Eurobarometer 2012 for the first time includes transgender people in survey on discrimination | Gunda-Werner-Institut

The Eurobarometer is a public survey conducted on a regular basis, covering the whole EU. About 27.000 citizens have been surveyed, approximately 1.000 per country. When talking about discrimination, categories like gender, age, disability, religious affiliation or sexual orientation have been addressed in the survey. Now the category “gender identity” has been added.

The survey is meant to show how discrimination, due to different factors, is perceived by the citizens of the EU. Three major categories of discrimination have been determined by the survey, namely “ethnic origin”, “disability” and “sexual orientation”. Concerning discrimination due to gender identity, 45 per cent stated that they believe transgender people are being discriminated. In contrast, almost as many (42 per cent) believe that there is no discrimination of this kind. When asking for the particular discrimination of gay, lesbian or bisexual people, a similar result can be seen. 46 per cent said to believe that these people are exposed to discrimination, while another 46 per cent believe they are not discriminated at all or only very little. According to country the figures vary considerably. In Cyprus 77 per cent of the participants stated that transgender persons are being discriminated, in Bulgaria only 16 per cent said so.

The EU-citizens were also asked for their knowledge concerning the rights they can employ when experiencing discrimination. 37 per cent claimed to know their rights, in contrast to 48 per cent who said not to be informed on that. About one third named the police when asked for a place to go to in cases of discrimination. Other services like offices for equal treatment, lawyers, unions or NGOs were named less frequently. It has to be noted that people who consider themselves to belong to a minority, named the police less frequently, least of all LGBT-persons. Overall, nothing crucial has changed concerning the perception of discrimination since the last Eurobarometer in 2009.