Happy IDAHOBIT!

Happy IDAHOBIT! For this year’s International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia, CGE is honored to share this powerful message from Bishop Joseph Tolton. Bishop Tolton is the President and Founder of Interconnected Justice and the Bishop of East Africa for The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM). For IDAHOBIT, Bishop Tolton shares his thoughts about the resilient Cosmopolitan Affirming Church in Kenya, which continues to thrive in the face of spiritual violence and a draconian anti-LGBTQI+ bill currently under consideration.

Celebrating Global Trans Advocates

These days, whether we’re looking at Texas and Florida or at Russia and Argentina, it’s far too easy to find authoritarian leaders who are weaponizing transphobia. Just the other week, we wrote about how the right-wing extremist forces behind Project 2025 are putting demonizing transgender people at the heart of their plan to undermine American democracy and the rule of law.

No one has to look far to find the challenges, the forces who would deny basic dignity, security, and the rights of citizenship to trans and gender-diverse people.

But instead, let’s take a moment instead to celebrate some heroes fighting the good fight, winning victories — despite the dramatic lack of funder support for the global trans rights movement.

There are many more champions we could spotlight, and feel free to share suggestions of others deserving of recognition. In the meantime, we share our gratitude and our solidarity with these remarkable organizers.

Lilit Martirosyan, President, Right Side NGO (Armenia)

Lilit Martirosyan has been an organizer for transgender rights in Armenia for nearly fifteen years. Her passions for democracy building and protecting the rights and freedoms of vulnerable groups encompass refugees and asylum seekers, people living with HIV, and sex workers as well as sexual and gender minorities. In 2016, she founded Right Side NGO, Armenia’s first transgender rights organization and the first trans-led NGO in the South Caucasus, through which she promotes social, cultural, and legal reforms for transgender people and sex workers. Through her advocacy, Right Side NGO has helped transgender Armenians secure legal name changes. In 2020, Lilit was awarded the Human Rights Tulip by the government of The Netherlands, and she used the €100,000 in prize money to establish a safe and secure space for transgender LGBT people in Armenia.

Top Advocacy Priorities: To create lasting solutions that promote social inclusion for, prevent the violation of human rights of, and ensure the quality of dignified lives of transgender people and sex workers in Armenia. Such goals require protecting community health and safety, promoting human rights protection and legal reforms, and changing public opinion and cultural norms.

Manisha Dhakal, Executive Director, Blue Diamond Society (Nepal)

Active in Nepal’s LGBTQI+ movement since 2001, Manisha Dhakal has worked on projects spanning HIV/AIDS, human rights activism, constitutional campaigns, advocacy, capacity building, academic research, LGBTQI+ child rights, and more. She took part in the landmark hearings that led to the Nepal Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling ordering the government to expand rights for its LGBTQI+ citizens. The first transgender woman in Nepal’s Country Coordinating Mechanism for the Global Fund, Manisha is currently the Executive Director of Blue Diamond Society (BDS), the country’s pioneering LGBTQI+ rights organization, as well as the President of Federation of Sexual and Gender Minorities of Nepal. She is a founding member of the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network and previously co-chaired the Board of ILGA Asia.

Top Advocacy Priorities: Bridging the gap between the legal rights for LGBTQI+ people in Nepal and their implementation, such as for legal gender recognition and marriage equality.

Pau González Sánchez, Co-Founder, Hombres Trans Panamá (Panama)

Pau González Sánchez is a committed grassroots leader and one of the most prominent advocates for equality for the LGBTQI+ community in Panama and in Latin America and the Caribbean more broadly. He is co-founder of Panama’s first transmasculine group, Hombres Trans Panamá, and of the first Association of Family and Friends of LGBTQI+ people (PFLAG-Panama). In past years, he represented Panama at the Human Rights Campaign’s Global Innovators Program and is an alum of the Agents of Change program at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung for Central America. Pau is currently working on the “Latin American Trans Masculine Historical Memory project,” an oral history initiative focusing on personal narratives of trans men aged 40 and above. It documents and preserves their diverse histories, serving as a crucial platform for understanding their challenges, triumphs, and contributions in the region. Through interviews and storytelling, the initiative aims to create a comprehensive record, offering valuable insights into their unique journeys. Professionally, he operates as a certified medical interpreter, a realtor and property manager, and a human rights consultant for the UN’S High Commissioner Office for Human Rights on the National Free and Equal Campaign. 

Top Advocacy Priorities: Advancing the legal recognition of gender markers in official documents in Panama through strategic litigation; supporting the development of standardized protocols and guidelines for inclusive healthcare of transgender and gender-diverse individuals.

Sam Gcinekile Ndlovu, Director, Trans Research Education Advocacy and Training (TREAT) (Zimbabwe)

Sam Gcinekile Ndlovu is a transman raised on feminist principles. He is the Director of Trans Research Education Advocacy and Training (TREAT), a trans-led organization in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He also currently serves as Chairperson of the Southern African Trans Forum and Co-Chair of the African Trans Network, which is a community of practice of trans and gender diverse serving institutions, which constitutes 19 partner organizations currently from 11 Southern African countries. Previously, he worked at the Sexual Rights Centre as a Programmes Officer and was a part of the founding leadership of VOVO, a LBTI feminist collective in Bulawayo. He is a vibrant poet and musician who believes that love and empathy will continue to be unequaled forces in centering and growing movements around the globe.

Top Advocacy Priorities: Freedom from violence and the protection of the human dignity of trans and gender-diverse members of our families across the world, to allow them a fighting chance to peacefully exercise active citizenry and contribute their skills and talents to the development of their nations and communities they exist in.

Tampose Mothopeng, Executive Director, The People’s Matrix (Lesotho)

A 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow, Tampose Mothopeng has dedicated himself to supporting Lesotho’s LGBTQI+ community and has been the executive director of The People’s Matrix Association since 2009. His pioneering research focuses on HIV, human rights, and the legal framework surrounding the LGBTQI+ community, as well as the experiences of MSM and women who have sex with women (WSW) in sub-Saharan Africa. Collaborating with esteemed researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Harvard University, and the University of Cape Town, Tampose has published numerous research documents and peer-reviewed journal articles. His work highlights the unique vulnerabilities faced by MSM and WSW individuals in Lesotho, as well as the experiences of and challenges facing Lesotho’s transgender community, and has been presented at various International AIDS Conferences.

In the face of cultural and religious challenges that have silenced the LGBTQI+ community in the name of Christianity, Tampose continues to hold the government of Lesotho accountable for its human rights obligations, including by presenting the Human Rights Defenders statement during the 53rd Human Rights Council session and challenging the national funding mechanism to benefit minority groups.

Top Advocacy Priorities: Increased accountability and transparency mechanisms with community coordination in HIV programs

Yaquota Idrissy, President, South Trans Voice Organization (Morocco)

A long-time human rights advocate, Yaquota serves as the President of the South Trans Voice organization in Morocco, which provides psychological, social, legal, and health support to individuals affected by gender-based discrimination. Furthermore, Yaquota works tirelessly towards achieving justice and equality for all individuals in the trans community in Morocco. She has also had valuable experience working as a field interventionist with the Association for the Fight Against AIDS and has been a member of the T_wanazar Alliance and the Free Women’s Union. Currently, Yaquota is focused on promoting the sexual and reproductive rights of trans individuals in central and southern Morocco. One of her key objectives is to integrate trans people as a key population into the health system to fight epidemics and develop preventive programs that respect their privacy and dignity. 

Top Advocacy Priorities: Legal recognition of transgender persons in Morocco and their integration into daily life; development of public policies to ensure transgender persons can change their identification papers.

The War in Gaza Impacts All of Us and Democracy Too

By Julie Dorf, Co-Chair of the Council for Global Equality

• This essay was originally published earlier today in the Washington Blade.
• Content Advisory: this is much longer than CGE’s usual posts. It shares my personal experience and perspective and does not represent an organizational statement. Clearly, it addresses Israel/Palestine, so if you can’t handle that, please don’t read!

(January 11, 2024) As a leader in the LGBTQI+ movement and Co-chair of the U.S.-based foreign policy organization the Council for Global Equality (CGE), I am calling on my colleagues in the progressive foreign policy community to urgently discuss alternative policy solutions to our government’s support of the deadly war in Gaza and collectively begin demanding solutions that respect the dignity, rights, and security for all. 

