Switzerland Rules Transphobia and Homophobia Illegal

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In a landmark decision, Switzerland's National Council has voted 118 to 60 to criminalize transphobia and homophobia. The ruling makes discrimination against LGBTQ people a parallel offense to racism, and introduces a prison sentence of up to three years for homophobic and transphobic crimes like hate speech.

Socialist council member Mathias Reynard introduced and has championed the penal code reform over the last five years. Following the ruling he told Shortlist:

"The Swiss Parliament's decision is great news because it sends the powerful message that homophobia is not an opinion; as for racism, it's a violation of the law."

"I tabled the motion after speaking to friends of mine who have personally been victims of verbal and physical homophobic violence," he continued. "And working on this law I found out that the Swiss case-law doesn't punish either hate speech or incitement to hatred towards LGBT+ people. During the last few years, this loophole in the law has been pointed out several times at an international level."

The ruling is groundbreaking for Switzerland, where gay marriage is still illegal and where anti-LGBTQ actions and speech previously were not criminalized.

Well that’s interesting