Joint statement: New UK draft Code of Practice intensifies exclusion of trans people

TGEU, ILGA-Europe, IGLYO, OII Europe, EL*C, Rainbow Cities Network, the European Pride Business Network and the European Forum of LGBTI+ Christian Groups are deeply alarmed by the draft Code of Practice under the UK’s Equality Act 2010.

TGEU' Trans Rights Index and Map 2026 reveals a year of change on paper across Europe and Central Asia but not sustained political progress.

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.

Update: Despite weeks of moral panic leading to this moment, and fuelled by anti-gender movements and amplified across national media, civil society remained united and unwavering to ensure inclusive provisions in the law were maintained.

TGEU welcomes the publication of the LGBTIQ+ Equality Strategy 2026–2030 and the European Commission’s renewed pledge to advance the rights of all LGBTIQ+ people while embedding an intersectional perspective across all its initiatives.

Last week, Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union Richard de la Tour delivered his Opinion in the case C-43/24 Shipov. The case was brought forward by a Bulgarian trans woman currently living in Italy who was repeatedly denied her requests to legally amend her gender marker and name on her Bulgarian documents by Bulgarian courts.

We’re excited to invite you to an online screening of MGRM’s documentary “The Distance We Call Home”, followed by a live discussion with the co-directors Mehk and bobb attard, and cinematographer Nina Musumeci.

Sweden’s new Legal Gender Recognition Act has officially come into force. The reform simplifies the legal gender recognition procedure but falls short of a full self-determination model.

On the occasion of the banned Budapest LGBTI Pride, TGEU – Trans Europe and Central Asia stands in solidarity with all trans and gender diverse people in Hungary, whose fundamental rights are under unprecedented attack.

TGEU's Trans Rights Index and Map 2025 reveals an unprecedented reversal: for the first time in its 13-year history, setbacks in human rights of trans people across Europe and Central Asia now clearly outweigh progress.

On 16 April, the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers.  TGEU condemns this judgment, as the Court has interpreted the protected characteristic of ‘sex’ and the word ‘woman’ in the UK’s Equality Act (the anti-discrimination law) to mean ‘biological sex’ and ‘biological woman’.

Hungary's recent constitutional amendment enshrining a binary definition of gender is a direct attack on the human rights and dignity of trans and non-binary people. President Orbán may amend the constitution, but he cannot erase the existence of trans and non-binary people who remain an integral part of Hungarian society.