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.

Happy International Women’s Day!

(March 8, 2024) Today, International Women’s Day, we’re excited to feature a handful of some of the fabulous and fierce lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, and allied women working all around the world for justice broadly and for LBTQ+ women in particular.

Some are working for legal gender recognition, marriage equality, and sexual liberation; others are combating gender-based violence and discrimination and organizing for women- and queer-inclusive humanitarian relief. Their methods, goals, and contexts vary, but they all share extraordinary passion, skill, and dedication to feminist and queer inclusion and empowerment.

So without further ado, let’s celebrate these and all LBTQ+ women working to make the world a better place!

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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. 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.  

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.

BUKOLA LANDIS-AINA, Executive Director, Q Christian Fellowship (United States)

Bukola Landis-Aina is a first-generation Nigerian-American who is the Executive Director of Q Christian Fellowship, an organization that cultivates radical belonging for LGBTQI+ Christians and allies through a commitment to growth, community, and relational justice. Bukola is also a patent attorney, having studied Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and law at New York University. Additionally, she is ordained as a deacon. Bukola can often be found engaging in competitive sports, skiing, mentoring high school students, bringing people together, baking a cake, hosting weary travelers, and planning her next getaway with her wife and two little ones.

Top Advocacy Priorities: The vision that inspires Bukola in her work is to lead a community that prophetically models a world where all LGBTQI+ people are fully loved by family, church, and community, and Christians worldwide live up to their calling to be instruments of grace and defenders of the outcasts.

CAROL MUDZENGI, Programmes and Fundraising Officer, Voice of the Voiceless (Zimbabwe)

Carol is a queer African feminist, artist, and healing justice activist who cares deeply about decoloniality as a tool for mental well-being and collective wellness. Carol believes in trauma-informed holistic well-being with the key objective being collective care and love. She advocates for inclusion of LBQT+ persons in Zimbabwe, now with the Voice of the Voiceless collective, and has been active as an LGBTQI+ activist in various capacities for over 10 years. Carol is always seeking innovation in how queer identifying individuals can interrogate intersectionality with other struggles and build alliances with other movements.

Top Advocacy Priorities: Feminist healing justice as a catalyst for all other forms of justice to be attained.

TIFFANY KAGURE MUGO, Curator, HOLA Africa (South Africa)

Tiffany Kagure Mugo is the curator of HOLA Africa, a Pan-African sex-positive digital platform that focuses sex and sexuality on the continent through archiving stories, knowledge production and edutainment, digital community building and creating spaces that deal with safe sex and pleasure and other aspects of the politics and presence of sexuality. She hosts the sex and relationship podcast, Basically Life, and is a TED speaker. She is the author of Quirky Quick Guide To Having Great Sex, and she curated the anthology, Touch: Sex, Sexuality and Sensuality.

Top Advocacy Priorities: Bodily and sexual autonomy 

NORA NORALLA, Executive Director, Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute (Egypt)

Nora Noralla is an Egyptian human rights researcher and consultant. She is currently the Executive Director of Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute and a non-resident fellow at The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Her work focuses mainly on digital rights, sexual and bodily freedoms, LGBTQ+ rights, and Islamic Sharia from an intersectional queer feminist perspective. Her engagement with the human rights field started in the wake of the 25th of January revolution in Egypt. She has worked with different NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Article 19, and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Top Advocacy Priorities: It is essential to identify new entry points for advancing LGBTQI+ rights in challenging contexts, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Basic fundamental human rights, including the right to health and legal gender recognition for transgender and intersex individuals, can be attained through coordinated strategic litigation efforts. These efforts can exert pressure on MENA governments to ensure these rights, thus serving as crucial entry points for LGBTQI+ advocacy.

OLENA SHEVCHENKO, Chair, Insight (Ukraine)

A long-term advocate for LGBTQI+ and women’s rights in Europe & Central Asia, Olena Shevchenko founded Insight in 2007 to organize in support of the LGBTQI+ community in her native Ukraine. Since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Olena has been at the forefront of establishing shelters and safe houses for LGBTQI+ Ukrainians fleeing the war, of providing food and other emergency supplies to women and LGBTQI+ people, and of advocating for LGBTQI+ inclusion in the humanitarian response to the crisis. For her work, TIME recognized Olena as one of its “Women of the Year” in early 2023.