The Council for Global Equality (CGE) works at the intersection of international human rights, U.S. foreign policy, and LGBTQI+ communities. We primarily focus on influencing the U.S. government’s policies, programs, and foreign assistance to do more good in the world, recognizing that our democracy typically only does the right thing when its citizens demand it – whether through elections or ongoing civic engagement by organizations such as ours. We also recognize that, deservedly or not, the United States wields outsized power in the world; as responsible citizens of this mighty country, it is therefore incumbent on us to actively engage and try to direct its power towards good. Our organizational principles include key tenets such as “freedoms abroad and freedoms at home are linked,” “democracy can only be rooted in secular, inclusive values,” “equal treatment is at the heart of human rights,” and “one population’s rights cannot transcend those of another.” The full statement of principles is on our website.

When Hamas launched its terrifying attacks in southern Israel on October 7, followed by Israel’s revengeful response in Gaza, I thought at first that this was not a CGE issue. As a progressive Jew, I was mostly consumed by my own relationship with the ongoing occupation, and I feared for my friends in the region. I was horrified and heartsick, glued to Al Jazeera and other news sources. But I was not at all surprised by the attack, except perhaps that it had taken this long for a major uprising by Palestinians. I reached out to activists, friends, and family in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt. I felt no contradiction being equally upset by the loss of lives on all sides and holding multiple truths at once. Yes, Hamas is a terrorist organization that brutally murdered my people. Yes, Israel has been occupying, persecuting, and actively undermining a Palestinian state for its entire existence. And yes, the government of the United States and its Jewish community have both been enabling this horrible injustice for as long as I can remember. This crisis was just more of the same but on a much, much more painful scale.

My Position on Palestine and Israel

I grew up in a staunchly Zionist environment, visited the region multiple times (Israel and the West Bank and Gaza), and evolved through my human rights career into a proud Jewish anti-Zionist. I believe in the land of Israel being a vital, safe, and sacred homeland for Jews and Muslims, as well as for Christians, Druze, Armenians, Samaritans, and others.

I do not, however, believe in a Jewish supremacist state, which is the way that Israel’s current policies have been constructed, believing that only by having a majority of Jews in the country of Israel can it be a secure Jewish “homeland.” I believe it can and must be a secure homeland for different religions simultaneously. Indeed, if you’ve ever visited Jerusalem, you know it already is a homeland for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Armenians (albeit not safe). Yes, Netanyahu is perhaps the most far-right authoritarian leader we’ve seen in Israel. But long-time policies from urban development, road construction, and water to the separation wall and vast numbers of political prisoners, and other Israeli government policies have been constructed to maintain the supreme rights of Jews over Palestinians. These policies that are intended to maintain inequality by ethnicity are simply inherently incompatible with a genuine democracy. At this moment in the world, when democracy needs to be actively defended in so many countries, an exception clause for Israel is both indefensible and counterproductive.

From left: Julie Dorf, the-now Association for Civil Rights in Israel Executive Director Noa Sattath, and then-Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance Executive Director Hagai El-Ad protest at a checkpoint outside Bethlehem, West Bank, during Jerusalem WorldPride in 2006. Dorf is the Co-Chair of the Council for Global Equality. (Photo courtesy of Julie Dorf)

My political positions on Israel and Palestine have stirred up great pain and conflict in my family and community. But I have been committed to talking to my own people – in this case, American Jews – about these issues because that is where I can have the most influence to make change, however small that may be. Many progressive Jews–and particularly younger generations–share my beliefs but are afraid of being ostracized from their Jewish communities or families or being labeled a “self-hating Jew.” I know that I am a proud Jew.

Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism

I am also no stranger to antisemitism—even working in the LGBTQI+ global movement, I have experienced my share of antisemitism. It mostly takes the form of microaggressions, such as comments about “your banker friends in New York” or “I won’t succumb to your Jewish guilt moves.” Then there was the moment when a presenter at a queer conference on closing civic space in Poland used a political cartoon from a local newspaper that had a picture of an Orthodox Jew with a huge nose, wearing a star of David that said “NGO” on it – but didn’t recognize that NGO was overlaid on a profoundly antisemitic image. Or the time when someone posted a conspiracy theory full of lies that “co-religionist George Soros” was somehow connected West Bank settlement building on a large global queer listserv, and the moderator of the list told me that my concerns were unfounded and that “the post was not antisemitic.” And I’ll definitely never forget when an activist in Malaysia who had never met a Jew before asked to feel my head for my horns. At least they asked for consent!

Today’s genuine rise in antisemitism around the world is more overt and scary. I’m used to armed security guards at the entrances to Jewish institutions such as our schools, museums, and synagogues to guard against the occasional violent act of antisemites. But this increased level of hate speech, online antisemitism, Nazis in public, and murder threats are understandably terrifying my community. This is precisely why the distinction between this very real rise in antisemitic violence and anti-Zionist expression is critical to distinguish.

It is dangerous for Jews and others to conflate antisemitism with anti-Zionism because that conflation misdirects attention from genuine antisemitic violent threats and increases polarization in a year when our unity to protect democracy is more important than ever. Further, it is terrible for the freedom of thought and speech, undermining legitimate calls for justice for Palestinians and silencing people from expressing their true thoughts and reactions. All these things are harming U.S. foreign policy and making U.S. citizens less safe.

We can agree to disagree about the connotations of “from the river to the sea” or the word “intifada,” – but it is not inherently antisemitic to wish for equality in that location or to desire a one-state solution to the conflict between the state of Israel and the stateless citizens of Palestine or to wish to organize peaceful resistance to oppression (such as BDS). This is legitimate political discourse, essential to finding a peaceful solution to this ongoing conflict, whether that be a one-state, two-state, confederated, or some other solution we haven’t yet imagined.

A Free Palestine poster on 17th Street in Dupont Circle on Oct. 23, 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Further complicating matters, progressives tend to minimize antisemitism because of Ashkenazi white skin privilege and class privilege, whether real or imagined. Yet Eastern European Jews weren’t considered “white” for many decades, Sephardic Jews are still not considered “white,” and there is increasing visibility of Jews of color. Regardless of the color of our skin, we’ve not been part of any dominant culture for most of our existence as a people – until the creation of the Israeli state. But in the current leftist paradigm of “settler colonialism” as it applies to the state of Israel (which is, in fact, what the early founders of Israel called themselves), often the role of historical and current antisemitism is either dismissed or ignored. This is problematic and limits solidarity. It adds to the lopsided empathy that occurs in both directions and limits civil discourse and healing.

There is no doubt that antisemitism over time, and particularly the Holocaust, played a critical role in the creation of the State of Israel, as well as in the historical trauma and epigenetic fears that live inside so many of us Jews. That trauma was further inflamed by Hamas’s attack on October 7, just as the trauma of the Nakba was reignited for Gazans when Israel’s counter-attacks began, and 90% of Gazans were forced to leave their homes, regularly going without food. It might seem obvious that this sense of collective victimhood does not give license to victimize others, but it certainly creates a major blind spot in Jewish identity. It is overdue for Jews around the world—and especially in Israel—to update our story and live up to our stated values as a people committed to “Tikkun Olam,” or to repair the world. As painful as it is, we must take a hard look at the missteps in the history of Israel and rectify them urgently. We must face the current crisis and rise in antisemitism with the clarity that anti-Zionism is not synonymous with antisemitism. We must also be able to sit with the discomfort or sense of threat from anti-Zionist arguments or even chants, or genuine discourse about a different role for the U.S. vis-à-vis Israel, rather than reflexively labeling all of that antisemitic.

Legitimacy in Global Movements

So, when activists in the Middle East began asking queer groups to show up in solidarity with Palestine and, in particular, to join the calls for a ceasefire, I had no problem as a co-chair of CGE to craft a statement on behalf of our organization. It was not only consistent with our stated principles, but it was also a question of legitimacy for us in our global movement. What so many Americans do not quite understand is that much of the world considers Israel a pariah state; as such, the “special relationship” the United States maintains with a country considered akin to apartheid South Africa is very hard to explain or defend. Yet here in the United States, we get a totally different perspective, highly influenced by the commercial media, by mainstream Jewish community institutions (many of which are quite out of step with their own constituents, particularly younger people), and also by the strong forces of the intensely Zionist Christian right (Did you know that Christians United for Israel has more members than AIPAC?). And perhaps, as Peter Beinart posits, as Americans, we identify unconsciously with Israelis because we, too, do not wish to rectify our past treatment of Native Americans in our own founding of our country. This creates a grossly asymmetrical empathy for the “Israeli side” (which, by the way, is hardly monolithic) for many in the United States.

