Help LGBTIQ Human Rights Defenders Worldwide

Outright International works steadily to build global, regional and local alliances and support lesbian. gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) activists to protect and advance the rights of marginalized, at-risk LGBTIQ communities around the world. This year, we worked with advocates in more than 70 countries, providing resources to strengthen local activism, and connecting our movement to global systems to protect and enhance their work. 

Our work is carried out through three broad, interlocking, organization-wide strategies: Research, Movement Resourcing and Advocacy. In each of these areas, we made significant progress. Outright undertakes original research to fill critical data gaps and inform the other two areas of our work – movement resourcing and advocacy. Data gleaned through research positions Outright to prioritize what, where and how to work. Resourcing the movement ensures that there are strong partners to work with at local, regional and global levels. And our advocacy leverages research, in partnership with local organizations, to bring cohesion and priority to our collective work and objectives, including at the United Nations.  

During this period, Outright published more than a half dozen original global policy reports on issues impacting LGBTIQ people. Reports are disseminated across all Outright’s digital channels, and presented to stakeholders through report launch webinars. Outright’s reports are elevated at symposia, covered by media, and cited in their work by experts around the world, including at the United Nations. Examples of our reports are detailed in the Achievements section of this report, below. 

Regarding Movement Resourcing, we work in partnership with local activists and organizations, providing resources (grants, capacity building, trainings, coalition building) to support their goals, and engaging them in research and advocacy rooted in Outright’s own strategic objectives. We accompany our partners in local and global advocacy, provide technical assistance and other forms of capacity-building (e.g. fellowship programs), and provide grants to enable them to carry out their work. This past year, Outright has resourced the LGBTIQ human rights movement by committing 117 grants totaling nearly $3 million, impacting 105 organizations in 60 countries. We have benefitted hundreds more through leadership and training programs, fellowships, capacity building workshops, and strategic engagement in convenings.  

Outright plays a significant role in advocating for LGBTIQ rights at the international level, a major component of which involves building the capacity of movement leaders to undertake this work. For example, a centerpiece of Outright’s United Nations (UN) Program is our annual Advocacy Week initiative. In May 2024, 24 LGBTIQ activists from 19 countries participated in intensive fellowship training and met with high-level government and UN representatives in 25 meetings. This initiative elevates the voices of global human rights defenders at the UN, leading to tangible policy and legislative changes. By engaging directly with government missions and UN agencies, our movement increases protections for LGBTIQ people worldwide through UN mechanisms. 

For the UN Commission on the Status of Women (March 2024), Outright International brought 12 activist fellows from 10 countries to promote the importance of gender-inclusive approaches to achieve gender equality for all women and girls. We additionally organized the participation of eight activist fellows from three continents to the UN Summit of Future and General Assembly (September 2024), at which Outright helped organize the UN LGBTI Core Group’s convening during the General Assembly, with speakers including U.S. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, and H.E. Tarja Halonen, the former President of Finland, and two civil society speakers from Uganda and the Philippines who shared their experiences and stories of struggles and resilience, capturing the attention and support of UN member-states present at the event. Across all convening, activists attended bilateral meetings with UN agencies, UN member state delegations, and many other stakeholders. 

The UN LGBTI Core Group is a cross-regional group of United Nations Member States established in 2008 to work within the United Nations framework on ensuring universal respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, specifically lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons, with a particular focus on protection from violence and discrimination. Outright, which is the first U.S.-based organization to hold ECOSOC status at the UN, serves at the Secretariat of the Core Group. This year, the Core Group welcomed several new UN Member States – now 42 members strong. The Core Group is an effective means for Outright and our partners to reach and mobilize allies within the UN system to take action to advance the visibility and protect the human rights of LGBTIQ people around the world.  

Additionally, this past September – and building on Outright’s advocacy work since the Covid pandemic to “queer” humanitarian assistance - Outright convened a Global Consultation on LGBTIQ Inclusion in Humanitarian Action in New York City. The event brought together a diverse group of activists from more than 15 countries, humanitarian organization representatives, policy experts, academics, corporate sector representatives, donors, and Outright staff members. The focus was on developing strategic advocacy approaches to ensure that the needs and priorities of LGBTIQ individuals are effectively addressed in humanitarian settings, regardless of the nature or location of the crisis. The Consultation’s participants engaged in group work to identify critical barriers to inclusion, as well as to propose solutions, which will form the basis of an activist-informed advocacy roadmap. A report on the Consultation, with recommendations for all sectors on the topic, will be published in January 2024. 

Lastly, Outright also undertakes regional-level advocacy work, informed by our research with partners. For example, a priority for Outright is to support efforts to end conversion practices worldwide, practices that are inherently abusive, and that often involve violence and other cruel and degrading treatment. In the effort to create a wave of law and policy change, during the grant period, Outright completed an extensive regional project on conversion practices in Sub-Saharan Africa. We published the first of a series of reports in May 2024, entitled “The Health Ethics and the Eradication of Conversion Practices in Africa.” A second, “The Applicability of African Human Rights Standards In Addressing Conversion Practices,” was published in June. Drawing on this work, Outright’s Africa team attended numerous educational convenings to present our findings on the harms of conversion practices, including meetings with U.S. Agency for International Development staff and several U.S. embassies, a training for court clerks in South Africa, and two seminars on sexual minority rights hosted by the Centre for Human Rights in spring 2024. The first of these was attended by 45 lawmakers, government officials and civil society advocates from across Africa, who have expressed interest in working to curb these harmful practices. 

Outright International remains deeply appreciative to the GlobalGiving community for its very generous support. We look forward to keeping donors informed of our progress and impact. On behalf of all of us and those we serve globally, thank you for your solidarity and partnership.