About this Policy Brief
This policy brief sets out IGLYO’s priorities for the post-2027 EU Youth Strategy, arguing that LGBTQI young people must be treated as a core constituency of EU youth policy rather than addressed only through equality frameworks. Their experiences cut across education, mental health, housing, poverty, digital safety, participation and civic space, yet fragmented EU policies can leave them falling between different strategies, programmes and institutional responsibilities.
The brief calls for LGBTQI youth to be explicitly recognised throughout the Strategy, its work plans, the European Youth Goals, the EU Youth Dialogue and the Youth Check. It recommends that youth mainstreaming become genuinely intersectional, with EU initiatives assessing their different effects on young people according to age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sex characteristics, disability, migration background, socioeconomic circumstances and other intersecting factors.
It also proposes stronger protection from violence and discrimination in schools, families, youth work, public spaces and online environments. Particular attention is given to safe and meaningful participation, mental health, housing exclusion, digital harassment and the risks of forced outing. The brief further calls for youth work, youth-led organisations and community spaces to be recognised and sustainably funded as essential infrastructure for safety, support and democratic participation.
Finally, IGLYO recommends clearer coordination between EU youth, equality, children’s rights, education, health, housing, anti-poverty, digital and civil society policies. Progress should be supported by stronger governance, dedicated responsibilities across the European Commission, age- and SOGIESC-disaggregated data with robust safeguards, and transparent monitoring that shows whether EU action is producing meaningful improvements in LGBTQI young people’s lives.