Yet, for many of us in the fields of international human rights, global development, or foreign policy, we engage regularly with colleagues outside of the United States who have a more balanced concern for the Palestinians. Indeed, we cannot do our work very effectively without such solidarity and trusted relationships. Consequently, it is very difficult to sustain an organizational position that justifies the levels of U.S. aid to Israel (over $3B annually), particularly the extra $14.5B in military aid for their war on Gaza, some of it circumventing required Congressional notifications, which everyone knows by now has overwhelmingly killed civilians and children and over 20,000 people. Then to see that with the U.S. government’s enormous investment, the Israeli military and intelligence could be so arrogantly incompetent, caught without any plan or reasonable response to the October 7^th Hamas attacks, makes that incredibly large investment even more questionable. And yet, most D.C. organizations still simply shy away from this issue.

Pinkwashing and impact on LGBTQI+ Movement

For the global LGBTQI+ movement, “pinkwashing” has further enraged many in queer communities across the globe. Pinkwashing is the promotion by the Israeli government (or any other government) of its pro-LGBTQI+ policies to intentionally distract from its human rights abuses against Palestinians (or other horrific rights abuses). In truth, all the rights that have been disingenuously touted by the Israeli government to show a contrast to surrounding Arab states in the region were hard-fought and won by the country’s LGBTQI+ community itself through the courts, not simply handed to the community by the State of Israel. This has been a key part of the intentional campaign by the Israeli government to maintain an image that the country is more similar to Western democracies and, therefore, more deserving of their support.

But in many ways, it has backfired when it comes to LGBTQI+ communities and certainly alienated Israeli LGBTQI+ civil society from the global movement, and in particular from other LGBTQI+ organizations in the region. It is considered so taboo to be connected to Israel that no other Middle East or North Africa (MENA) representatives would show up to a queer MENA event if Israeli civil society were even invited. (And, yes, there are LGBTQI+ groups large and small in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Tunisia, Morocco, etc.) Israel’s pinkwashing also helped spawn stronger queer support for Palestinians and for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. A clear example of this pinkwashing continues now during the war, when the State of Israel’s official X (formerly Twitter) account showed an IDF soldier unfurling a rainbow flag in front of a tank in Gaza and another one, claiming to be “in the name of love,” in front of a destroyed village. For many of us, this was beyond offensive, it was stomach-churning. 

Yoav Atzmoni, an IDF soldier, holds a Pride flag while inside the Gaza Strip in November 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Israeli government’s X account)

For all of these reasons, CGE issued our statement calling for a ceasefire in late October. Most of our organizational members were very pleased with its release, except for the ADL, which chose to end its membership in CGE over our differences on this issue. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, both long-standing CGE members, have strongly criticized this war, documenting war crimes and other human rights violations, both by the Israeli state against Palestinian civilians and by Hamas against Israeli citizens. But other than those large human rights organizations, the most vocal members of the foreign policy community in Washington have been the large humanitarian assistance providers, which have passionately argued for a ceasefire. The visible resistance by Jewish Voice for Peace and other progressive Jewish organizations, together with Palestinian rights organizations, have been the primary other civil society entities articulating a different vision for U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine. Between the street protests, potentially losing the next generation’s vote, and the upset from federal employees themselves, this does seem to be getting the Biden-Harris Administration’s attention, forcing very small shifts toward using its leverage to reign in Israel’s military violence.

Where is the U.S. Foreign Policy Community?

So, where is the rest of the Washington foreign policy community? Clearly, others must have similar concerns for their credibility with partners around the world during this crisis and feel uneasy every day as the news appears. How can we not do better than this to hold our government accountable to our values of equality and justice? Where are the media watchdog organizations, and why are they not challenging such asymmetrical coverage of the war? I understand that people are scared to “take a side,” to offend someone, to lose big donors, and to lose legitimacy in the eyes of our U.S. government allies. God forbid we get canceled by saying the wrong thing or making a mistake.

But we must do better than that; we must have the courage to advocate for a more balanced U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine and to call on the Biden Administration to be a more honest broker in the conflict. If foreign policymakers believe that the United States needs to be Israel’s best friend, to be a trusted nation they will listen to, then we certainly have paid our dues by now. We must leverage decades of expensive investments more strategically and effectively.

It is time for the progressive foreign policy community in the United States, together with principled Jewish organizations, Palestinian leaders, and others sincerely invested in peace to come together to articulate a better way forward for U.S. foreign policy. We must demand conditions on U.S. aid, not just on ending illegal settlement-building in the West Bank, but on actually dismantling settlements if the U.S.-stated policy goal of helping to create a Palestinian state is sincere. We must condition military aid appropriately to avoid its use in war crimes. We must demand and help secure the release of Palestinian leaders in Israeli prisons who could become the more legitimate, moderate leaders of the next iteration of the Palestinian Authority. This would undermine the Hamas movement far more effectively than the current military campaign is doing by offering better leadership options. We must demand the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza and the Palestinian political prisoners in Israel. And we must end the immense blank check support of billions of taxpayer dollars to Israel by requiring a genuine restart of peace negotiations. These are just some of the policies that we should be advocating for – the point is that we need to have those debates as a matter of urgency within our own foreign policy communities in Washington.

As an LGBTQI+ U.S. foreign policy organization, we should be a part of those discussions, not just because queer Palestinians and queer Israelis are impacted, and not just because it’s urgently critical for the safety of all Palestinians and Israelis, but because, indeed, we are all impacted. Americans will be safer. Jews will be safer. Democracy might even be safer. 

U.S. Sanctions Ugandan Prison Official for LGBTQI+ Abuses

December 8, 2023 – The Treasury Department today announced an international package of human rights sanctions in recognition of the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Human Rights Day on December 10.  In a groundbreaking move, one of the specific sanctions designations included Johnson Byabashaija, the Commissioner General of the Uganda Prisons Service (UPS), for the abuse of LGBTQI+ prisoners under his supervision.

In designating Byabashaija, Treasury notes, “Prisoners have reported being tortured and beaten by UPS staff and by fellow prisoners at the direction of UPS staff. Members of vulnerable groups, including government critics and members of Uganda’s LGBTQI+ community, have been beaten and held without access to legal counsel; for example, in a 2020 case, the UPS denied a group of LGBTQI+ persons access to their lawyers and members of the group reportedly endured physical abuse, including a forced anal examination and scalding.”

The Council for Global Equality welcomes this announcement. Our coalition has long urged the Biden Administration to announce targeted sanctions under the authority of the Global Magnitsky Act for Ugandan officials who are complicit in the persecution of LGBTQI+ persons, including under the country’s draconian new Anti-Homosexuality Act. To our knowledge, this is only Treasury’s second named sanctions designation of foreign officials for LGBTQI+-specific human rights violations, following the 2017 designations of Chechnya’s dictator and director of prisons for the torture of LGBTQI+ prisoners there. Based on today’s sanctions announcement, any property owned by Byabashaija in the United States is subject to seizure, and he and his family will be denied visas to the United States.

Today’s announcement also has three additional features that are important. To begin, it is the first U.S. government sanctions designation that recognizes the use of forced anal exams as a serious human rights violation. The practice – widely discredited as both forensically useless and a form of torture — is used in Uganda and elsewhere to gather bogus “evidence” to prosecute people for criminal violations of anti-homosexuality laws. As such, this sets an important precedent in recognizing forced anal exams as human rights violations that are sanctionable under U.S. law.

Second, the designation was issued against Byabashaija for his “command responsibility” for human rights violations, including torture, committed in Ugandan prisons. The designation states that “Byabashaija is being designated for being a foreign person who is or has been a leader or official of an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse relating to the leader’s or official’s tenure.” This theory of command responsibility for the abuse of LGBTQI+ persons in prison, including for forced anal exams, should put prison officials and other government leaders across Uganda and in many other countries on notice. We trust that this will be just the first of many additional sanction designations for similar practices committed in Uganda and beyond.

