Measures to promote LGBTIQ persons rights and opportunities

Structuring the work for LGBTIQ persons equal rights and opportunities

To date, 13 LGBTIQ-strategic government agencies have been appointed to carry out the work, which entails each authority promoting equal rights and opportunities, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, in its activities. Among other measures, authorities must visibly integrate LGBTIQ perspectives into their activities. The 13 public authorities are the Swedish Work Environment Authority, the Ombudsman for Children in Sweden, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the Living History Forum, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, the Swedish Migration Agency, the Swedish Agency for Work Environment Expertise, the Family Law and Parenthood Support Authority, the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society, the Swedish Police Authority, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Arts Council, and the Swedish National Agency for Education.

Coordination, support and follow-up

In addition to its designation as an LGBTIQ-strategic government agency, the Public Health Agency of Sweden is tasked with supporting, coordinating and following up the efforts of LGBTIQ-strategic government agencies within the scope of the strategy and action plan for equal rights and opportunities for LGBTIQ persons. This means that the Public Health Agency of Sweden will support LGBTIQ-strategic government agencies in their efforts to integrate LGBTIQ perspectives into their organisation’s activities, support coordination between authorities, and compile and analyse the results of the authorities’ work. Part of the task also includes providing support to LGBTIQ-strategic government agencies to develop, or further develop, action plans or the equivalent for each authority involved in LGBTIQ-strategic work. This also involves setting interim objectives for each focus area in consultation with the LBGTIQ-strategic government agencies, based on the Government’s action plan targets and indicators. 

Violence, discrimination and other abuses

The Living History Forum has been tasked to conduct a study of attitudes towards intolerance in the Swedish population. The task includes investigating attitudes towards, and perceptions of, vulnerable groups in society such as LGBTIQ persons.

The Agency has been tasked with developing knowledge support on LGBTIQ persons equal rights and opportunities for public sector employees. The aim is to create the necessary conditions for improved knowledge of LGBTIQ persons equal rights and opportunities.

The Swedish Defence Research Agency has been tasked with surveying the prevalence of LGBTIQ hostility in digital environments. The task includes surveying and analysing the prevalence of LGBTIQ hostility and how it manifests in different digital environments related to Sweden, including code words, images etc. In particular, the authority will examine the prevalence of hostility towards homosexual, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons. The task includes producing analysis reports and disseminating knowledge gained within the framework of the task.

The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society has been tasked with carrying out an in-depth analysis of the need for support measures relating to honour-based violence and oppression, including exposure to ‘conversion’ attempts of young LGBTIQ persons. Where necessary, the authority will develop these support measures and subsequently develop and disseminate knowledge about their availability. The authority will also take into account that children and young people themselves need to receive information about conversion attempts and the available support in such situations. 

The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society is tasked with developing and disseminating information activities and knowledge support to prevent young LGBTIQ persons from being exploited for sexual or pornographic purposes and being subjected to sexual violence, mistreatment or abuses, both digitally and physically. 

Uppsala University (National Centre for Knowledge on Men’s Violence Against Women) provides a telephone helpline for transgender and non-binary persons who have been subjected to intimate partner violence and sexual abuse. In order to reach out to young people to a greater extent, a web chat service is being developed as a complement to the helpline.

The Government has tasked the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the county administrative boards and the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services with preparing regional and national support that will enable municipalities and regions to offer exit programmes to individuals who have been subjected to human trafficking for sexual purposes, prostitution or abuse in the production or distribution of pornography. 

The tasked government agencies shall pay particular attention to ensure that exit programmes and other programmes for children can be offered and implemented for persons with special vulnerabilities such as self-harming and addiction, persons with foreign backgrounds, persons with disabilities and LGBTIQ persons. 

The new national strategy against violent extremism and terrorism (Govt Communication 2023/24:56) sets out the strategic approach for the Government’s continued work against hate crime, including homophobic and transphobic hate crime. It states that the Swedish Police Authority needs to continue developing its efforts to investigate and prosecute people for hate crime and other crimes that threaten democracy, and that the Swedish Police Authority and other agencies need to develop their efforts to counteract IT-related hate crime and other crimes that threaten democracy. The Swedish Police Authority must also maintain an ongoing dialogue and cooperation with communities who feel they have been subjected to hate crime.

At the same time as the strategy was adopted, a task was also decided for the Swedish Police Authority, the Swedish Security Service, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention to incorporate the strategy into the authorities’ activities and ensure that their work aligns with the strategy. 

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention is tasked with producing and disseminating information to those who are at risk of being or have been subjected to hate crime. The work will include initiatives aimed at those working in government agencies and civil society who encounter people who have been subjected to various forms of hate crime. The starting point for this work is to get more people reporting incidents that may constitute a hate crime to the police.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority continuously takes measures to improve the quality of its efforts against hate crime, including through a specially appointed expert on hate crime working to raise the level of knowledge among operational prosecutors.

Every two years, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention publishes a report with statistics on police reports with hate crime motives. The statistics are based on reports that the police have labelled as hate crime and where the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention has identified a hate crime motive. The statistics expose the proportion and nature of LGBTIQ-related hate crime.

On 20 May 2025, a draft proposal on a special penal provision for psychological violence was circulated for comments with several authorities, courts and NGO’s. The proposed provision targets repeated violations in the form of insulting behaviour, improper threats, improper coercion or improper surveillance, in case the violations are liable to severely damage the subjected person’s self-esteem. In the draft proposal, an assessment is made that the proposed criminalization will strengthen criminal law protection against attempts at conversion accompanied by threats or coercion.

