Iceland jumps up five places and into top ten on the Rainbow Europe Map
Iceland is now ranked number nine on ILGA-Europe‘s annual Rainbow Map, moving up five places between years.
The first ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index was published in 2009, and since then it has been published annually in May, marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, Biphobia and Intersexphobia (IDAHOBIT). The map ranks the legal and policy conditions of LGBTI people in 49 European countries.
In 2019, Iceland adopted an Act on Gender Autonomy , which manifested the right of individuals to define their own gender in the country´s official registry. A gender neutral option was also added there and it also gives individuals the right to maintain their physical integrity. The Act defines gender as a collective term, including, inter alia, sex characteristics, gender, gender identity and gender expression. Furthermore, amendments were made to the children´s act, allowing parents to register their children as gender-neutral.
Iceland aims to climb even higher in ILGA-Europes rankings. Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir has put forward the government´s first LGBTI action plan and if the proposal passes through parliament it will lead to even further improvements of LGBTI rights in Iceland.
Of the Nordic countries, Denmark makes a jump on this year‘s Rainbow Map, along with Iceland, and is now ranked second, up from ninth place last year. Norway and Sweden move up one place each, they are now in fourth and sixth place respectively but Finland drops six places, down to 12th place.
Malta tops the rankings for the seventh year in a row and Azerbaijan ranks last.