Third, the announcement today “notes recent attempts by the Uganda Prisons Service to implement human rights-related measures, but these measures fall short. Should Byabashaija implement effective measures to eliminate torture and impunity, increase independent human rights monitoring, ban forced anal examinations and other forms of abuse used to target LGBTQI+ persons and others, ensure protections for vulnerable persons and groups, and improve overall prison conditions, the Department of the Treasury will consider those to be changes of behavior that would potentially result in his removal from the SDN List.” The inclusion of that additional prescriptive language sends a strong statement, setting out our sanctions regime as another U.S. foreign policy tool being leveraged to end the practice of forced anal exams. 

Today’s sanctions announcement follows a broader visa ban announced by the State Department earlier this week for officials who are involved in the repression of the LGBTQI+ community. Because those visa bans are being implemented under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act and not the Global Magnitsky Act, the State Department cannot name the specific targets, although many parliamentarians in Uganda reportedly assume that they are on that visa ban list as well. It also follows the recent decision to terminate Uganda’s preferential trade status in the United States because of its repression of the LGBTQI+ community.

As Ugandan advocates launch their constitutional challenge against the Anti-Homosexuality Act in court this month, and as we celebrate International Human Rights Day this weekend, we hope this sanctions designation sends an important message that LGBTQI+ rights are human rights — in Uganda, in the United States and everywhere else where LGBTQI+ people are being scapegoated and persecuted by officials in violation of the most basic principles adopted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 75 years ago.

Trade Relations and Human Rights in Central Asia

This week, Assistant Secretary of State Don Lu is leading a U.S. delegation to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to discuss security partnerships, economic relations, energy policy, and human rights with the leaders of those countries. This visit follows up on the first-ever “C5+1” summit this past September in New York, when President Biden met with the leaders of the five Central Asian republics on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

Back in September, Biden noted the C5+1 countries’ “shared commitment to sovereignty, independence, [and] territorial integrity.” To that end, Biden spotlighted increased U.S. security funding and closer counterterrorism cooperation, a new critical minerals dialogue to ensure the security of the U.S. high-tech industry, and new mechanisms to facilitate U.S. private sector engagement with Central Asia.

The White House readout of the C5+1 meeting with the Central Asian leaders — including Presidents Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev of Kazakhstan and Shavkat Mirziyoev of Uzbekistan — also noted that Biden raised the need to support civil society, women’s empowerment, and disability rights with his counterparts.

It is clear that the United States government and its Central Asian counterparts are in deep, sustained dialogue, with both sides believing that closer ties are mutually beneficial. Given the region’s geostrategic importance at the crossroads of Russia, China, and Afghanistan, Washington is trying hard to woo Central Asia from Moscow’s sphere of influence. In turn, Central Asia wants access to global markets and trade institutions, which requires closer ties with the West. To that end, Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Todd Young (R-IN) have responded to lobbying from the region by introducing legislation to repeal Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan and grant those nations permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status.

We appreciate that President Biden, Secretary Lu, and others have referred to the importance of promoting human rights and civil society in Central Asia – including media freedom, women and girls’ empowerment, and people-to-people ties. At the same time, the abysmal state of human rights and the utter lack of free civil society under all five authoritarian regimes in the region must not be ignored. For perspective, Freedom House, in its 2023 Global Freedom Scores, gave Kazakhstan 23 out of 100 possible points, Uzbekistan 12/100, and Tajikistan 7/100.*

For LGBTQI+ Central Asians, the situation is all the more dire. Just this summer, Kyrgyzstan adopted the roadmap written in Russia that links anti-LGBTQI+ politics and restricting civil society when it passed legislation criminalizing the dissemination of LGBTQI+-affirming information aimed at minors. This development parallels the introduction of proposed laws dramatically limiting freedom of speech and association more broadly.

Uzbekistan’s record on LGBTQI+ human rights is particularly poor. While roughly 65 countries continue to criminalize consensual same-sex relations between adults, Uzbekistan is one of a handful of these countries that actively prosecutes its inhabitants under such a law. Gay and bisexual men and transgender women face up to three years in prison under Article 120. Just this week, as the U.S. delegation visited Tashkent, Uzbekistani authorities acknowledged, as part of the U.N. Universal Periodic Review process, that in 2023, at least 27 male-identified persons have been prosecuted under Article 120.

Uzbekistani police continue to use forced anal exams — widely discredited as both forensically useless and a form of torture — to gather “evidence” to prosecute people under Article 120. Those convicted and imprisoned for engaging in same-sex relations then face being subjected to conversion therapy practices to treat the “disorder of homosexuality … to eliminate repeat crimes and offenses.” Additionally, a 2022 ECOM report documented how healthcare authorities shared individuals’ private medical information about HIV testing and treatment with law enforcement, putting LGBTQI+ Uzbekistanis at further risk for conviction under Article 120.

As part of the UPR process, five Equal Rights Coalitions members — Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Montenegro, and Spain — implored Uzbekistan to decriminalize consensual same-sex relations between adults. Likewise, civil society stakeholders echoed the call to repeal Article 120 and issued numerous other recommendations to promote the human rights of LGBTQI+ people in Uzbekistan, including anti-discrimination legislation; an end to forced anal exams; protection of privacy, especially regarding HIV status and treatment; thorough investigation of anti-LGBTQI+ violence and support for survivors of such violence; the decriminalization of HIV transmission; and an end to anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric from political and religious leaders. To date, Uzbekistan’s government has rebuffed all these recommendations.

While Kazakhstan repealed Soviet-era sodomy laws in the 1990s as part of sweeping post-independence legal reforms, the human rights situation for LGBTQI+ people there is not meaningfully better than in its southern neighbor. Indeed, Feminita, Kazakhstan’s leading feminist and LGBTQI+ organization, has been repeatedly denied registration to organize openly. In 2021, Feminita organized a private discussion in the city of Shymkent, only for their meeting to be broken up by unidentified men who physically assaulted the Feminita activists. In turn, the police responding to the situation interrogated the activists at length, detaining them for eight hours and threatening to charge them with “insulting a government representative” before forcibly driving them back to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, “for their own safety.”

As the U.S. State Department itself reported earlier this year, there are no legal protections from anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination in the country, and acts of violence, harassment, and extortion based on sexual orientation or gender identity, though somewhat common, were rarely investigated by the authorities. As in Uzbekistan, LGBTQI+ Kazakhstanis seldom turned to the authorities to report violence against them because they feared hostility, ridicule, and further violence, and because they did not trust law enforcement to safeguard their personal information, thus putting them at risk for losing employment and housing.

ECOM’s recent research corroborated this assessment, documenting several dozen cases of harassment and violence in Kazakhstan. Such cases included parents insulting and attempting to institutionalize their LGBTQI+ adult children; entrapment and blackmail by gangs luring LGBTQI+ persons looking for dates; disclosure of HIV status and discrimination against HIV advocates; and police indifference and open hostility to the survivors of anti-LGBTQI+ assaults and discrimination.

Unsurprisingly, we are skeptical, to say the least, of the commitment to democracy and human rights on the part of the governments of Central Asia. As the momentum for closer trade relations between the United States and Central Asia builds, the U.S. government should use this moment to press human rights concerns, to ask for more than broad promises, even as it offers incentives such as the repeal of Jackson-Vanik restrictions and the promise of PNTR status.

We understand that Jackson-Vanik is the product of another era, a tool originally designed to press Moscow to end its discriminatory limits on emigration by Soviet Jews and other minority groups. Moreover, we support the use of trade or other commercial incentives to promote human rights. But if Jackson-Vanik is indeed lifted, the Biden Administration needs to commit to the robust use of more appropriate human rights tools to address serious human rights violations in the region, including the targeted persecution of LGBTQI+ individuals. This should include Global Magnitsky sanctions against named individuals who target LGBTQI+ persons for arrest and prosecution, including those who order or perform forced anal exams on suspects in clear violation of medical ethics and human rights norms against torture. The Central Asian governments must not get a free pass on human rights on the road to free trade.

* For context, Russia earned 16/100, China 9, Iran 12, and Saudi Arabia 8, while Sweden and Norway scored 100, Canada 98, the United Kingdom 93, and the United States 83.

Ubuntu for LGBTQI+ Africans

In recent years, several African nations have enacted legislation to expand the criminalization of homosexuality. These laws pose a grave threat to the lives and freedoms of LGBTQI+ individuals across the continent. These laws not only contravene fundamental human rights principles but also erode democratic values and the rule of law, perpetuating stigma and discrimination against marginalized communities. Notable cases of such anti-LGBTQI+ legislation include Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, with far-reaching consequences for both LGBTQI+ individuals and the overall socio-political landscape of these nations.

