Equality for LGBTQIA+ people and measures against hate speech in the canton ZH

The study compiles a comprehensive inventory of the legal and actual equality of LGBTQIA+ persons and hate speech as well as the institutional anchoring of these two topics in the Canton of Zurich.

Factsheet

Schools involved Business School
Institute(s) Institute for New Work
Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Caring Society"
Funding organisation Others
Duration (planned) 01.06.2024 - 31.03.2025
Head of project Prof. Dr. Andrea Gurtner
Project staff Prof. Dr. Andrea Gurtner
Prof. Dr. Lucia Lanfranconi
Dorian Mittner
Partner Ecoplan AG
Hochschule Luzern (HSLU)
Keywords LGBTQIA+, hate speech, hatespeech

Situation

Despite progress in legal equality and increasing social acceptance, LGBTQIA+ people continue to face challenges and discrimination and are often victims of hate speech. Hate speech is a widespread problem on the internet, but also in public spaces. Hostile comments and posts not only address people's sexual orientation, but also other identity characteristics such as gender, age, religious affiliation, nationality, skin colour or origin. In a postulate, the Government Council of the Canton of Zurich was called upon to take active steps to promote equality for LGBTQIA+ people, to develop effective measures against hate speech and to improve the institutionalisation of both issues at cantonal level. In order to fulfil this request, the Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs commissioned this study. The aim of this study is to compile a comprehensive inventory of the legal and actual equality of LGBTQIA+ persons and hate speech as well as the institutionalisation of these two topics in the Canton of Zurich.

Course of action

The breadth of the issue is taken into account by adopting three perspectives and an interprofessional team: - Legal perspective: HSLU - Social and individual perspective: BFH - Institutional perspective: Ecoplan In the first phase of the project, exploratory discussions will be held with stakeholders. The procedure for the in-depth analyses differs depending on the perspective (document analysis, literature research, expert interviews, online survey). The international level is taken into account in all perspectives, particularly in the form of good practice examples in the institutional perspective. The results from the in-depth research are then discussed in validation workshops with key stakeholders.