By Elise Colomer-Cheadle | Project Contact
Impact Report: Strengthening LGBTIQ Inclusion and Safety in Ukraine
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Outright International has been on the ground supporting LGBTIQ people who are often excluded from mainstream relief efforts. Within hours of the invasion, Outright activated the Ukraine LGBTIQ Emergency Fund, providing urgent aid such as food, medicine, safe shelter, transportation, and physical and psychological care. Drawing on long-standing partnerships with more than 25 LGBTIQ civil society organizations, the fund has now distributed over $3.6 million in grants to 45 national and community-based LGBTIQ-led groups in and around Ukraine. These grants have kept vital local organizations afloat and allowed them to continue serving their communities under extraordinarily difficult conditions.
In 2023, Outright expanded this work beyond emergency response, launching sustained advocacy to open pathways for LGBTIQ inclusion in the formal humanitarian sector. This effort is helping ensure that local LGBTIQ groups are not just recipients of aid but recognized as humanitarian actors. Alongside direct support, Outright continues to strengthen community leadership through initiatives such as We Connect, which uplifts lesbian, bisexual, and queer women activists. These efforts came together in April 2024, when Outright convened Ukraine’s first-ever National Forum on LGBTIQ Inclusion in Humanitarian Response in Kyiv. The event brought together activists, humanitarian leaders, and government representatives to build a roadmap for inclusive aid delivery. A key outcome was the creation of a national LGBTIQ Working Group, which now meets regularly to coordinate and sustain these efforts.
Your generous support has made this work possible. In a war that has deepened inequality and left many LGBTIQ Ukrainians facing barriers to shelter, healthcare, and legal protection, your generosity is helping to create systems that recognize and serve everyone. Together, we are ensuring that LGBTIQ people are not left behind in Ukraine’s humanitarian response – transforming exclusion into inclusion and laying the foundation for a more just and resilient future.
On November 7, Outright International will convene OutSummit 2025, our annual hybrid global conference on the human rights of LGBTIQ people. During the event, Outright’s LGBTIQ Inclusion Advisor for Ukraine will deliver a keynote address highlighting how our team has worked to achieve an inclusive humanitarian response three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, and why these changes must happen globally. We warmly invite all donors to join us and be part of this important conversation by registering for free here: OutSummit 2025 Registration (https://outrightinternational.org/take-action/events/2025/11/outsummit-2025).
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