Okay so, I must admit to being rather plugged into these issues due to the fact that I’m a trans woman and a lesbian, but I think that the selection of queer rights policies in Democracy 4 is unfortunately somewhat disappointing.
On the pro-LGBT side, we have Gay Marriage - which is rather obvious in what it represents - and Gender Transition, which seems to be a loose combination of policies relating to legally recognized sex, access to gender-affirming care, and whether gender-affirming care is covered under the country’s presumed universal healthcare system or considered elective.
On the anti-LGBT side, we just have Ban Homosexuality, which is pretty obvious in what it entails and a decent range of flexibility.
All three of these policies are listed under Law and Order.
Compare this to Gender Equality policies, of which there are a wide range spanning from Gender Discrimination Act in Law and Order to Abortion Law in Public Services to Maternity Leave in Economy to name only a few. These policies obviously don’t cover everything, but they’re a lot more comprehensive than the policies on LGBT rights and even race and I’m quite satisfied with them.
Here are my suggestions for both new policies and modifications to existing policies
Not actually a policy but I wanted to include it anyways:
- LGBT Equality - A new blue bubble in Welfare measuring the health, economic welfare, visibility, and public acceptance of LGBT people in a similar way to how the Gender Equality blue bubble does for equality between men and women
Pro-LGBT Policies:
- Gay Marriage (Law and Order) - This policy already exists, but I’d like to suggest some tweaks to it; namely, the replacement of the Minimum ↔ Low ↔ Medium ↔ High ↔ Maximum spectrum with a spectrum of No Recognition ↔ Civil Unions ↔ Gay Marriage Recognized ↔ Marriage Equality Enforced with the lowest end providing a very small bumpt to LGBT Equality while the highest end provides a very significant boost to LGBT Equality
- Gender Affirming Care (Public Services) - I’d like to reccomend this policy as a replacement to the already-existing Gender Transition policy in the Law and Order Section. It would be modeled after the Abortion Law policy, with it being non-Cancelable and going from the extreme anti-trans position to the radically pro-trans position. The potential slider positions (from left to right) would be Total Ban ↔ Youth Transition Ban ↔ Doctors Agreement ↔ Considered Cosmetic ↔ Considered Reconstructive. The first two options would decrease LGBT Equality somewhat, the middle one would have no effect on LGBT equality, and the last two would increase LGBT Equality by a decent chunk.
- LGBT Discrimination Act (Law and Order) - A policy like Gender Discrimination Act and Race Discrimination Act, but for LGBT people instead of women and ethnic minorities. This is a sort of umbrella policy for a wide range of anti-discrimination policies including protections against employment and housing discrimination, workplace harassment, gay and trans panic defenses, and refusal of service at by businesses. Has the traditional Minimum ↔ Low ↔ Medium ↔ High ↔ Maximum spectrum and causes a significant bump to LGBT Equality even on Minimum, with the Maximum setting providing a very sizable boost.
- Family Planning (Welfare) - I think that, at higher levels, this policy should increase LGBT Equality. I think it should be on a curve, like if you’re just providing Minimum or Low Family Planning that shouldn’t increase LGBT Equality, but if you get it past the middle of Medium or perhaps up to High, it should begin to increase LGBT equality by a noticeable amount.
Anti-LGBT Policies:
- Ban Homosexuality (Law and Order) - I’m pretty satisfied with how this policy overall works in the game, but it should obviously have a pretty huge impact on LGBT Equality even on the lower levels.
- Gender Markers on Legal Documents (Law and Order) - Believe it or not, sex markers only started existing on passports in the 1970s, and while they have existed longer on other legal documents, there is a debate on whether they ought exist at all. Even if one accepts that they ought exist, there’s still a lot of debate on whether nonbinary identities should be recognized or whether gender markers should be allowed to be changed at all. In my opinion, the spectrum should go from Nonbinary Option ↔ Changeable on Request ↔ Limited Gender Changes ↔ Birth Sex Only. On the low end, this should only slightly impact LGBT Equality, but it should take a decent chunk out on the higher end.
- Trans Bathroom Ban (Public Services) - Laws preventing trans people from accessing the toilets of the gender they identify as. These policies exist in some states in the US and the EHRC is currently pushing for similar policies to be introduced in the UK with their latest guidelines on trans rights. The spectrum should go from Unenforced ↔ Birth Sex Bathrooms ↔ Unisex Bathrooms Only ↔ Bathroom Door Guards. This policy should also dramatically decrease LGBT Equality even at lower levels.
I think this is it, if anyone else has any suggestions, feel free to add them in the replies! Another policy I considered was LGBT Education but we already get an event for that so I’m not sure if it should be a policy in its own right.