Response to interpellation 2022/23:399 on the rights of LGBTQI+ persons
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the rights of hbtqi-plus persons. L argues that the government is working to strengthen these rights through an action plan, allocating funds, reinforcing the work against honor-related violence, and investigating state grants for crime victim activities 1. L argues that the government is working broadly against hate and threats 2 and that the Sweden Democrats are not at the negotiating table for the majority of hbtqi policy 2. S argues that the government is prioritizing incorrectly by investing little in hbtqi persons' rights compared to tax cuts 3. S argues that the government legitimizes an hbtqi-hostile party 3 4, is backing down by downplaying threats from the Sweden Democrats 5, and that the government should speak plainly about right-wing extremism 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro has asked me what I and the government are doing to ensure that the rights of hbtqi-plus persons are strengthened, to protect hbtqi-plus persons from hate and threats as well as provide support when they have been subjected to such, to reduce the hate against hbtqi-plus persons and whether I and the government are reviewing any legislation to strengthen human rights in Sweden and make it harder to hate, threaten and persecute hbtqi-plus persons.
I would like to begin by thanking Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro for the question and for the member's commitment to the rights of hbtqi persons. For me and the government, the equal rights and opportunities of hbtqi persons is a very pressing issue. In Sweden, everyone shall have the right to be who they are and love whom they want. It is particularly important to establish that this shall apply regardless of where in Sweden one lives and in what context one finds oneself.
The Government's LGBTQI action plan and LGBTQI strategy are a central starting point in the work to promote equal rights and improve the situation of LGBTQI persons in Sweden. For 2023, 10 million kronor have been added to the work for LGBTQI persons' equal rights and opportunities. The supplement aims both to complete ongoing measures within the framework of the action plan and to enable new measures.
The efforts of the current twelve strategic agencies have contributed to there being more knowledge in the area and that more concrete measures can be taken, also at the municipal and regional level. At the same time, challenges remain, which particularly concern issues regarding hate and threats against hbtqi persons. Violence, discrimination and other violations are one of the action plan's focus areas. Let me give some examples of efforts that are ongoing.
The national strategy for preventing and combating violence against women includes the vulnerability of hbtqi persons in all parts. This also applies to the assignments that the government has given with a focus on violence in close relationships, honor-related violence and oppression, as well as prostitution and human trafficking. All actors who have received assignments within the framework of the national strategy shall take into account the conditions for and knowledge of hbtqi persons.
The government has strengthened the preventive work against honor-related violence and oppression affecting hbtqi persons permanently with 50 million kronor per year. The initiative increases the previously permanent means by 300 million kronor for the work against men's violence against women and honor-related violence and oppression.
The Government has made a decision on a new ordinance regarding state grants for the grant year 2023. The purpose is, among other things, to develop crime victim work aimed at homosexuals, bisexuals, trans people and people with queer expressions and identities who have been subjected to violence in a close relationship, including honor-related violence and oppression.
The National Centre for Women's Peace, NCK, at Uppsala University has, on behalf of the government, established a support telephone for trans people and non-binary people. Trans people and non-binary people who have been subjected to domestic violence and sexual assault can call the support line.
The Agency for Youth and Civil Society Affairs has an ongoing assignment to gather knowledge on the vulnerability of young LGBTQ people to honor-related violence and oppression, including vulnerability to so-called conversion attempts.
The Government has begun the work of developing a new action program against gender-related violence to apply for 2024-2026. The work will also continue to cover the vulnerability of hbtqi persons to violence.
The Swedish Police Authority has had specific missions with a focus on hate crimes and other crimes that threaten democracy in recent years. The work is ongoing and has been further developed, among other things by carrying out competence-enhancing measures within the authority. Furthermore, the Swedish Police Authority shall, among other things, report the results of the work being conducted to strengthen the investigative capacity and the clearance of these crimes.
In the referral document "A clearer provision on hate speech against a group," it is proposed, among other things, that a specific criminal liability shall be introduced for acts directed against individual persons in such groups as are currently protected by the provision. The proposal can provide individual crime victims with better protection. The proposal covers all the grounds listed in the hate speech provision, including sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
Measures are also being taken at the municipal and regional levels. Municipalities and regions have, with the help of state grants, carried out educational measures aimed at increasing knowledge about the situation of hbtqi persons in order to promote the target group's rights and opportunities in contact with municipalities and regions, as well as to promote physical and digital meeting places for hbtqi persons. We see that more municipalities and regions are applying for funds, and we have recently added an additional 1.5 million kronor to be distributed in 2023.