Following the passage of one of the world’s most punitive anti-LGBTQI+ laws in Uganda, Kenyan Member of Parliament George Kaluma commended Uganda’s efforts, ominously signaling Kenya’s intent to embark on a similar path. Despite the existence of colonial-era penal codes already criminalizing homosexuality — codes that remain prevalent in post-colonial societies, especially among Commonwealth members — lawmakers in numerous African countries are unwavering in their pursuit of extending the criminalization of LGBTQI+ activities. This endeavor seeks to suppress any advancements made by the LGBTQI+ community and forestall the recognition of rights based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

For many LGBTQI+ individuals in these countries, who already endure hostile environments due to religious intolerance, disinformation about their identities, threats of violence from non-state actors, and state-sanctioned discriminatory legislation, the escalation of criminalization compounds an already precarious situation. In Uganda, the infamous Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted in 2014, imposing life imprisonment for same-sex acts. Although subsequently overturned by the constitutional court on procedural grounds, the damage had been done. LGBTQI+ individuals were subjected to harassment, violence, and discrimination, with many fleeing the country in fear. Even after the law’s repeal, the government continued its crackdown on LGBTQI+ rights, leading to the arrest and intimidation of activists. Tragically, Uganda’s president signed an even more oppressive anti-LGBTQI+ law this year, exacerbating the plight of community members and prompting the still-unfolding mass exodus of LGBTQI+ individuals facing an uncertain future.

Regrettably, Uganda’s situation has had a ripple effect on neighboring East African nations. Despite the harsh conditions reported in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, it continues to shelter many LGBTQI+ individuals fleeing Uganda, hoping for a better life through resettlement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, Kenyan lawmakers are currently pushing for even more severe anti-LGBTQI+ legislation. Kenya has an extensive history of anti-LGBTQI+ laws, with the penal code prescribing penalties of up to 14 years in prison for same-sex activity. In 2019, the country’s high court upheld this law, citing cultural and religious beliefs. LGBTQI+ individuals in Kenya face daily discrimination and violence, with many living in secrecy. Kenyan lawmakers seeking to expand criminalization and enact new anti-LGBTQI+ legislation aim to emulate Uganda’s repression, further marginalizing LGBTQI+ refugees.

Ghana has also witnessed a surge in anti-LGBTQI+ sentiment, culminating in a new bill that criminalizes same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ advocacy; as of this writing, this bill has passed the first of three required readings. This legislation has garnered widespread condemnation from human rights groups and activists who assert that it flagrantly violates basic human rights and undermines Ghana’s democratic and legal foundations. Nevertheless, many proponents of this draconian law have received significant support in a country where LGBTQI+ individuals are socially isolated and often scapegoated for political gain. Ghana’s predicament is not isolated, as Africa grapples with a continent-wide trend of expanding criminalization spearheaded by both local policymakers and well-funded lobbies from the Global North.

Similarly, Nigerian lawmakers have successfully enacted the anti-same-sex marriage prohibition act (SSMPA), another one of the harshest anti-LGBTQI+ laws on the continent, imposing penalties of up to 14 years in prison for same-sex activities. Like Ghana, Uganda, and Kenya, Nigeria’s colonial-era penal code already criminalized same-sex marriage and other activities deemed “against the order of nature.” LGBTQI+ individuals in Nigeria face daily discrimination and violence, often living in fear or exile. However, since the implementation of SSMPA, violence and state-sanctioned arrests continue to escalate, leaving many LGBTQI+ people living in constant fear, hindering public health efforts to provide them with essential information, treatment, and care.

The ramifications of Nigeria’s situation have had adverse effects on neighboring countries where LGBTQI+ individuals already face criminalization. Reports of violence against LGBTQ+ people are on the rise in West Africa, with some incidents documented on social media to incite fear within the community. Cameroon has also witnessed a recent surge in violence against the LGBTQI+ community, rendering many transgender individuals in particular unable to seek refuge in Nigeria.

At a fundamental level, these laws not only contravene basic human rights principles but also subvert democracy and the rule of law, perpetuating stigma and discrimination against an already marginalized community. They fragment local communities, encourage vigilantism, leading to mob violence and injustice, and run counter to the principles of inclusive development necessary for fostering thriving and prosperous societies. Furthermore, these laws have a chilling effect on civil society and the media, which often face intimidation and harassment when speaking out against them.

The efforts to expand criminalization — and, indeed, the perpetuation of existing colonial-era penal codes throughout much of Africa — run counter to the essence of Ubuntu, the concept often championed by Nelson Mandela. At its core, Ubuntu signifies reciprocity, the common good, peaceful relations, the primacy of human dignity, and the sanctity of human life, along with tolerance, and mutual respect.

Last month, on August 8, the World Bank announced a suspension of new public financing for Uganda until the effectiveness of measures implemented in response to Uganda’s new Anti-Homosexuality Act has been evaluated. While existing projects and funding will continue, this measure signifies a temporary halt on new projects pending a satisfactory outcome. Critics, including the Ugandan government, have accused the Bank of imperialism, ignoring the Bank’s anti-discrimination rules adopted after its Safeguards review, encompassed within the Environmental & Social Framework for IPF Operations, particularly those pertaining to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI). The Bank’s stance is unequivocal: discriminatory laws and policies are at odds with its core values and impede efforts to enhance the lives of ordinary Ugandans.

The success of international development initiatives hinges on the inclusion of all, irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. This holds true not just for Uganda but for every nation dedicated to improving the well-being of its populace. Thus, these countries must urgently repeal their anti-homosexuality laws and refrain from further endeavors to expand criminalization to ensure the continued success of their public health programs and overall development.

The U.S. government has signaled its intent to respond in kind. Following Uganda’s enactment of the AHA, President Biden swiftly indicated a review of Uganda’s eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), along with potential sanctions and entry restrictions to the United States. Simultaneously, the Council for Global Equality (CGE) urged the Biden administration to halt funding for the homophobic government and other entities, impose individual sanctions on those responsible for the draconian law in Uganda, and provide direct support to endangered members of the Ugandan LGBTQI+ community. Similar appeals have been made by various domestic and international organizations, aligning with local Ugandan groups’ demands.

Furthermore, it is fallacious to argue that anti-LGBTQI+ laws are seldom enforced and therefore pose minimal risks and dangers. The laws are being actively enforced — as thoroughly documented by Ugandan activists. Moreover, the moral panic, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial violence, widespread fear, and chaos ensuing after the enactment of new anti-LGBTQI+ laws bear testament to their immediate adverse impact and the hostile environment they foster, a deliberate outcome sought by the proponents of such laws.

Additionally, the assertion that African countries face complex challenges like poverty, thus relegating LGBTQI+ issues as low priorities, is equally misguided. While it is true that Africa confronts multifaceted challenges, governments must avoid exacerbating the vulnerabilities of those most affected by these issues. According to the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), inequalities not only harm individuals but also hinder progress against AIDS, reducing the efficacy of HIV investments and jeopardizing millions of lives.

The phenomenon of “brain drain” resulting from these inequalities is particularly significant. Many LGBTQI+ youth are uprooting their lives, leaving their home countries in search of safety, acceptance, and opportunities to thrive as their authentic selves. Some have no other choice but to flee and seek refugee protection abroad if they hope to survive to adulthood. The specific economic and developmental ramifications of this brain drain on African nations remain uncertain due to the absence of comprehensive data. Nevertheless, some estimates suggest that Africa incurs approximately $2.0 billion in annual losses through brain drain in the health sector alone.

As more African youths depart the continent in droves for various reasons, including persecution based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, this trend undermines Africa’s development efforts and is unsustainable. As Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, aptly notes, “the future of Africa’s youth does not lie in migration to Europe; it should not be at the bottom of the Mediterranean; it lies in a prosperous Africa.” To achieve developmental goals despite the challenges, Africa must harness the potential of all its citizens and create a secure, inclusive society that welcomes everyone, including vulnerable groups like LGBTQI+ individuals.

