Countries

The countries included in this research are Portugal, Italy, Greece, Malta and Slovenia.
The choice of countries is informed by traits of their common history as European countries historically immersed in traditional cultural frameworks and which have moved from repressive political or sociocultural regimes to regimes that offer LGBTI+ recognition in the 2000s and where the rise of extreme-right populism and anti-gender backlash can be observed in recent years.

Together, these countries offer a comprehensive picture of LGBTI+ lived experiences in south central (IT and MT), south-eastern (GR and SLO) and south-western (PT) Europe through time, illustrating the broad spectrum of the LGBTI Human Rights recognition in Europe.

The chosen countries offer a comprehensive overview of changes across time and space that affected different countries differently, including impacts of religion and secularism, conservative and liberal political regimes, and the relation to the evolving EU LGBTI+ framework.