Cloe Jans (left), head of operations gfs.bern, and Anis Kaiser, advocacy manager Transgender Network Switzerland, at a press conference in Bern on Wednesday.
Keystone / Peter Schneider
Most Swiss are well disposed towards LGBTQ people, according to a study. However, prejudice and intolerance persist in certain sectors of society, particularly towards transgender and intersex people.
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According to a representative population survey conducted by the research institute gfs.bern in Switzerland, 60% of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that “queer people receive too much attention in relation to the rest of the population”; 33% disagreed or somewhat disagreed with the statement.
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Nevertheless the gfs.bern survey, commissioned by Amnesty International, Queeramnesty, Dialogai and the umbrella organisations TGNS, InterAction, Pink Cross and LOS concluded that most of the population feel sympathy and understanding for gay, lesbian and bisexual people.
However, this tolerance diminishes for trans and intersex people. Prejudice is clearly more pronounced towards them, gfs.bern noted on Wednesday.
One in three members of the LGBTQ community said they had experienced violence. This level of violence and discrimination is higher in Switzerland than the European average. The organisations are therefore calling for urgent protection measures.
Translated from French and German by DeepL/ts
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