To genuinely uphold democracy and the rule of law, African governments must repeal these harmful and discriminatory laws. They must also take concrete actions to protect the rights of all individuals, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This entails addressing discrimination and violence against LGBTQI+ individuals, promoting education and awareness about LGBTQI+ issues, and ensuring the freedom of civil society and the media to advocate against discrimination while championing equality and human rights. Collaboration with international development partners is crucial to ensuring that no one is left behind, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

The proliferation of anti-LGBTQI+ laws in Africa constitutes a perilous trend that imperils the lives and freedoms of countless individuals, placing the continent at a disadvantage. These laws contravene fundamental human rights principles, while also undermining democracy and the rule of law. It is imperative that African governments take decisive action to repeal these harmful and discriminatory laws while actively promoting equality and human rights for all.

Global Equality Today (September 2023)

Happy Autumn! (Almost)

True, neither the calendar nor the temperatures in D.C. quite reflect that fall is upon us. But we’re already diving into what will certainly be a very busy season here in Washington. CGE and its 35 member organizations are hard at work engaging our partners in the Administration and on Capitol Hill to ensure that U.S. foreign policy consistently and comprehensively promotes LGBTQI+ human rights around the world.

There are plenty of challenges in front of us, from the possibility of a government shutdown, the PEPFAR reauthorization stalemate, and the distractions of the 2024 election cycle to a flood of viciously anti-LGBTQI+ legislative efforts, not only here in the United States but in dozens of other countries as well.

But we are not approaching our mission from a defensive posture, no matter how well-organized the movement to roll back the human rights of LGBTQI+ people — and democracy and civil society at large — might be. Instead, with sixteen months to go in this first Biden Administration, we are focused on institutionalizing our victories and expanding our pro-human rights agenda:

• Alongside HRC, we are working with our Hill allies calling for the President’s Budget request to include $40 million for the State Department’s Global Equality Fund (GEF) and $30 million for USAID’s Inclusive Development Hub’s Protection of LGBTQI+ Persons in the FY2025 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bills. We are also partnering with numerous allies in the HIV and SRHR (sexual and reproductive health and rights) movements to pass a clean PEPFAR reauthorization, even in the face of unprecedented attacks from the anti-abortion movement.

• CGE — in collaboration with Rainbow Railroad, ORAM, Immigration Equality, and IRAP, all CGE members — is working with the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration to ensure that the Biden Administration’s direct referral and private sponsorship mechanisms for refugees are both fully LGBTQI+-inclusive and fully operational. This includes promoting Rainbow Railroad’s referrals to  the new Welcome Corps program that will allow local groups to sponsor LGBTQI+ refugees to bring them to safety in the United States. (You can read more in our World Refugee Day blog.)

• We are excited by USAID’s release of its revised and expanded LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development Policy, and we are looking forward to collaborating with USAID’s Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator, Jay Gilliam, and his team to make sure that LGBTQI+ concerns are truly incorporated throughout the Agency’s work. To that end, we’ve added meetings with USAID’s regional and thematic bureaus to our annual meetings with State’s regional bureaus. And we are supporting the development of a new accountability mechanism at USAID to ensure that any violations of this groundbreaking new policy — or any other USAID policies ­— are reported and addressed at the local level.  

• We are working hard with Ugandan activists on the ground and with a global solidarity coalition organizing to overturn the horrific Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) assented to by President Museveni in May. The law has a genocidal intent and is already being implemented to disastrous effect. We are simultaneously working with regional colleagues to prevent the passage of similar anti-LGBTQI+ bills in other African countries, including Ghana and Kenya. Likewise, we are monitoring the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, where anti-LGBTQI+ legislation is pending and attacks on the LGBTQI+ communities are escalating, notably in Lebanon and Iraq.

• As part of our work fighting the AHA in Uganda, CGE met with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to call for the suspension of Uganda from AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides preferential trade benefits for qualifying countries. The AHA — the most draconian anti-LGBTQI+ law in the world — clearly contravenes the human rights requirements of the program, as well as the goals and ideals that animate the AGOA trade framework. CGE also has submitted public comments on Uganda, Kenya, and Ghana — in the latter two cases, with the goal of building pressure to scrap proposed anti-LGBTQI+ laws there — and will continue to work with our partners in the Administration and on the Hill to use U.S. trade policy as a tool to promote human rights.

CGE Co-Chairs Julie Dorf and Mark Bromley with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, center.

• We will continue to work with U.S., European, and Central Asian partners to push Uzbekistan for full decriminalization of homosexuality and the immediate end to the pervasive human rights violations committed against Uzbekistan’s LGBTQI+ community by state and non-state actors. This spring and summer, CGE and its partners have been meeting regularly with Congressional partners to promote this priority and to oppose rewarding Tashkent with normal trade relations without improving its human rights record. As Senators Murphy and Young introduce legislation to repeal Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions on Uzbekistan and its neighbors, we call on Congress and the Administration to ensure that human rights standards — including the decriminalization of homosexuality — are part of the trade normalization process.

Looking over the last few months, our work has included…

• CGE released an updated and expanded edition of Accessing U.S. Embassies: A Guide for LGBTQI+ Human Rights Defenders, our resource for helping international partners understand and access U.S. embassies and missions and build and maintain productive working relationships with U.S. diplomatic and development staff in around the world. This guide, released in English in June, will soon be available in Spanish, French, and Arabic as well.

• In May, CGE Co-Chair Mark Bromley attended the inaugural meeting of the P7 (for “Pride7”) that brought together LGBTQI+ advocates from the world’s leading industrial democracies to lobby the G7 alliance to promote LGBTQI+ human rights. The P7 meeting, ahead of the full G7 summit in Hiroshima, helped win support for passage of Japan’s first-ever LGBTQI+ rights legislation (as incomplete as the law may be) as well as lay the groundwork for the P7 becoming an officially recognized civil society engagement group attached to the G7.

CGE Co-Chair Mark Bromley joins other advocates at the inaugural meeting of the P7 in Tokyo

• At a June reception, CGE honored former Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) with our Global Equality Award shortly after he left Congress to lead the Rhode Island Foundation. We had the opportunity to talk with Rep. Cicilline about his leadership with the Congressional Equality Caucus and the Foreign Affairs Committee, the progress we’ve made during his dozen years in Congress, and the opportunities we see and the challenges we’re facing. Additionally, Ambassador Ursu Viorel of Moldova spoke powerfully about being the first openly LGBTQI+ Ambassador from a former Soviet republic and his country’s fundamental commitment to democracy and human rights — even as Russia wages war next door in Ukraine.

Top: former Rep. David Cicilline accepts the Global Equality Award

Bottom: Amb. Ursu Viorel of Moldova speaks to the reception

• In May, we spoke with Alexander Voronov, Executive Director of Coming Out, an NGO that provides legal, psychological, and other direct services to Russia’s LGBTQI+ community. Alex spoke about Coming Out’s continuing work, even in the face of the worsening crackdown on dissent in Putin’s Russia following the invasion of Ukraine — a crackdown that forced him to leave the country and function from exile.

• For IDAHOBIT, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia, we welcomed the U.S. government’s rollout of its Interagency Action Plan dedicated to ending so-called “conversion therapy” (CTP) practices around the world. With this plan, the U.S. government has committed itself to the numerous partnerships necessary to stop these abusive practices. This includes working with LGBTQI+ community groups around the world; with like-minded allies and other partner governments; and with faith leaders, educators, professional associations, and other civil society networks. The U.S. government also plans to work to end CTPs at various multilateral fora, including the development banks and international institutions to which the United States is a party, to ensure that no financial or programmatic support, direct or otherwise, goes towards CTPs.

• For Pride in June — knowing how easy it is to focus on the backlash and the battles we’re fighting — we published a list of 23 recent victories in the movement for LGBTQI+ justice and human rights. We also reiterated how Pride marches are both expressions of fundamental rights to democratic participation and tools for promoting inclusivity, visibility, and acceptance. CGE staff also attended the annual State Department and USAID Pride receptions, meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Administrator Samantha Power, respectively.

Co-Chair Julie Dorf and CGE member leaders meet with Secretary of State Blinken, left

• Additionally, at the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, CGE promotes accountability and investments that support LGBTQI+-inclusive development. CGE staff helped organize several World Bank meetings over the summer that ultimately led to the freezing of new investments in Uganda following the adoption of the AHA.

23 Victories to Celebrate for Pride 2023

As Pride Month comes to a close, we thought we’d take a moment to look back at some of the victories we’ve seen in the movement for global LGBTQI+ human rights over the past year:

Decriminalization

1. Five more countries have struck down discriminatory colonial-era laws that criminalized homosexuality, including three Caribbean countries — Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and St. Kitts and Nevis  — plus Singapore and the Cook Islands.

