Spain Tops Europe's LGBTQ+ Rights Ranking for the First Time in a Decade

Spain has become the country with the most advanced system of protection for the rights of LGBTQ+ people in all of Europe. This is shown by the 2026 "Rainbow Map" published by the organisation ILGA-Europe. The ranking is based on an analysis of 49 countries across the continent against 76 criteria.

Spain meets 89% of the criteria — 11 points more than in the previous edition. This allowed it to climb four positions and, for the first time in ten years, overtake Malta, which had held first place throughout that period.

ILGA-Europe deputy director Katrin Hugendubel spoke of "Spain's political will" at a time when many governments are retreating under pressure from far-right forces.

ILGA specifically noted that attempts by regional authorities, particularly in Madrid and Valencia, to scale back regional LGBTQ+ laws were halted by the central government as violations of constitutional rights. In May, the Constitutional Court accepted for consideration the government's challenge against changes to Valencia's law on transgender people, which open the way to so-called "conversion therapy" and a ban on schools discussing matters of sexual and gender diversity.

The ranking is built on 76 criteria across seven areas: equality and non-discrimination, family (including same-sex marriage), hate crime and hate speech, legal gender recognition, protection of intersex people, civil society space, and asylum.

Spain is followed in the list by Malta, Belgium, Denmark, and Iceland. The ranking is brought up at the bottom by Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has held last place since 2024.

Hugendubel warned of a "rise in hate speech and violence," noting that "rights enshrined in law do not necessarily guarantee safety in everyday life." She added that work on a state pact against hatred is moving too slowly. Another gap is the absence of recognition of non-binary identity, which is already partially enshrined in Austria, Germany, Iceland, Malta, and Denmark.