Many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people in Europe..
..face homophobia or transphobia every day. To better understand their situation, research was needed.
VP VIVIANE REDING: I will ask the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)..
..to collect more data on homophobic hate speech and crime.
The Fundamental Rights Agency answered this call from the Commission.
This led to the EU LGBT survey.
DENNIS VAN DER VEUR: LGBT people were asked about their experience of discrimination, violence and harassment. 
And the results revealed widespread discrimination and hate crime..
..on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Over 93,000 LGBT people from across the EU completed the online survey. 
About a half of all respondents felt personally discriminated against in the year preceding the survey.
But 90 percent of them did not report this to the authorities.
In daily life, a half of all respondents avoided public places, two-thirds avoided holding hands in public..
..and four-fifths frequently heard jokes being made about LGBT people.
DENNIS VAN DER VEUR: One particularly strong finding concerned schooling. 
For example, over 80% of respondents in all countries had witnessed negative comments or conduct..
..because their schoolmate was perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Another especially striking finding is that despite EU law,
20% of respondents had suffered discrimination at work or when looking for a job .
For transgender people the figure was even higher, rising to 29%. 
The findings will help policy makers and NGOs to better target their work..
.. in promoting and realising the rights of LGBT people.
EVELYNE PARADIS: We will make use of this unique survey as evidence to argue very strongly for the European Union..
..to take very strong action in areas where we have known for years that action was needed.
MEP ULRIKE LUNACEK: We will also use it when we negotiate with Commission, with Council, with our National Parliaments etc.
..so I think it is a perfect way of enhancing our work and of making sure that LGBT rights are Human Rights.
MORTEN KJAERUM: Our survey results show big challenges across the EU Member States. 
We really hope that Member States will use the findings to create focused policies and action plans.
Because in the end what we want is a more inclusive Europe..
..where LGBT people can be themselves and have equal opportunities.
The EU LGBT survey – all data and results are available at fra.europa.eu