In March 2024, the Government adopted the Bill En tydligare bestämmelse om hets mot folkgrupp (‘A clearer provision on agitation against a population group’). The Bill proposes, among other things, that the provisions on agitation against a population group in the Freedom of the Press Act and the Criminal Code should be clarified, and that their scope of application should be expanded to some extent (Government Bill 2023/24:93). One of the proposals is that individuals can be given the status of an injured party with the right to damages.

Legislative amendments to the Swedish Criminal Code entered into force on 1 July 2024. It is proposed that corresponding legislative amendments should enter into force on 1 January 2027 in the Freedom of the Press Act.

Health, health care and social services

In 2020, the Public Health Agency of Sweden presented a national strategy for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) on behalf of the Government. The strategy was complemented by an action plan in 2023. The strategy and action plan highlight LGBTIQ persons as a target group that needs to be prioritised in the national SRHR work, considering this group generally having less favourable conditions for good sexual and reproductive health than the rest of the population. In October 2024, the Public Health Agency of Sweden was instructed to strengthen and promote SRHR rights – together with the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society, the Swedish Migration Agency, the Swedish Agency for Participation, the National Board of Institutional Care and the Swedish National Board Council for Crime Prevention – based on the SRHR strategy and action plan.

The National Board of Health and Welfare annually distributes government grants in accordance with the Ordinance on government grants to municipalities and regions for measures to promote equal rights and equal opportunities regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

In January 2025, the Government adopted a national strategy within the area of mental health and suicide prevention for the coming ten years (Govt. Communication 2024/25:77). The strategy is based on a broad and cross-sectoral approach that provides an aligned approach for society as a whole in its efforts to promote mental well-being, prevent mental illness [NU1] [HL2] and suicide, and to improve the lives of people with various psychiatric conditions. Several goals, interim objectives and prioritised measures in the strategy have a bearing on LGBTIQ persons health, rights and opportunities. To support the strategy’s implementation, the Government has also presented an action plan for the period 2025–2026[AG3] [HL4]  and instructed 28 authorities to support it. Moreover, in 2025, SEK 1.6 billion is being distributed through an agreement between the State and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities to support its implementation in municipalities and regions. 

In February 2025, the National Board of Health and Welfare was instructed to work with long-term initiatives to enhance and develop maternity care, birth care and health and medical care for women and girls. The task also includes care for people who have been subjected to sexual violence. The Board will also highlight differences in people’s propensity to seek care when they need it and the situation for particularly vulnerable groups. According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden, these groups may include people with socio-economic difficulties, people with experience of migration, persons with disabilities, elderly people, LGBTIQ persons, young people and young adults. These groups in particular need support in efforts to ensure equal sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

On 1 July 2025, a new Act concerning recognition of gender in certain cases entered into force. The National Board of Health and Welfare has been instructed to conduct preparatory measures ahead of introducing a new Act concerning recognition of gender in certain cases. As a part of the task, among other things, the Board has prepared the development of ordinances outlining the requirements for an application for gender recognition. They have also developed a knowledge support for professionals issuing certificates for individuals applying for gender recognition. Moreover, the Board will implement appropriate information activities in accordance with the new legislation. The parts of this task related to knowledge support and solutions that enable efficient and secure procedures for application and identity verification were reported on 1 July 2025. The information activities will be presented on 1 December 2025. 

Working life

The Swedish Work Environment Authority and the Swedish Agency for Work Environment Expertise are now designated LGBTIQ-strategic government agencies and are instructed to promote LGBTIQ persons equal rights and opportunities in their respective organisation’s activities. [LM5] This means that an LGBTIQ perspective must be integrated and made visible in the authority’s activities.

Young LGBTIQ persons

The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society distributes annual government grants in accordance with the Ordinance on government grants to initiatives that promote meeting places for young LGBTIQ persons.

Older LGBTIQ persons

The Government has extended and developed the Elderly care initiative, which provides new and existing staff with training opportunities. The Government has emphasised the opportunities that the Elderly care initiative provides for staff skills development in especially important areas of their organisation, as for example, one of these areas is the special needs of older LGBTIQ persons.

Private and family life

In 2022, the proposal referred to the Council on Legislation for consideration on Förbättrade möjligheter att ändra kön (‘Improved opportunities to change gender’) was decided. In 2023, the government parties chose not to proceed with the proposals referred to the Council on Legislation for consideration, as the parties had disparate approaches to them. The parties agreed that each party would act according to their own positions in the Riksdag. The Parliamentary Committee on Health and Welfare subsequently submitted legislative proposals to the Riksdag. It approved the Committee’s proposal for a new Act on certain surgical procedures on sexual organs and a new Act concerning recognition of gender in certain cases, along with a legislative proposal to remove the existing Act concerning gender recognition. The legislative proposals entered into force on 1 July 2025. 

See above information on the National Board of Health and Welfare’s mandate to prepare for the introduction of a new Act concerning gender recognition in certain cases. 

Civil society

The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society annually distributes government grants in accordance with the Ordinance on government grants to organisations for homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals or persons with a transgender identity or expression.

Cultural sector

The Swedish Arts Grants Committee has been tasked to provide information on artists’ exposure to threats, violence and harassment in relation to their professional practice.