“We rise above”: the 2024 end-of-year message by ILGA World

Dear member organisations, dear friends,

There is no denying it: 2024 has been an emotional, heavy year. Across the globe, crises and conflicts are shaking us all and are casting long shadows on the march towards progress.

Reactionary political forces continue to attack our communities and erode changes towards equality for all we have fought hard  for— sometimes for decades and not only for LGBTI communities, but all who strive for freedom, justice, equality, and dignity.

Yes: the challenges we face are immense. Today, years of hard-fought progress are on the line. And that is why we need to be there for each other.

Whether resisting anti-rights governments, standing with those fleeing violence, or supporting marginalised communities, we are united by a shared determination to build a freer, more just, and inclusive world. Together, we fight back and defy the attempts to silence us, finding strength in each other and in the countless acts of courage by activists and allies around the world.

ILGA World is where the thousands of people forming our global movement see each other, have a home, and realise they are not alone.

To every member organisation, every activist, and every ally —you have our deepest gratitude. Your work continues to protect and expand the space for our communities to exist, thrive, and be celebrated. Every day, you refuse to give in to fear and hatred, and this is inspiring more people that you’ll ever know.

When the weight of the world is trying to keep us down, we come together to rise above.

In 2024,  Mali passed its first law criminalising consensual same-sex sexual acts and banning the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ – all under the guise of ‘protecting traditional values.’ Georgia passed a new law banning any legal recognition to — and adoptions by — same-sex couples, legal gender recognition, and information about LGBTI people in public spheres. Many countries are mulling laws that severely restrict freedom of expression related to sexual and gender diversity. In the United States, as many as 574 bills have been directly targeting our communities. Anti-gender movements are sowing the seeds that lead to the dehumanisation of trans and intersex people and to restrictions of bodily autonomy for all.

These are just a few of the challenges that we have been facing — reminding ourselves that our fight for a more just world is nowhere near done.

This year, geopolitical and humanitarian crises have been louder than ever. These are realities that deeply impact LGBTI communities and everyone who is structurally marginalised in their daily lives. Our communities deserve equal access to lifesaving aid, without discrimination, and to live their lives free of war and destruction.

The work that our member organisations and communities on the ground are doing is bringing about change! In 2024, Namibia and Dominica decriminalised consensual same-sex sexual acts, while legal gender recognition based on self-determination became a reality in Ecuador and Germany. The list of countries where same-sex marriage is legal now includes Thailand, Estonia, and Greece, while Latvia introduced civil unions and the right to marry for same-sex couples was affirmed in Aruba and Curaçao. At the United Nations, the Human Rights Council adopted its first-ever intersex resolution, addressing discrimination, violence, and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics.

All the work you will read about takes effort, time, and adequate resources.
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Our member organisations continue to change the world in myriad ways.

2024 has been a year of milestones for ILGA World: in November, more than 1,450 people gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for our largest world conference to date. On this occasion, our membership also approved our new strategic plan, strengthened our governance processes, and elected new members of the Board. Thank you so much for having engaged in the process!

This year, our global membership grew to more than 2,000 organisations from 170 countries and territories. Both ILGA Oceania and ILGA North America & the Caribbean established their offices: now, every ILGA region can count on staff to better support our members at the local level!

Our research broke new ground: following in footsteps of previous landmark reports, we launched the first edition of Laws on Us, mapping laws that affect LGBTI communities worldwide and equally encompassing issues of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics. In the meantime, the ILGA World Database was recognised by one of the most important social impact awards globally, winning the silver Anthem Awards under the category of “Best use of data.” Meanwhile, our pioneering report has cast a unique light on the LGBTI digital divide, showing the complex interplay between disparities in digital access and the unique experiences of our communities.

We continued to support and share with our members engagement opportunities within the United Nations, and to amplify their voices in these spaces. We co-organised weeks of advocacy around various UN human rights bodies — especially the Universal Periodic Review — as well as our eight Trans Advocacy Week; delivered statements and hosted events at the Human Rights Council; connected activists with Special Procedures mandate holders during their country visits; and strengthened our work on strategic litigation, national advocacy engagement, and the Sustainable Development Goals – including an educational video series on how LGBTI human rights defenders can use these powerful tools for advocacy. For the first time, ILGA World has been a co-convenor of the LBTI Caucus at the Commission of the Status of Women — where we joined the UN Women executive director on the opening panel of the CSW Youth Forum.

Beyond the UN, we ensured that LGBTI issues were high on the agenda in the world of sports, thanks to our work with the Sport and Rights Alliance and multiple partners — especially to ensure advocating for trans, intersex, and gender diverse inclusion in sport, and to support survivors of abuse. Through our presence in the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality, we kept advancing equal rights in the business world, and we trained hundreds of corporate employees on diversity & inclusion issues — an area that is increasingly targeted by reactionary actors.

While we developed stronger internal procedures, including by applying feminist approaches to our logistics and developing more flexible reporting for our sub-granting initiatives, we also strengthened our work in partnership with external actors. We are proud to host the newly-opened secretariat of the Equal Rights Coalition — which has just held its latest conference in Berlin, Germany – and to continue coordinating the working group of the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (have you checked out the 2025 theme yet?). We also continued to look into the needs, priorities, and funding landscape of the international and regional movements through the LGBTI Pathways project.

All this work would not have been possible without our Board and committee members who volunteered their time, energy, skills and passion to keep ILGA a truly movement-owned organisation.

During 2024, our team continued to expand, with new hires strengthening our work on sex characteristics (Crystal Hendricks), the Equal Rights Coalition (Leanne McMillan and Doug A. Graffeo), the LGBTI Pathways initiative (Yuri Yoursky), cross-movement initiatives (Naïké Ledan), strategic alliances and coalitions (Omar Van Reenen), and logistics (Oscar Fitzpatrick).

We are so grateful for the ongoing work of all our staff members and consultants! A special shout-out also goes to all the junior consultants who joined us this year and contributed to making our work possible.

With a new strategic plan now in our hands, ILGA World will continue to respond to our global LGBTI community, turning their needs and priorities into new forms of strategic work. Now more than ever, we will centre feminism and queer liberation among the core values guiding our work, and strive to elevate and amplify the voices and agency of marginalised communities in our movements.

We will continue to be there for our LGBTI communities worldwide through our work of advocacy, capacity building, and research — with more attention than ever to cross-movement solidarity and strategic alliances. ILGA World is your home, and your voice will continue to be heard here.

But before we dive into 2025, let’s look back to an extraordinary year one last time. Our special thank you goes out to our outgoing Board members, and especially to Luz Elena Aranda and Tuisina Ymania Brown – our former co-Secretaries General who have fearlessly led the organisation since March 2019 and helped build a bigger, stronger, and more inclusive ILGA World. As they pass the torch to us, we celebrate their legacy and commit to continue working with and for our global community, alongside one another in global solidarity, throughout our victories and our setbacks.

Best wishes to all for rainbow peace and joy during the holidays and festive season!

Kimberly Frost and Yuri Guaiana
ILGA World Co-Secretaries General

Julia Ehrt
ILGA World Executive Director