, TB, and STI prevention, diagnosis, and treatment packages, as well as the continuation of medical and trans-specific care for trans people in enclosed settings.
Finally, TGEU firmly opposes the Parliament’s rejection of surrogacy in the resolution. Restricting access to surrogacy based on gender identity, or any other ground, is unlawful discrimination under international law and may violate the right to bodily autonomy.
What’s next
We will continue advocating for a robust, concrete, and inclusive EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030, expected to be announced ahead of International Women’s Day 2026. The Parliament has made its position clear, as it did with the previous Strategy, raising alarm about eroding equality and democratic backsliding. Now, the European Commission must act in accordance with its obligation to ensure the highest level of protection across this and all gender equality measures, without discrimination based on gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics.
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