The set of recommendations proposed by the participants of the EU for Local Citizens’ Panels held in Cologne, Germany hosted by partner organisation Democracy International.
The German Local Citizens’ Panels took place in Cologne on 25 June 2025, named “Von ARTivismus zu Politik: Kreativer Widerstand für LGBTQI+”. The Panel addressed topics of individual rights and freedoms, with a focus on identity, representation, and LGBTQI+ rights. Experts, youth, activists, and artists came together to talk about the current context in regards to LGBTQI+ rights and challenges, and practice artistic skills to be an activist in each one’s daily life.
“Von ARTivismus zu Politik: Kreativer Widerstand für LGBTQI+” – Recommendations and possibilities of action
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EU action on raising awareness in Member States to have gender neutral participation in public life
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Ensuring children have the right to inclusive, objective, and gender neutral sexual education, as well as queer education.
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Lobby Transparency on all issues on EU agendas.
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EU affirmative action in protection of persecuted LGBTQI+ individuals and activists: such as strengthening implementation of asylum laws and adoption of protection funds, amongst others.
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Protection funds should be granted to supporting local entities and CSOs for activities like the creation and development of safe houses and art residencies, free legal consultations, etc.
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Funding should also be invested in science, education, and research – focusing on gender identity and sexual orientation. Such funds are crucial to raise awareness and ensure respect and protection of the LGBTQI+ community.
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Establishment of training programmes for first responders to deal with violence cases for all individuals equally with gender-sensitive approaches. Whilst increasingly more action has been taken towards first-response to cases of violence against women, violence against LGBTQI+ individuals is still underdealt and needs more awareness-raising and training programmes.
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The EU should act against hate speech, sexual and gender violence, and guarantee an environment of protection
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Raising awareness on the relation between freedom of speech and hate speech. Social media standards to combat hate speech exist, but there is a need to improve how they are implemented. It is necessary to enhance and expand hate speech regulators, for example, by establishing designated entities or institutions to report to.
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Guarantee representation in EU institutions of LGBTQI+ individuals, through EU policies and affirmative action.
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Ban conversion practices in the EU
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The EU should increase its competence in interfering in legislation in Member States, when it comes to protection of individual rights and freedoms.
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There are too few means to report Member States for not respecting and protection rights and freedoms of LGBTQI+ individuals.
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The EU should guarantee that rights of queer families are respected in all Member States: such as access to adoption and creation of family, right to be a parent, recognition of marital status, amongst others.
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The EU should increase accessibility for LGBTQI+ individuals, and not restricting this action to EU citizens only, but all residents of the Union.
The EU with its role as a global actor should:
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Advocate for the introduction of universal rights for queer families: such as, to be a parent, or recognition of marital status beyond national borders.
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Advocate for banning conversion practices around the world.
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Advocate for the protection of citizens with non-binary genders on identification documents and for the recognition of such documents beyond national borders.
The EU for Global project is funded by the European Union through the CERV programme.