Religious education is commonplace in public schools across Europe, and is obligatory in many. In some European countries such as Slovakia, religious bodies are responsible for religious education curricula, and in Bulgaria religious schools follow their own curricula for religious education, which can include teachings that condemn LGBTQIA+ identities. This creates environments where LGBTQIA+ children feel unsafe, unwelcome, or unable to express their identities.
This is especially pertinent at a time when the far right is on the rise. Indeed, much religious objection to LGBTQIA+ rights is done in the name of “protecting children”, and studies have explored how right wing politics has made children – and with them education – into a political football.
Religious communities and LGBTQIA+ children
In conservative religious communities, LGBTQIA+ children and adults alike can face rejection from their families, leading to higher risks of homelessness, mental health issues, and social isolation. Religious leaders and institutions can play a significant role in exacerbating or mitigating these challenges, depending on their stance and teachings on LGBTQIA+ issues.
Across Europe, many national legal systems still marginalise LGBTQIA+ people. Discrimination is more pronounced in religious communities, but a lack of information about religious schools makes it a challenge to pin down this particular aspect of discrimination between different countries.
41% of the EU is religious. Malta, Romania and Cyprus are the top three, with over 75% of their population describing themselves as religious, but these countries are far from equal when it comes to accepting differences.
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Religion does not equate to discrimination
Malta, Romania and Cyprus all have deep historical and cultural connections to Christianity. However, the extent and nature of religious influence on school education varies widely among these countries due to their different historical contexts, state policies, and the degree of secularisation.
The Maltese Constitution establishes Roman Catholicism as the state religion, and private schools are affiliated with the Catholic Church. However, it has also recently made significant strides in promoting LGBTQIA+ rights, achieving a score of 89% and ranking top of the ILGA Rainbow Europe map for the last 8 years, surpassing more secular nations like Iceland and Belgium.
Romania is an Eastern Orthodox Christian society, where the church has significant influence on cultural and social matters. Religious education focuses on Orthodox Christianity, which forms part of the public school curriculum. Acceptance and protection of LGBTQIA+ people is very low, with a score of 19% on the Rainbow Europe map. The religious right in Romania has pushed to prohibit any mention of “sexual education” or “gender identity” in schools.
Cyprus is governed by the autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church, and also features a minority Sunni Islamic faith in the North. Religious education in Cyprus is included in the curriculum of public schools, but there are tensions between the Turkish-Cypriot Muslim north and the Christian south. Both communities are broadly homophobic, as reflected in the country’s Rainbow map score of 37%.
Both Romania and Cyprus are societies where LGBTQIA+ people report experiencing discrimination daily.
In Romania, there is a broadly held assumption that queer youth cannot be religious, or that they will give up queer sexuality to belong in religious spaces. However, extensive research has demonstrated that being queer and religious are not mutually exclusive.
Malta is the outlier, as it offers a model for beginning cultural change. Legal protections and societal acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community have made significant progress, yet this has not impacted schooling as much as one might hope. Sex education still emphasises abstinence, and challenges related to homophobia and transphobia persist in schools.
Malta is far from the only country that balances religion and tolerance – Spain and Ireland are also deeply Catholic countries that have made advances in LGBTQIA+ rights.
For the EU to develop a comprehensive understanding of the situations in Romania, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Slovakia, investigation into recent personal experiences within these countries is needed. This approach needs to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ youth at school and an assessment of the relationship between religious education and homophobia.
Advocacy and change
There are numerous LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups and allies within religious communities across Europe working to address and reduce discrimination.
With elections looming and reactionary, ultra-religious far right factions expected to make big gains, there is a lot at stake for LGBTQIA+ youth.
Yet, while parts of Europe have made progress toward LGBTQIA+ equality, religious discrimination in schools remains a challenge, particularly in countries with close relationships between religion and the State.