As can be seen, a number of initiatives are underway in the area with many authorities involved. I and the government continue the work to ensure that the rights of LGBTQI persons are strengthened and to protect LGBTQI persons from hate and threats as well as to provide support to those who have been subjected to it.
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister Brandberg, for the answer!
I realize that the government considers itself very satisfied with how the work to strengthen the rights of hbtqi persons is progressing, and we have just heard a rather long account of the government's work. But politics, as is known, is about priorities, and if I am counting correctly, the government, based on Minister Brandberg's answer, has overall spent approximately 60 million kronor on strengthening the rights of women and hbtqi persons, while the tax for high-income earners has been lowered by 13 billion kronor.
That we have a situation where there are record-high suicide cases among young trans people, where the threats against hbtqi people are increasing, where more and more report that they do not dare to be openly queer, where there are reports of people being thrown out of taxis because they are homosexual, where drag queens have to cancel their performances because they are subjected to hate and threats, and where there is constant mockery on social media of hbtqi people testifies to a society that is becoming harder for hbtqi people to live in.
That is how it looks in Sweden today, and we have a government that does not want to criminalize conversion attempts directed at young hbtqi people, even though 18 percent state that an external party has tried to influence their sexual orientation or gender identity. Nor has the government presented any proposal for a gender identity law, despite promises from Moderates and Liberals.
The Minister mentioned that more and more municipalities and regions are applying for funds to, for example, create meeting places for young LGBTQI people, yet the government still chooses to cut the state grants to precisely municipalities and regions. The 1.5 million is not enough for much, which Minister Brandberg himself should know as a former municipal politician.
How does the Minister think this should be interpreted? First, the government emphasizes the importance of municipalities and regions receiving funds to work with young LGBTQI people, but at the same time, they are cutting both the general and the targeted government grants. Then, high-income earners are given a tax cut that costs the state 13 billion kronor, and from all appearances, these tax cuts are to continue in the autumn budget to be presented in a few weeks.
Mr. Speaker! We are leaving a summer where a trans colony has been forced to be cancelled as a result of threats against the colony. During Pride in Västerås, a man was subjected to a hate crime, and drag queens have had to cancel their performances as a result of hate and threats. And then we have top politicians in the government base who have compared drag queens with pedophiles and called hbtqi people's way of life sexual perversions.
It is strange how things have become, Mr. Speaker. Twelve years ago, few surely believed that in the future we would become less tolerant and that the rights of hbtqi persons were going to deteriorate. But so it has become. And few probably believed that the Sverigedemokraterna would gain decisive power in Sweden's Riksdag, but even this is a reality today.
It hasn't even been a year since the new government took office, but already the largest party in the new government base has succeeded in fueling the hatred and threats against LGBTQI people. And it is only getting worse. They do this while the government just watches.
Now that the government has chosen to normalize and legitimize the Sweden Democrats, Minister Brandberg is welcome to state which specific initiatives are being made to curb the vulnerability of LGBTQI persons and strengthen their rights.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! To begin with, I want to say that I share the interpellant's view that it is a major societal problem that hbtqi persons are subjected to hate, threats and harassment, not least via social media.
I also want to say, as I have said before and as several government colleagues have also said, that the statements from Björn Söder on Twitter were reprehensible, grotesque and incorrect and made me genuinely both angry and sad. I know how vulnerable hbtqi persons already are on social media, and that type of expression risks to exacerbate that problem.
We see that hate, threats, and harassment against hbtqi people are increasing not only in Sweden but also internationally. Vulnerability and threats are increasing, and the security situation is deteriorating for hbtqi people. Concrete measures are required here, and that we get on board and constantly work against this development. This is what the government does, among other things, through the measures that I presented here. One of these things is that we are reviewing the provision on hate speech against a population group. When it comes to that type of hate crime, we believe that there must be better protection for crime victims, and generally, the victim's perspective must also be strengthened in our legislation.
Mr. Speaker! I was a bit confused when the interpellator said that the government does not want to criminalize conversion therapy. If one reads the Tidö Agreement, one sees that it is precisely this that it states the government wants to do.
The government has recently received an investigation. This investigation has concluded that it is not considered necessary to have a specific criminal provision for conversion therapy. That is the investigation's conclusion.
