The Plan for an LGBTQI+ Belgium has around forty pages. It should be noted that in its communication, the federal government has stuck to the title “LGBTQI+”, while the title “LGBTQIA+” is increasingly used, where the “A” refers to the asexual character of the person.
In the introduction to the plan, the Belgian advances in terms of LGBTQI+ rights are recalled: law in favor of marriage and adoption for same-sex couples, access to medically assisted procreation, anti-discrimination law, law for the rights of transgender people. However, explain the authors of the plan, “These legislative advances do not always correspond to the reality experienced by the people concerned in everyday life: physical and verbal aggression in public space, insecurity, exclusion”, who “remain important”.
Unia thus noted 406 reports of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 2020, a figure that only reveals part of the reality, because victims sometimes choose to remain silent. On the side of the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, complaints from transgender people already represent more than 10% of the total number of complaints and their relative number increases each year, can we read in the preamble to the federal plan for an LGBTQI+ friendly Belgium.
All these reasons are leading the government to redefine its strategy in a new plan, while the various regional governments have also each taken steps to improve the lives of LGBTQI+ people.