September has something of a beginning.
Classes return, schedules, extracurricular activities, meetings with classmates, families that resume their routines, and also the conversations that were left pending during the summer.
It is, perhaps, one of the best moments of the year to talk about coexistence.
And also to talk about diversity.
Because while Spain has just positioned itself as the European country with the greatest legal protection of LGTBI rights, violence against the community has not disappeared. On the contrary: different recent studies show an increase in assaults, harassment, and hate speech.
The contradiction deserves reflection.
Spain leads Europe in LGTBI rights. But that does not mean that all LGTBI people can live those rights with the same peace of mind on the street, at school, at work, or online.
The country that leads in rights, but has not ended hate. The data is important.
The Rainbow Map 2026, prepared by ILGA-Europe, places Spain for the first time in the top position of its ranking of 49 European countries. The country scores 89% on its index of legal and political protection of LGTBI rights, eleven points more than the previous year.
Spain thus surpasses Malta, which had held the top position for a decade.
International recognition reflects significant advances: protection against discrimination, rights of trans people, LGTBI public policies, recognition of families, and measures related to hate crimes, among other areas.
But ILGA-Europe itself introduces a fundamental warning: the Rainbow Map measures laws and policies, not the everyday experience of LGTBI people. And there appears the other side of reality.
More rights, but also more violence
The Hate Status Report 2026, prepared by the State Federation LGTBI+ with the collaboration of researchers from the Institute of Public Policies and Goods of CSIC, shows a worrying scenario.
Between 2024 and 2026, the prevalence of harassment among surveyed LGTBI+ people rose from 20% to 36%.
Discrimination increased from 23% to 29%.
And assaults rose from 7% to 22%.
That is to say: in just two years, the proportion of people who report having suffered assaults tripled. The data takes on even more dimension when observing the overall experiences of violence: according to the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia, based on the same report, 54% of LGTBIQ+ people have suffered violence or harassment and more than 40% have experienced episodes of hate on social media.
We are not just talking about big headlines.
We are talking about insults.
About threats.
About fake profiles.
About photographs shared without consent.
About outing.
About blackmail.
About harassment on social media.
About private messages that turn into threats.
About someone who stops posting a photograph with their partner.
About a person who changes their routes.
About a teenager who deletes a comment because they fear their classmates will discover who they are.
Hate can also hide behind a screen.
Digital violence also happens at home
That is why September can be a good time to incorporate one more conversation into family life.
There is no need to wait for a problem to occur.
There is no need for a son or daughter to come home after an assault.
There is no need to discover a threatening message on the phone.
Prevention starts much earlier.
Ask what is happening in WhatsApp groups.
Talk about the comments that appear on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or any other platform.
Explain that sharing an intimate photograph without permission is not a joke.
Talk about consent also on the internet.
Explain what outing means.
Learn to recognize a profile that tries to obtain personal information.
And, above all, convey something fundamental: if something happens, you must ask for help.
Digital violence has a particularly dangerous characteristic: it can accompany a person 24 hours a day.
An assault on the street can end when the victim manages to get away.
A screen can remain on.
A message can repeat itself.
An image can be shared hundreds of times.
A piece of content can continue circulating long after the person who posted it has tried to delete it.
Internet is not a separate world
For a long time, people spoke of the internet as if it were a space separate from real life. It is no longer possible to do so.
For millions of people, social media is part of their emotional, educational, professional, and social life.
And for many LGTBIQ+ people, it is also a fundamental space to find community, information, references, and support.
That is why the response cannot simply consist of saying: “leave social media”.
The solution is not to abandon the digital space.
It is to ensure that it is also a safe space.
Here appears a reality that still needs much more attention: LGTBIfobic digital violence.
Rainbow E-Safe: defending rights also on the internet
View this post on Instagram
In this context, Rainbow E-Safe was born, the first association in Spain specialized in LGTBIfobic digital violence.
Its approach is based on a simple idea: LGTBIQ+ rights also need to be protected in the digital environment.
The association works in three main areas: support for victims, specialized training, and advocacy and research. It also develops awareness-raising actions and tools for prevention and digital self-defense.
Its goal is to respond to a reality that has been in the background for too long.
Because when someone receives threats on Instagram, is a victim of identity theft, suffers outing, is harassed on a dating app, or finds personal photographs circulating without consent, we are not facing an “internet problem”.
We are facing a violation of rights.
And it needs professional responses.
Rainbow E-Safe has also launched in 2026 the Rainbow Digital Barometer, a periodic study aimed at generating its own data on the perception and experience of LGTBIQ+ digital violence in Spain. The initiative seeks to fill a gap: until now, there was no specific periodic instrument to measure this reality.
September offers, therefore, a simple opportunity: to talk before it happens. In families, in educational centers, and among friends, we can ask ourselves if we know how to recognize a situation of digital violence, what to do in the face of a threat, how to keep evidence, where to report, or how to support an LGTBIQ+ person who is being harassed. But we must also ask ourselves what discourses our sons and daughters receive when consuming content on social media, what messages about LGTBI people appear on their screens, and how we react when we hear a homophobic or transphobic comment. The prevention of hate also starts there.
Spain has shown that it is possible to advance in rights. The first position of the Rainbow Map 2026 is good news and deserves to be celebrated. But it should also serve to raise a question: what good is it to have some of the most advanced LGTBI rights in Europe if there are still people who are afraid to exercise them?
The answer cannot be to go backwards. It must be to advance also in education, prevention, protection, and response to violence. And that includes the digital world.
September fills classrooms, agendas, and screens again. Perhaps it is a good time for something as simple as conversing: talking in family, asking, listening, teaching, and accompanying. And remembering that behind every screen there is a person. A person who has the right to be who they are.
Also on the internet.
