LGTBI-phobia is not yet fined despite the existence of laws

BarcelonaEvery day in Catalonia, an aggression against the LGTBIQ+ community is reported. In 2025, the Observatory against LGTBI-phobia received up to 353 incidents, the highest figure since records began and 11% more than the previous year. Although a slight decrease is observed, the street continues to be by far the place where people suffer most aggressions (one in four), followed by the workplace (which grows to 15%), nightlife (10.8%), and public transport (5%).

The entity warns that none of the specific laws for the community have deployed their sanctioning regime: Law 13/2025 on the rights of LGBTI people and the eradication of LGBTI-phobia, and Law 19/2020 on equal treatment still lack regulations, and this means that "administrative complaints are eternalized or blocked due to lack of agility". In this aspect of streamlining complaints, the Observatory requests to be recognized as an interested party in these procedures to guarantee legal assistance for victims.

In this photograph, published this Friday coinciding with the Pride celebrations, the Observatory makes 38 urgent recommendations to, at least, reduce discrimination. The entity focuses on guaranteeing access to housing and on trying to end the rejection by families towards members who do not declare themselves as heteronormative and who are forced to live on the streets or in substandard housing. Thus, it discusses the extent to which hate speech impacts the community, especially the youngest and trans people, who face barriers to renting an apartment because they are denied due to their condition.

The report details how prejudiced landlords discard renting apartments or rooms to same-sex couples or trans people. However, incidents related to housing have been reduced to a minimum and represent 0.6% (they had represented 10%), but at the same time there is an increase in coexistence problems with families who disown their children's sexual orientation. To counteract these situations, the Observatory calls for a public housing stock specifically for vulnerable young LGTBI+ people who wish to become independent, as well as the establishment of protocols against discrimination in the rental market.

More neighborhood mediation

From the Observatory, they also advocate for increasing neighborhood mediation to resolve conflicts, insults, or harassment that many people suffer within their community of residence and, in the area of transport, training transport network staff so they know how to act in the face of an aggression or discrimination that occurs on a metro or bus, and also taking a course on diversity and appropriate treatment. Similarly, among the recommendations is that police officers also take these types of courses as a way to combat the underreporting of discrimination and attacks.

2025 was the third consecutive year in which the Observatory received more than 300 incidents. For the first time, the most common type of discrimination has been displays of hatred and exaltation (24.9%), both in the digital sphere and social networks, and regarding vandalism in the street. Furthermore, a direct relationship has been noted between this growth and the normalization of hate speech. Physical aggressions, some in groups, have been the second type of discrimination (21.2%), followed by harassment (17.8%) in the workplace, educational settings, and neighborhoods.