LGBT history in Belgium

Jan Matsys, Lot and His Daughters, 1565.

• 1565 -- Jan Matsys paints Lot (biblical person) and His Daughters from the Book of Genesis. Genesis 18 and 19 describes Lot and his family's escape from fire and brimstone against Sodom and Gomorrah as punishment for homosexuality.
• June 28, 1578 -- Homosexual Monks are purged through execution in Ghent.[1]

Lot and his family flee from Sodom, by Jacob Jordaens.

• 1620 -- Jacob Jordaens paints "The Flight of Lot (biblical person) and his family from Sodom."

• Homosexuality in Belgium was decriminalised in 1795.[2]

The Belgian Anti-Discrimination Act was first passed by the Chamber of Representatives on the 25th of February 2003. During the 1990s, individuals within the LGBT community made complaints about discrimination; being bullied at work, newspapers refusing to promote LGBT-related advertisements and libraries refusing to display LGBT posters. However, there was no legal framework to prevent harassment and mistreatment. Then, Flemish Socialist Member of Parliament (MP) Luc Van den Bossche submitted the first proposal for an anti-discrimination law in 1985, which was later resubmitted in 1988 and 1992 but never reached the Belgian political agenda. However, after the 1999 Belgian elections where the Flemish liberal, socialist, and green parties formed their rainbow coalition, a new law proposal for an anti-discrimination act was resubmitted. Forming the basis of the 2003 anti-discrimination law. A European Council Directive was also influential, the Directive concerned equal treatment in employment and occupation and was supposed to be implemented by all member states before the 2nd of December 2003. Soon after, Belgium adopted the wide-ranging anti-discrimination law which included but was not limited to employment and occupation.[3]