On the occasion of the international day once morest homophobia and transphobia, the government is today presenting a plan comprising 133 measures to combat discrimination linked to gender identity and sexual orientation. This type of violence is still very present. Victoria, a transgender woman, explains her daily struggle.
On the sidelines of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Brussels Prevention and Security has published the results of a study on violence once morest people from LGBTQIA+ communities. Violence and discrimination are very present in the Capital Region, but they are rarely reported to the police. So, to fight once morest this type of problematic behavior, the government presents this Tuesday a vast plan comprising 133 measures: concrete actions in the fields of justice, health or even work. Because there is still a long way to go…
According to the RainbowHouse Brussels association, discrimination and violence linked to sexual orientation or gender identity are omnipresent. They are in the public space, transport, or in the family sphere. The pandemic has also increased tensions and difficulties in families.
For example, I will arrive somewhere and they will call me Mr.
Violence is also on the internet, where harassment is very present – going as far as death threats. No place is spared since the reports collected also concern HORECA, access to housing or to goods and services (taxi, shops, doctor, etc.). Victoria, a transgender woman, explains her daily struggle. “Among the discrimination and violence I face every day, I am misgendered, that’s quite violentshe says. For example, I will arrive somewhere and they will call me Sir.”
Sometimes, she says, the inappropriate remarks go a little further: “Beyond just misgendering me, some people will ask me questions and ask me if I am a man or a woman. No matter the answer, we will face violence because if I, personally, as a as a trans woman, I affirm that I am a woman and that the person in front of me does not believe me, sometimes she will ask me what I have between my legs or she will ask me to prove our identity. proof of our identity when we have nothing to prove to anyone.”
The young woman is a student at ULB and she has an account on the social network Instagram in order to be sensitive to transidentity. “As a trans person, you are not a different person from another, you just have a gender identity that took longer to emerge”says Victoria.
Facts too little reported to the police
In 2020, the police of the Brussels Region recorded only 34 reports relating to facts linked to homophobic discrimination. Only 13 cases were encoded as “homophobic” at the Brussels correctional prosecutor’s office. The prosecution issued a decision on 12 cases, 10 of which were dismissed. According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, in Belgium in 2019, 67% of lesbian, gay or transgender people, for example, often or always avoid holding hands in public.
Same story on the side of the RainbowHouse, where only 4 of the 42 reports received by the association had been the subject of a complaint to the police. The victims essentially speak of a lack of trust in this institution. Victims think that filing a complaint is useless. They are also afraid to report the facts out of shame or fear that their family or those around them will learn their sexual orientation.
The “gay district” of Brussels is also at the heart of a paradox. While LGBTQIA+ people tend to feel safer in this neighborhood, their increased visibility there paradoxically leads to more acts of violence there than elsewhere.
