TransLucent letter to Olivia Bailey MP

TransLucent letter to Olivia Bailey MP

Olivia Bailey MP
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London

By email only.

15^th May 2026

Dear Minister for Equaities – LGBT

Re: The United Kingdom’s Continued and Accelerating Decline in the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index

We write to you on behalf of the trans community across the United Kingdom to express our profound concern regarding this country’s continuing and accelerating decline in the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index – an internationally recognised annual benchmarking tool that scores 49 European countries on legal and policy protections for LGBTI people.

The facts are deeply concerning and demand immediate government attention. In 2011, the United Kingdom proudly held 1st place in the Rainbow Index – a position maintained until 2015, with a peak score of 86%.

As of the 2026 edition, published on 11 May 2026, the UK has fallen to 22nd place with a score of just 43.90% – a deterioration of more than 40 percentage points and 21 ranking positions over little more than a decade.

No other country in the Index’s history has experienced a decline of this magnitude.

The Cause of Decline:

The Rainbow Index assesses countries across 76 criteria spanning seven thematic areas, including equality and non-discrimination, family recognition, hate crime and hate speech law, legal gender recognition, intersex bodily integrity, civil society space, and asylum protections.

While the UK’s decline is not attributable to a single factor, the most damaging recent development has been the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling that the legal definition of “woman” under the Equality Act is determined by biological sex.

This ruling prompted ILGA-Europe to strip the United Kingdom of all points previously awarded for legal gender recognition, a category in which the UK had historically been a European leader.

The consequences of this ruling for both transgender and cisgender people in the UK are now well documented, particularly regarding access to toilets and changing rooms, which disproportionately impact butch lesbians, gender-non-conforming women, and those with a masculine appearance. Additionally, the closures and disruptions faced by WI branches and Girlguiding groups have caused significant distress.

There has been a regression in legal protections that affects access to healthcare, employment safeguards, public services, and the fundamental right of transgender people to be recognised in law. TransLucent views this as a serious human rights matter, not merely a statistical one.

The Broader Context

The 2026 Rainbow Index demonstrates that progress is achievable.

Spain has this year risen to 1st place with a score of 88.70%, having enacted new legal protections, established an independent equal treatment authority, and fully depathologised trans identities in healthcare. Iceland, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, and Germany all score significantly higher than the UK, illustrating that legislative ambition on LGBTI rights is neither unrealistic nor incompatible with the values of a democratic European nation​.

Meanwhile, the UK’s score of 43.90% places it below countries such as France, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, nations that have, in recent years, moved decisively to strengthen legal gender recognition and anti-discrimination frameworks​.

The gap between the UK and the leading nations now stands at almost 45 percentage points.

Our Calls to Action

TransLucent respectfully but urgently calls upon the Government to take the following steps:

• Restore and strengthen legal gender recognition by introducing a reformed Gender Recognition Act that eliminates medicalised and bureaucratic barriers, enabling transgender people to obtain legal recognition in a timely and dignified manner.
• Explicitly protect transgender people under the Equality Act and provide clear statutory guidance following the 2025 Supreme Court ruling to prevent ambiguity and discrimination at the point of service delivery.
• Enact comprehensive hate crime and hate speech legislation that unambiguously protects transgender people from targeted violence and harassment.
• Commission an independent review of the UK’s declining ILGA-Europe rankings, with a view to producing a cross-departmental action plan with measurable milestones to restore the UK’s position as a European leader in LGBTI rights.
• Engage meaningfully with transgender advocacy organisations, including TransLucent, as stakeholders in the development of policy that directly affects our communities.

Conclusion

The United Kingdom’s fall from 1st to 22nd place in the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index is neither inevitable nor irreversible.

It is the product of political choices – and it can be remedied through political will.

The current trajectory inflicts real harm on transgender people living in this country, undermines the UK’s international reputation as a champion of human rights, and sends a damaging message to transgender young people about their place and value in British society.

TransLucent stands ready to engage constructively with the Government on these matters. We request a formal meeting with you at the earliest opportunity to discuss the steps outlined above.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Debora Diamond – Joint CEO

15th May  2026 – TransLucent letter to Olivia Bailey MP