2. After last year’s historic ruling CEDAW ruling that Sri Lanka breached the rights of pioneering lesbian activist Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, Colombo has taken key steps towards decriminalizing homosexuality in the South Asian island country.

3. To the surprise of many, Pope Francis spoke out against laws criminalizing homosexuality.

Marriage Equality & Family Recognition

4. In December, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act after Congress passed the law enshrining the rights to same-sex marriage equality and interracial marriage into law.

5. Just last week, Estonia became the first former Soviet republic to introduce marriage equality. This comes after victories over the past year in Mexico, Cuba, Slovenia, Switzerland,and Andorra extending the equal right to marriage to same-sex couples.

6. Several Asian countries took important steps towards marriage equality this past year —  whether through elections or court rulings — including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and just as we went to press, Nepal.

7. Other victories for LGBTQI+ families included Taiwan’s legislature approving adoption rights for same-sex parents; Bolivia’s highest court recognizing civil unions; Namibia’s Supreme Court recognizing the rights same-sex couples married abroad; and Nepal’s Supreme Court likewise recognizing the foreign spouse of a Nepali citizen married overseas.

Transgender Rights & Legal Gender Recognition

8. In February, Spain passed a landmark legal gender recognition law allowing transgender people to change their gender marker on official documents based solely on their self-identification. In April, Vietnam took major steps in the same direction.

9. Earlier this month, U.S. federal judges struck down Arkansas’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and Tennessee’s ban on drag shows on core constitutional grounds. And just yesterday, federal judges similarly blocked portions of bans on gender-affirming care for minors from going into effect in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Ending Involuntary and Coercive Medical and Psychological Anti-LGBTQI+ Practices

10. Greece and Kenya took major steps to protect intersex children from medically unnecessary “sex normalization” surgeries.

11. Spain, Iceland, and Cyprus joined the list of countries of countries that ban so-called “conversion therapy” practices — a list that also includes Canada, France, Malta, and (for minors only) Germany, Greece, and New Zealand.

12. Following President Biden’s Pride Month Executive Order last year, the State Department recently rolled out the U.S. government’s action plan to globally combat these so-called “conversion therapy” practices.

13. Vietnam officially adopted the positions that same-sex attraction and transgender status are not mental health disorders, bringing the nation in line with global health and human rights standards.

Rights and Resistance

14. In February, Kenya’s high court ruled in favor of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, ending its decade-long battle for official recognition. And just this month, Eswatini’s Supreme Court similarly ruled that denying LGBTQI+ organizations the right to register is discriminatory and unconstitutional. 

15. In recognition of her extraordinary advocacy for LGBTQI+ rights in war-torn Ukraine, TIME named Olena Shevchenko, leader of the Insight NGO, as one of its Women of the Year.

16. Activists such as Aleksandr Voronov have continued to promote social, legal, and health services for LGBTQI+ Russians, and a free civil society more generally, despite being forced to leave their homeland.

17. Tens of thousands of people marched in the Warsaw Pride parade a week ago in defiance of the right-wing government. This comes after yet another court ruled in favor of activists protesting the so-called “LGBT-free zones” declared by many Polish cities and towns.

Multilateral Cooperation to Promote LGBTQI+ Human Rights

18. In advance of May’s G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japanese LGBTQI+ activists hosted their international counterparts in the first-ever meeting of the “Pride 7,” or P7, to promote both domestic LGBTQI+ rights and coordination by the largest alliance of democratic industrial economies to promote LGBTQI+ human rights globally. This led to the passage of Japan’s first LGBTQI+ rights law.

19. The list of countries with ambassador-level officials promoting global LGBTQI+ human rights has grown to five: Argentina, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (Brazil and Germany also have high-level political appointees promoting internal LGBTQI+ rights.)

20. 50,000 people marched across the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge as part of World Pride ’23 celebrations, a landmark event promoting LGBTQI+ human rights across Asia and the Pacific. And mark your calendars for World Pride ’25 in Washington, D.C.!

21. At World Pride, Australia announced its increased contribution to the Global Equality Fund. The Global Equality Fund, with the support of nearly twenty countries plus numerous private sector partners, has now distributed more than $100 million to promote LGBTQI+ civil society and protect LGBTQI+ human rights defenders in its ten years of operating. Earlier this spring, Spain became the 18th member of GEF, and just this week, New Zealand became #19.

22. USAID launched the Rainbow Fund, an initiative through which U.S. missions overseas integrate LGBTQI+ considerations into a broad range of sectors, including economic empowerment, education, health services, food security, and anti-corruption programs. USAID also launched the Alliance for Global Equality, a public-private partnership to promote LGBTQI+ community-based groups, build networks for LGBTQI+ workplace and social inclusion, and support leadership development in service of strengthening democracy. The State Department launched the Global LGBTQI+ Inclusive Democracy and Empowerment (GLIDE) initiative to support LGBTQI+ participation in democratic institutions.

23. Victor Madrigal-Borloz is just now completing his highly successful final term as the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, promoting LGBTQI+ human rights all over the world and institutionalizing SOGIESC work within U.N. institutions. The LGBTI Core Group, an alliance of U.N. members dedicated to advancing LGBTQI+ human rights through the United Nations, welcomed six new members: Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Finland, Honduras, Ireland, and Timor Leste.

Yes, we know that some of these steps are partial victories, whether we’re looking at the limits of the U.S. Respect for Marriage Act, the watered-down compromise bill passed by the Japanese Diet, the ban on marriage equality written into Singapore’s repeal of Section 377A, or Pope Francis’s continued reference to homosexuality as “sin.” And none of these steps forward mitigate the horrors of the vicious anti-LGBTQI+ laws that have been passed recently in U.S. states and around the world, the transphobic hysteria whipped up by cynical politicians, the war still raging in Ukraine, or the violence endured and the fears experienced by our communities in too many parts of the world.

We know all that; we, and many of you, work day in and day out on those issues, and we never forget that. We keep up our advocacy to make U.S. foreign policy more LGBTQI+-inclusive, to strengthen LGBTQI+ civil society around the world, and to show that democracy and human rights for all really mean for all. Rights are hard-fought by our communities and by fearless advocates in all countries. Justice is achieved step by step, small victory after small victory.

As we wind down June, as we keep our eye on bending the arc of history towards justice, it’s important to take a moment to celebrate our victories and remember what we have indeed accomplished. After all, the movement for LGBTQI+ human rights is one that continues all year round, and that’s something to be proud of.

Revoke Uganda’s AGOA Benefits Now

June 22, 2023 – The Council for Global Equality met this month with Ambassador Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative, to call for the suspension of Uganda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides duty-free trade access to U.S. markets for qualifying African countries. The appeal is based on the severe and still-escalating persecution of the country’s LGBTQI+ community.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law in May the most draconian piece of legislation targeting LGBTQI+ individuals anywhere in the world, a law that requires reporting of suspected LGBTQI+ persons and creates the legal foundations for mass atrocities. The new law significantly increases already harsh criminal penalties to life in prison or death, and it now even criminalizes those who advocate for the rights of LGBTQI+ persons with 20 years in prison and even those who rent housing or local accommodations to them with 7 years in prison. Under the law, corporations now must report suspected LGBTQI+ employees and customers to the authorities for criminal investigation. This new legal framework is genocidal in its intent, and it clearly contravenes the ideals that animate the AGOA trade framework.

Initially enacted in 2000 to support economic growth and development in Africa, AGOA qualifying countries must demonstrate progress in developing market-based economic policies, securing the rule of law, combating corruption, and protecting human rights. Countries that qualify automatically receive preferential trade access to U.S. markets. But the qualifications are intended to be strict. President Biden terminated preferential benefits in December 2021 for Ethiopia and Mali on human rights grounds, and several other countries have previously been terminated on rule of law grounds. Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Eritrea also remain suspended over human rights concerns.

The Council welcomes President Biden’s statement after the Ugandan law was signed that the Administration will consider the impact of the law in its review of Uganda’s AGOA eligibility. Senator Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has also called on President Biden “to immediately suspend Uganda’s AGOA benefits, and work with our allies to remove similar benefits until Uganda repeals its cruel anti-LGBTQI+ law and improves its record on human rights, corruption and rule of law.” In April, Senator Wyden also wrote to Ambassador Tai and Secretary Antony Blinken with a similar request.

