The law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation; however, societal discrimination was widespread, and cases of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons occurred. The Ministry of Interior confirmed that hate crimes had generally increased compared with 2010.
The NGOs Society for the Integration of Homosexuals (DiH) and Legebitra reported that the police did not indicate whether violent crimes were specifically directed at LGBT individuals. No official statistics on crimes based on gender identity or crime data categorized by specific targets were available by year’s end. During the year police recorded 24 incidents of inciting hatred or violence and reported 27 cases of inciting intolerance, two of which involved physical attacks. Legebitra reported that 92 percent of cases of homophobic hate speech or violence were not reported to police and that during the past year the rate of calls for personal counseling (to address discrimination and harassment of LGBT individuals) had increased 150 percent.
In April, May, and June, during events surrounding the annual pride parade and the Family Law debate, some attacks occurred, including an assault on an Italian visitor and the serious beating of a British visitor, both of which police characterized as hate crimes. A few days before the pride parade, the Green Dragons, a soccer fan club, displayed a banner during a match calling for a ban on the pride parade and support of the Family Law. Cafe Open, with clientele primarily of gay men and lesbians and the headquarters of the pride parade, had its windows smashed on the night before the parade. On June 4, the annual gay pride parade in Ljubljana took place with the support of local government officials; however, there were reports that bystanders shouted homophobic slurs at participants, and antigay graffiti and stickers were seen in various locations around the city. Organizers reported satisfactory police presence during the parade.
On July 14, the NGO Skuc called for action in the case of two gay asylum seekers from Kosovo, Kadri Shala and Demir Kruezi, who had been subject to attacks in their home country. During their stay at the asylum center in Ljubljana, Skuc reported, residents and employees of the center had abused them both.
In 2010 three individuals were convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison for assaulting an individual during the 2009 gay pride parade. However, on August 2, the court commuted the sentences of all three assailants, based on their lack of prior criminal record, age (less than 21), and apology to the victim.
On June 16, parliament passed the Family Law, allowing for adoption of children by gay or lesbian couples if one of the partners was a biological parent, entitling same-sex couples in civil partnerships the same rights as married couples, and changing the definition of a family to include two persons and a child. On July 19, the Ministry for Labor, Family, and Social Affairs approved the country’s first case of a child adoption by the lesbian partner of the child’s biological mother. In late August the lobbying group Civil Initiative for the Family and the Rights of Children began collecting signatures for a referendum to overturn the Family Law, but an opposing lobby, The Initiative for All Children, for All Families, for Free Choice, and for Equal Rights filed a motion for a Constitutional Court review to block the referendum. The Constitutional Court decided in December in a 5-4 ruling to allow the referendum, scheduled for March 2012.