LGBTQIA+ Youth Homelessness Soars as Brussels Pride Nears
As Brussels prepares to mark the 30th anniversary of its Pride parade on Saturday, the non-profit organization Le Refuge is sounding the alarm: rejection and violence against young LGBTQIA+ people are creating a pipeline to homelessness. On the eve of the parade, which carries the slogan “When Times Get Darker, We Shine Brighter,” the shelter warns that Belgium’s progressive legal framework is failing to protect its most vulnerable youth.
A Growing Crisis
According to RTBF, Le Refuge co-founder Dimitri Verdonck stated that Anglo-Saxon studies indicate approximately 30% of homeless populations identify as LGBT. “The rejection these young people suffer is a factory for homelessness,” Verdonck said. “We welcome each year young people who are thrown out of their homes, because their parents have rejected them due to their belonging to this community, sometimes they are violent towards them.”
Since its founding in 2018, Le Refuge Brussels has sheltered over 100 young people aged 18 to 25, providing housing, psychosocial support, and administrative assistance. The organization operates with 25 volunteers across 30 accommodations, supporting roughly 198 young people annually. Security remains a major concern — the shelter’s address must be kept strictly confidential to prevent family members from appearing at the door.
Violence in Numbers
The warning comes as Unia, Belgium’s independent public body for equal opportunities, released its 2025 statistics. The agency recorded 311 reports of discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation last year — nearly one per day. Of these, 151 cases (49%) led to the opening of an official file, a rate double the 24% average for other protected criteria.
Reports span violence in public spaces, homophobic harassment in the workplace, and insults and threats on social media. Yet these figures represent only a fraction of the reality: according to an EU Fundamental Rights Agency study cited by Unia, just 14% of victims report incidents to authorities.
A Troubling Shift Among Youth
Perhaps most alarming is the shift in attitudes among young Belgians. A study by the Jeugdonderzoeksplatform (JOP) found that in 2023, 18.3% of Belgian youth considered violence against gay people acceptable — up from just 7.4% in 2018, a near-tripling in five years. As VUB researcher Fien Pauwels explained, this rise cuts across all social groups and is linked to the normalization of illiberal discourse, online radicalization via platforms like TikTok, and the influence of masculinist figures such as Andrew Tate.
A recent case in Turnhout, Flanders, illustrates the human cost: a 14-year-old bisexual boy named Maro was forced to his knees and beaten by approximately 20 peers. The video of the attack went viral.
Legal Rights vs. Social Reality
Belgium ranks 4th in Europe on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map with a score of 85.31%, behind Spain, Malta, and Iceland. But as Unia spokesperson Oliviero Aseglio told RTBF, “Belgian society has evolved very well, in terms of rights we are great, but unfortunately, sometimes mentalities don’t follow the law.”
ULB Professor David Paternotte describes attacks on LGBT people as “a canary in the coal mine” — an early warning sign of broader societal aggression. “There are specificities to homophobic and transphobic discourse, but the idea of equality, of fighting discrimination, no longer enjoys consensus, including among democratic political parties,” he warned.
A Call for Action
European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib, who visited Le Refuge in February, emphasized the stakes: “Within our European Union, everyone has the right to be and love who they want. Yet this right is still violated. That is why initiatives like Le Refuge are vital.”
Unia recommends better victim support and police training, targeted studies on perpetrator profiles, alternative measures alongside repression, and continuous teacher training on LGBTQIA+ issues. As Aseglio put it, “It is essential that LGBTQIA+ questions be addressed in school, from the earliest age.”
As Brussels Pride takes to the streets on Saturday, the message from Le Refuge and its allies is clear: legal progress must be matched by social change, or the most vulnerable will continue to pay the price.