The new SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index names the LGBT Friendliest Travel Destinations. Canada and Sweden share the first place – Germany is catching up.

The introduction of “Marriage for All” has improved Germany’s position in the SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index, the ranking of LGBT friendly travel destinations. Germany ranks third together with eleven other countries. The index is headed by Canada and Sweden. The annually updated SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index informs travellers about the situation of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people (LGBT) in a total of 197 countries and regions.

For the first time consideration of transgender rights

This year, the SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index takes into account the legal situation of transgender for the first time. Canada fulfills this criterion with the full score and thus for the first time can secure the top position – together with Sweden. Among the ten LGBT-friendly travel destinations are mainly European Union countries that have already introduced “marriage for all”, including the Netherlands, France, Spain and Belgium. The SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index also shows a positive change for Israel, Colombia, Cuba and Botswana. However, due to numerous murders of gay, lesbian and transsexuals in 2017, Brazil was rated much worse than before. The losers also include the USA, which are now ranked 39th instead of 34th. Trump’s attempts to curtail transgender rights in the military and anti-discrimination laws enforced by the previous government play a major role here. On the whole, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Malawi are considered particularly negative. The last place is occupied by the Russian republic of Chechnya, after it came to state-organised persecution and killings of homosexuals in 2017.

Rating based on 14 categories

The SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index is created using 14 criteria in three categories. The first category is civil rights. Among other things, it assesses whether gays and lesbians are allowed to marry, whether there are anti-discrimination laws, or whether the same age of consent applies to heterosexual and homosexual couples. Discrimination is recorded in the second category. These include, for example, travel restrictions on HIV-positives and the ban on Pride parades and other demonstrations. The third category involves perils of the person through persecution, imprisonment or the death penalty. Evaluated sources include the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, the UN Free & Equal campaign, and year-round information on human rights violations against members of the LGBT community.

Click here for the SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index 

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