This is now a question that will continue to be processed within the Government Offices. We will, of course, now obtain referral statements from many referral bodies. After that, we will see what the government's position will be. But the government's position is not finalized, and one should not confuse the investigation's conclusion with the government's position. They are two separate things. We will return in the future with what the government's position will be in this matter.
When it comes to the gender identity law, it is a matter being prepared within the Government Offices. Responsible Minister Acko Ankarberg Johansson has stood here in the Riksdag and stated that this is a task that has come a long way and that we hope to be able to present a bill shortly. So, work is also ongoing here.
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Mr. Speaker! I am well aware that it was the investigation's conclusions that were presented. But if it is stated in the Tidö Agreement, the government can also provide a more reassuring statement regarding conversion therapy. But it is pleasing if one wants to proceed with making it criminalized. It was needed. And this clarity has not come from the government previously, especially not at the press conference when the investigation's conclusions were presented.
With this said, hate crimes against hbtqi people are increasing. And I believe it is more important than ever that society reacts with full force and that politics ensures that the rights for specifically hbtqi people are strengthened. It sends rather strange signals to young hbtqi people, Mr. Speaker, when one on the one hand wants to prioritize meeting places for young hbtqi people, but on the other hand chooses to cut state grants to municipalities and regions where these meeting places are located.
At the same time, one chooses to cooperate with an LGBTQ-hostile party, and one has chosen to let it into the Government Offices. That is not a reassuring message for young LGBTQ people growing up in Sweden today.
It is not enough that too little is being done to strengthen the rights of hbtqi persons. Minister Brandberg and other ministers sit every day, I assume, and have negotiations with Sweden Democrat representatives who themselves have been completely silent when their party colleagues have expressed themselves hatefully. And it is not just Björn Söder, there are more Sweden Democrats who do it.
Mr. Speaker! I am convinced that an overwhelming majority of the Swedish population stands up for people's right to free lives. And I am convinced that Minister Brandberg does the same, but the largest party in the government support does not. How long will the government just watch while the hatred continues to flourish in the corridors of the Government Offices, and how long can the government keep its head in the sand and pretend as if nothing is happening and claim that it is about individual incidents?
It is quite telling for the government cooperation when representatives like Björn Söder can spread false posts about Stockholm Pride and call it pedophilia and that no resignation demand comes from the government. One distances oneself from it - absolutely - but Björn Söder spreads an ancient and quite vile comparison about pedophilia that contributes to polarizing and increasing hatred against hbtqi persons. Distancing is all well and good, but real action is needed.
A large majority of hate crimes in Sweden are directed against hbtqi persons, and the number of crimes is increasing. Hate and threats always lead to real actions and affect hbtqi persons.
Does the government deny the hatred from the Sweden Democrats as a party - not from individual representatives - and that it has contributed to increased polarization and is a direct threat to LGBTQI people? Does the government mean that the greatest threat to LGBTQI people does not come from right-wing extremism?
Right now, the government needs to speak plainly, and I know that the government considers itself to be doing a lot for LGBTQI people. But what does the government and Minister Brandberg intend to do regarding the Sweden Democrats?
Mr. Speaker! It is becoming quite tiresome. Not even a year has passed since the government took office, and over eleven months, the largest party in the government's support base has tried to ban storytime with drag queens, called hbtqi people's way of life sexual perversions, equated hbtqi people with pedophilia, and called Pride an event with pedophilic elements. And I must repeat that it is not only Björn Söder who is doing this.
For many of us, it is no secret that SD is an LGBTQ-hostile party. Therefore, we would never sit in power with such a party. But the Liberals, for example, have done so. And now it is not only the Liberals who must face the consequences of the government cooperation, but also all LGBTQ people. But when is the limit reached? When will State Secretary Brandberg's red line be crossed, and when will the government realize that these are not isolated incidents, but that they are happening systematically and carefully calculated by a party whose only purpose is to create division in society?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! I am very proud to sit in a government that works broadly on the issues of hbtqi persons' rights and living conditions, and not least the issue of hate and threats against hbtqi persons.
We are taking many measures. And in this package, it is the government's policy. The government consists of the Liberals, the Christian Democrats, and the Moderates. The government takes support from the Sweden Democrats and negotiates on the issues set out in the Tidö Agreement. When it comes to LGBTQI policy, it is included in a very limited extent in the Tidö Agreement. Regarding the main part of the government's LGBTQI policy, the Sweden Democrats are not at the negotiating table.
