In recent years, we have seen a proliferation of maps aimed as visualising the state of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) rights in the world. ILGA Europe’s Rainbow Map and the Gay and Lesbian Rights Global Barometer, are only two of such prolific examples. Whereas a productive advocacy tool for activists, this paper seeks to critically examine the politics embedded and reinforced by the way indexes are constructed and represented. By exploring the discrepancies between the Rainbow Maps and the lived experiences of LGBTI people within Europe, we argue that the production of these maps reproduces hierarchies often mediated by Eurocentric understandings of linear progress, while discounting the crucial importance that an interpenetration of legal and social aspects has in evaluating national contexts in which LGBTI persons live. The emphasis on legislative frameworks, thus, in part displaces lived experiences of LGBTI people in Europe – projecting both Queer Utopias and Dystopias onto different geographical localities feeding into already existing homonationalist discourses. With such findings, we argue against the creeping fetishization of legislation within LGBTQI+ activism as well as academia.