The ban on duty-free imports from Uganda would likely have the most impact in the coffee sector. Coffee bean sales represent the country’s second-largest source of foreign exchange income. It will also send a clear signal to investors and international markets: the message that Uganda is not open for business. Indeed, to emphasize that point, Secretary Blinken has directed the State Department to update U.S. travel and investment warnings for American citizens and U.S. businesses in the context of the new law.

Now is the time for the Biden Administration to stand firmly for human rights and the LGBTQI+ community in Uganda by terminating all of the country’s benefits under AGOA.

Coming Out in Putin’s Russia: A Conversation with Aleksandr Voronov

We recently had the chance to spend some time with Russian LGBTQI+ activist Aleksandr Voronov on his visit to Washington, D.C. in early May. Aleksandr — Alex, to his American friends — is the Executive Director of Coming Out, an NGO that provides legal, psychological, and other direct services to Russia’s LGBTQI+ community. Coming Out also conducts research on Russian attitudes on sexual orientation and gender identity; supports families and friends of Russian LGBTQI+ community members; and builds working partnerships with allies in the country’s legal, business, media, mental health, and other professional spaces.

Broadly speaking, Alex explained, Coming Out works to make everyday life better for LGBTQI+ Russians, to identify access points to change in Russian society and culture, and to find allies and make them into agents of change, all on the road to equality.

Alex, who has been based in Vilnius, Lithuania, since shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine last year, shared his story of joining Coming Out in early 2020. A social worker in Saint Petersburg working with families, people living with HIV, and unhoused persons, Alex was looking for a career change right as Coming Out was hiring for its brand-new position of Monitoring and Advocacy Officer. He came on board at the beginning of April 2020, just as Russia was implementing COVID-19 lockdowns.

For the Saint Petersburg-based organization, this turned out to be an unexpected blessing, as Coming Out shifted to online operations — allowing it to serve the LGBTQI+ community across Russia’s eleven time zones, not just in its home city. This shift allowed Coming Out to not only to survive but to grow, even as Russian authorities declared the NGO to be a “foreign agent” and then as Coming Out’s leadership left the country following the beginning of the Ukraine War. As Alex noted, yes, being labeled as a “foreign agent” led some Russians to stop volunteering with Coming Out, some businesses and other partners to end their collaborations with the organization. But Alex — who was promoted to serve as Executive Director in late 2021, right before the “foreign agent” ruling came down — and his leadership team steered Coming Out through this pair of existential crises to survival and expansion of its services, even from outside Russia’s borders.

As one might expect, the Ukraine War and the series of homophobic and transphobic laws pushed from the Kremlin have made life challenging for Russia’s LGBTQI+ community — though not always in ways the West might expect.

The escalating mobilization for a war originally planned to take just a few days carries particular implications for the LGBTQI+ community, notably in prohibiting citizens identified as male on official documents from leaving the country. At the same time, the Russian state is also proposing to make it more difficult for citizens to officially change their gender markers on such documents. While the implementation of the new policy is just kicking in, it may very well add to wartime challenges facing transgender Russians, whose access to gender-affirming hormone therapy has been disrupted by the conflict and whose ongoing economic marginalization has only escalated due to the state of the Russian war economy. And a new bill in the Russian parliament may also shut down private centers for transition-related care, making it even more difficult, if not impossible, for many transgender Russians to seek ongoing treatment and transition support.

For Vladimir Putin, “the war in Ukraine and his country’s decade-long assault on LGBTQ rights are two sides of the same coin,” argues Foreign Policy analyst Amy Mackinnon. “Scapegoated in the state media and portrayed as agents of Western influence, Russia’s queer community was the canary in the coal mine of the wider offensive against the West that was to follow when Putin returned to the presidency in 2012.” Both the original 2013 anti-LGBTQ “propaganda” law and the expanded law passed late last year point to the importance of this tool in the arsenal Putin is wielding both against the West and the against the very concepts of human rights and civil society.

In an op-ed last week, Graeme Reid, Director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program, likewise framed the expanded “propaganda” law as a move “to consolidate conservative support at home and position Russia as the defender of ‘traditional values’, in opposition to ‘the west’.” The 2013 law itself “has been at the heart of Russia’s domestic politics and foreign engagements — a symbol of its wholesale rejection of universal human rights. Its extension is but one further step in representing LGBT+ rights as a foreign threat and a Trojan-horse ‘enemy within’,” Reid argues. Reid and others have long noted how Putin has this rhetoric to restore Russia’s influence in the traditional Soviet sphere of influence, from Viktor Orban’s Hungary and Duda’s Poland to the authoritarian regimes of Central Asia. Now, Russia is exporting both military helicopters and anti-LGBTQI+ legislation to Uganda, among other partners in the war on democracy and human rights.

Prague, Czech Republic – September 8, 2013: No gay propaganda beyond this line. Banner against the Russian anti gay laws in front of the Russian Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic.

For Alex, the importance of the anti-propaganda laws at home lies less in their direct prosecution, as that has been relatively infrequent and mostly haphazard. Instead, as documented by the recent research Coming Out conducted in partnership with Sphere, another LGBTQI+ Russian organization, the major impacts of the laws for everyday citizens are psychological stress and self-censorship. That is, the fear of bringing up LGBTQI+ issues is real. And the infrequent, almost arbitrary use of the law in unpredictable ways magnifies the psychological stress, because it’s not easy to predict when the government will bring charges. This keeps the community on edge, and that’s the point.

From the outside, the Russian system looks more like a system than it actually is. What Russians face is repressive but not predictably so, and that uncertainty adds greatly to the daily stress. Indeed, the randomness of how anti-LGBTQI+ laws are used is central to the repression: when you might or might not be punished for your actions, there’s no way to plan, and the tendency, Alex explained, is to not say anything, not share anything on social media, out of an understandable abundance of caution. Also, while some dating apps have left Russia, there hasn’t yet been a full-scale push by the authorities to close LGBTQI+ bars and other commercial venues — but that potential loss of critical social space could very well still happen. Indeed, indications suggest that’s coming.

One particular danger that the anti-propaganda laws pose for LGBTQI+ Russians and their allies is grounded in police corruption. For police officers trying to meet quotas of cases prosecuted — whether to get more money, a promotion, or more stars on their uniform — winning a conviction for propaganda is far easier than investigating and prosecuting a case for murder or burglary, for example. Rather than conducting an extensive investigation, winning a propaganda conviction only requires going online, finding and saving a questionable post, and showing it to the court.

For Alex, there’s an opportunity in the general disinterest in LGBTQI+ issues on the part of Russians at large. As Coming Out’s research has shown, Russians don’t necessarily believe in their current political system, but — as they focus on paying their rent, making ends meet, and staying out of poverty — they want to fit in and survive. This harkens back to life under the oppressive Soviet system. Stability and order are as central to Russian political culture as freedom and liberty are in American politics. So, as Alex explained, if the state warns that Westerners with “non-traditional values” (a phrase whose power lies in its vagueness) are endangering that stability, to upset the “don’t ask, don’t tell” order of daily life, that’s an effective message.

Coming Out’s research also suggests that though the anti-propaganda laws have been crushing for activism in Russia, along with the brutal state crackdown on all dissent since the outbreak of the war, LGBTQI+ Russians are not experiencing homophobia as a constant factor in their everyday lives. In Saint Petersburg and Moscow, being queer is becoming normalized, especially for younger people (although LGBTQI+ people are far less likely to feel safe coming out in other parts of the country). “So, while activism isn’t really happening right now, people are living their lives,” Alex noted.

As we wound down our conversation, Alex brought up the urgency of not conflating the Russian people with the Russian government. He pointed to the large protests last year — and to the violence and cruelty of the state in punishing demonstrators — as evidence that many Russians would like to change the situation they face but don’t currently have to tools to do so. The lack of independent media also remains a key factor – though, as Alex reminded me, the American example shows that access to a broad range of viewpoints doesn’t foreclose support for authoritarian politicians.

As Alex returns to Vilnius, as the Coming Out team continues to advocate for LGBTQI+ Russians, and as Russia’s war continues in Ukraine with no end in sight, the fight against the various repressive tactics of authoritarianism includes supporting our LGBTQI+ colleagues working in Russia and elsewhere around the world on the frontlines of the fight for democracy.  The fight for LGBTQI+ rights is a fight for democracy and free civil society, and there is no clearer example of that than Russia.