It is no secret that the Liberals and the Sweden Democrats stand very far apart on these issues. And when it comes to this type of policy, the Sweden Democrats are not at the negotiating table because the majority of these issues are not included in the Tidö Agreement.
What is included in the Tidö Agreement is something I am proud of. This concerns, for example, the issue of conversion attempts, which we had previously touched upon. It touches on a broader issue, namely the issue of honor.
As the interpellor very rightly said, the threats against LGBTQI people come from several different directions. We have absolutely different forms of extremists and people who express hate on social media. We also have real hate, threats, and harassment, not to mention conversion attempts against persons within the framework of an honor context. LGBTQI people's living conditions are not the same in Södermalm in Stockholm as they are in many suburbs in Stockholm.
Mr. Speaker! I recently visited a youth center in Rinkeby where work is being carried out to support young hbtqi people. This is an environment where the conditions for and the opportunities to come out as hbtqi people for many of these youths are completely non-existent because the price for them is so high.
This is something that the previous government talked very little about. And I have not seen any concrete policy from the previous government regarding these issues. We cannot believe that one size fits all. We must look at different forms of threats, hate, and harassment as well as the deterioration of hbtqi persons' living conditions and work specifically with different problems.
This government is stepping up the work specifically regarding honor-related violence and oppression that particularly affects hbtqi persons. We have, among other things, commissioned a new investigation for a national strategy for gender-related violence and honor-related violence and oppression, where we have tasked the investigator to break out specifically the honor-related violence and oppression and look at whether it can be placed as a separate sub-objective in order to specifically highlight that uniqueness and see this problem affecting hbtqi persons to an enormously large extent.
I will not forget the LGBTQI people in the suburbs. I will take into account all LGBTQI people's rights.
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Mr. Speaker! I think it is very good that Minister Brandberg has been in Rinkeby and met with young people, but I don't really need to do that, because I have been that youth myself. I know exactly what it is like to live in a suburb of Stockholm and feel that one cannot get out.
I think it is quite a low level to claim that the Social Democrats have not done enough for youth in the suburbs. It is claimed that we have not opened, for example, youth centers that are hbtqi-certified. I was a politician in Stockholm during the last term and two terms ago. We did very much in Skärholmen, which I come from and which is a suburb of Stockholm. Minister Brandberg is also welcome to come and visit me, as I still live there.
I think it is unfortunate that the government chooses to devote itself to downplaying the threat coming from the Sweden Democrats. One does not realize that one is moving backwards, and here they are trying to create some kind of conflict between us two. I know that there is no conflict between our parties when it comes to this issue, but it is not my party that has chosen to put itself in the position of the Sweden Democrats, which is an LGBTQ-hostile party. The Liberals have 4.6 percent, and the Sweden Democrats have 20 percent.
I also think it is strange that the Sweden Democrats are to be involved in some issues but not in others. Liberals and Moderates seem to go around thinking that they will be able to pick the raisins out of the cake, but it is becoming very obvious that Liberals and Moderates during this mandate period will be forced to eat the whole cake in this government cooperation.
It is the Sweden Democrats who are fueling the threat against hbtqi people. Through every negotiation, every meeting, and every proposal, the government parties legitimize their hatred towards hbtqi people. When the government does not dare to take a stand and summon the party leader of this hbtqi-hostile party, it shows in black and white that rights for hbtqi people are not as important as the government's power, even if it is toasted with flags and invited to mixers.
Therefore, I wonder if Minister Brandberg believes that the cooperation with the Sweden Democrats will leave behind a better world for future LGBTQI people.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! I have never tried and will in no way try to downplay the threats directed at LGBTQI people on social media, regardless of where they come from. I feel proud that this government has a forward-looking policy for LGBTQI people, and I feel that in times of headwind we have measures that truly make a difference for LGBTQI people – measures concerning both hate and threats on social media as well as, not least, the honor context.
When it comes to the Sweden Democrats, it is a party that attracts members, and this is an issue that the Sweden Democrats must handle within their party. They must, of course, take responsibility for this type of statement. What is important for me in my work is that I can continue the type of politics that truly makes a difference in the work to strengthen hbtqi persons' rights and opportunities.
In conclusion, I would like to thank the member for the commitment to this issue. It is entirely correct that we share this commitment and that we share the view that there is a strong need for solutions. I am happy to continue discussing these issues going forward.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.