Reflecting on wins, setbacks, and opportunities as we push forward.
Dear John,
December invites reflection, but also resolve. As 2025 comes to a close, we’re looking honestly at a year that tested us in unexpected ways, and at the endurance our global movement has continued to show.
Each December, we mark two anchors in the human rights calendar: the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and International Human Rights Day, commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 77 years ago by the United Nations. The 16 Days link the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 with International Human Rights Day on December 10. Together, they remind us why this work exists, and why stopping is not an option.
This month, we’re highlighting stories of how LGBTIQ communities worldwide experience gender-based violence and why our voices must be centered in global campaigns, not erased from them. To help tackle this issue, we’ve also developed policy guidance showing what's possible when gender-based violence laws address root causes and protect everyone.
We are also calling out the unlawful mass detentions in Malaysia and amplifying the voices of Malaysian activists who say that these arrests show why decriminalization of same-sex conduct is an urgent priority.
In the final State of the Movement of 2025, Executive Director Maria Sjödin outlines the setbacks and wins our collective movement faced this year and explores how we can continue the fight forward.
From Thailand becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage to the U.S. foreign aid cuts that terminated 120 of Outright’s grants across nearly 50 countries, the ups and downs forced us to find new ways to support global action. We released groundbreaking research documenting rights violations, salvaged human rights reporting even as the U.S. stepped back with our updated Country Overviews, and secured new funding commitments from Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. We integrated LGBTIQ inclusion into Ukraine's humanitarian response, fought to pass the UN's first resolution recognizing LGBTIQ people with disabilities (though it was later amended to remove protections), and built tools our movement can use to fight back.
See what we are up against and how we can move forward, together.
What Gender-Based Violence Looks Like When You Are Queer, Trans, or Intersex: A 2025 Update
This year's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign reminded us that LGBTIQ people face devastating violence online and off, yet our stories remain largely invisible in global campaigns. Outright's research reveals the harsh reality — for instance, in Bangladesh, 73% of LBQ and trans people surveyed had experienced online violence in the last year.
Gender-based violence isn't just about women and girls. It also includes homophobic and transphobic hate crimes, intersex genital mutilation forced on infants, and conversion practices used to enforce compulsory heterosexuality. These abuses share the same root: rigid gender norms imposed through violence. When the UN mobilizes governments and civil society around campaigns like “#NoExcuse for Online Abuse,” it is essential to include queer voices.
During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we recognized a powerful truth: forced marriage is a queer issue. Queer women, nonbinary people and trans men worldwide face coercion into heterosexual unions as families attempt to "correct" their identities through what amounts to conversion practices, sexual violence, and lifelong erasure. But here's what makes this fight even more urgent — the same oppressive systems of compulsory heterosexuality, rigid gender norms, and patriarchal control that push queer people into unwanted marriages also trap heterosexual women and girls in coercive unions. When we dismantle the structures enabling forced marriage, we protect everyone, especially the most marginalized.
Outright Condemns Unlawful Mass Detentions in Malaysia
Outright International condemns the unlawful mass detention of over 200 people following a police raid at a wellness center in Kuala Lumpur on November 28th. Despite a magistrate rejecting the police's remand applications, many were held beyond Malaysia's 24-hour legal limit, facing inhumane and degrading treatment and denial of basic needs. Survivors reported over 50 cases of doxxing and privacy violations since the arrests. Around 100 other men currently face investigations by Syariah enforcement authorities for consensual same-sex conduct.
"Criminalization makes abuse inevitable," said Executive Director Maria Sjödin. Outright is calling on Malaysian authorities to drop all investigations, establish an independent inquiry into the abuses, and prioritize full decriminalization by repealing laws criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct. We're also demanding technology platforms urgently remove doxxing content. Outright continues supporting Malaysian partners with advocacy, security referrals, and resources to ensure those affected can access protection and justice.
Gender-based violence remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations worldwide, yet many legal frameworks still fail to protect those most at risk. Although states have a duty to prevent and respond to this violence, laws often overlook the lived realities of LGBTIQ people and other marginalized groups who face both general forms of gender-based violence and identity-specific harms like conversion practices, intersex genital mutilation, and bias-motivated physical and sexual violence.
Outright's new policy brief makes it clear: gender-based violence laws must protect everyone regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics. Effective laws listen to survivors and focus on preventing violence by tackling the harmful norms, stigma, and inequalities that put LGBTIQ communities at risk. Download the full brief to learn how lawmakers can build truly inclusive protections that leave no one behind.
Look Back on Three Years of LBQ Grantmaking With Us
In a world where only 5% of global LGBTIQ funding is focused on lesbian, bisexual, and queer issues, Outright's LBQ Connect program proved what's possible when we put resources directly into the hands of those leading the movement. Over three transformative years, this initiative distributed over $726,000 to 63 grassroots projects across 44 countries, including 22 organizations receiving funding for the very first time. Through feminist, participatory grantmaking guided by LBQ activists from the Global South and East, the program connected 300 activists from 90 countries, funded essential work on health, gender-based violence, family recognition, economic empowerment, and community organizing, and built leadership capacity that's already rippling through movements worldwide. Read the full report to discover the lessons, case studies, and blueprint for funders ready to resource underserved communities with the respect and support they deserve.
Your support helps Outright International partner with LGBTIQ groups leading change in their communities and ensures our movement’s voices are amplified in global spaces like the United Nations. Any amount matters and will help us move Together, Forward. And it will be matched, up to $35,000, doubling your impact!
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