ABSTRACT
In 1942, homosexuality became legal in Switzerland. 30 years later, in 1972, the age of legal consent for homosexual sex was made the same as for heterosexual relationships. In 1997-8 the regional Swiss homosexual association Vogay approached politicians with the aim of helping them to understand discrimination that gay men, lesbians and same-sex couples experience, as well as the need to modify the law. With the upcoming rewriting of the local1 constitution, the association hoped that the article on civil rights would be updated to include sexual orientation. To that date the association could only give examples of individual instances of discrimination against gay men and lesbians. In the absence of an indepth study on this subject, these arguments were not strong enough for political lobby. As a result, the association decided to conduct the fi rst Swiss survey on discrimination which gays and lesbians experience on the basis of their sexual orientation.