Top Advocacy Priorities: Implementation of the Istanbul Convention (on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence); passage of the civil partnership law for LGBTQI+ people in Ukraine.

DRAGANA TODOROVIC, Executive Director, EL*C (Serbia)

Dragana Todorović is the scandalously efficient Executive Co-Director of EL*C, the EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community. With an unparalleled passion for the lesbian movement and an entrepreneurial spirit that doesn’t take “impossible” for an answer, Dragana (re)defines the limits of the lesbian skies, drawing from a robust and eclectic experience combining the private sector, governmental institutions, and national and regional NGOs. This fierce Yugoslavian lesbian is notably the instigator of the Balkan LGBTI network, ERA, which she led for seven years as its Executive Co-Director. A multi-hyphenated and visionary character, her numerous talents stop at drafting her own bio, which she delegates blindly to her lover.

Top Advocacy Priorities: Advocating for the adoption of the LBQ Resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which would be the first-ever international policy instrument to specifically address all forms of discrimination and violence faced by LBQ women; Lobbying for LBQ-inclusive implementation and monitoring of the Istanbul Convention, to ensure that the systems of protection, access to justice and assistance are effective for all women by adopting an intersectional approach, considering the additional obstacles faced by women from marginalized groups.

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.

U.S. Embassy and Blue Diamond Society Partner to Make Disaster Risk Reduction LGBTI-Inclusive

April 27, 2012– The U.S. Embassy partnered with the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights organization at a workshop this morning to discuss ways to include the LGBTI community in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and relief programs.

The event, held at the Blue Diamond Society’s office in Lazimpat, Kathmandu, featured presentations from Nepal Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET), USAID, and the Nepal Red Cross Society. Topics covered included Earthquake Risks, Personal Preparedness Measures, and How to Access Humanitarian Assistance.

The goal of the half-day workshop was to bring stakeholders from the LGBTI and DRR communities together to discuss how programs could be more LGBTI-inclusive.

“It’s important that our programs are accessible and appropriate for all populations,” said Sheila Roquitte, Director of Disaster Risk Reduction Office at USAID. “Working with the Blue Diamond Society, we believe targeted risk reduction education within the LGBTI community can be an effective tool for outreach.”

The Blue Diamond Society was founded in 2001 to advocate for and protect the sexual health and human rights of LGBTI people in Nepal. While research has demonstrated that LGBTI people can be especially vulnerable in the wake of disasters, the U.S. Embassy hopes that by partnering with local LGBTI organizations, it can reach out to communities and reduce risk.

USAID is committed to addressing LGBT rights in all of its development activities, including disaster risk reduction.  Earlier this month at a film screening on LGBT Human Rights, USAID Deputy Administrator Don Steinberg said, “Promoting LGBT rights is not just a question of fairness but it is also a matter of effectiveness.  The work of development experts is done more comprehensively and successfully when we ensure full inclusion and equality for all, including people with disabilities, indigenous groups, women, and the LGBT community.”

Nepal census recognizes third gender for the first time

Repost from United Nations Development Programme

Nepal has just completed its first national census that officially includes a third option in the gender categories that citizens can select, opening the way for stronger recognition of sexual and gender minority rights in provision of public services.

Official recognition of third gender rights follows a landmark 2007 Supreme Court decision aimed at securing rights for Nepal’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex population, adding the new category on citizenship documentation essential to access a range of health and legal services.

Nepal census recognizes ‘third gender’

repost from CNN.com

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) — When census gatherers went door-to-door visiting 5.6 million households across Nepal this month, they collected information not only on the country’s men and women, but also on a so-called third gender.

In what is believed to be a world first, Nepal’s Central Bureau of Statistics is giving official recognition to gay and transgender people — a move seen as major victory for equality in a country that only decriminalized homosexual relationships three years ago.

Among those happy to stand up and be counted in the third gender category is Dilu Buduja, 35. “I was born as a girl, but as I grew up I felt I was a boy. Today I totally feel like a man,” he said.

A spokesman for the statistics bureau, Bikash Bista, said the new categorization was an attempt to open up the traditionally conservative country up to different points of view. Continue Reading at CNN.com