Dear Friends,

In what seems like a blink of an eye another year has passed. We began this year full of hope and determination to overcome the pandemic and return to some semblance of normalcy. While vaccines have become widely available in some places, travel has resumed, and in person connections are possible, albeit in more restricted ways, vaccine access is far from equitable, and our global LGBTIQ communities have continued to face amplified effects of the pandemic.

Last week OutRight hosted our annual global conference for LGBTIQ people - OutSummit. Throughout the conference we heard about increasing challenges to not only achieving further progress in the recognition of our humanity, but to an active offensive against rights we have already secured. Participants spoke of facing an offensive against gender justice, bodily autonomy, LGBTIQ equality and human rights overall; about those opposing us increasingly using human rights language, pinning one right against another and positioning LGBTIQ equality as a threat to children, families and women. Many speakers also highlighted increasing divisions in the women’s, feminist and even LGBTIQ movements, especially when it comes to sex workers’ rights, trans people and non-binary people’s rights.

And yet, despite the heightened challenges, and despite the many setbacks encountered over the past year, throughout OutSummit participants found hope and drive.

If you weren't able to join us, I encourage you to look at the highlights and watch recordings of sessions all available here. And as we wrap up this year, I want to leave you with quotes from our keynote speakers, Masha Gessen and Gigi Chao:





With best wishes to you and your family in the holiday season!

Chandler Bazemore
he/him pronouns
Senior Development Manager
OutRight Action International

Many thanks to OutSummit supporters who make the event possible:
Founding Sponsor Small Change Foundation, Signature Sponsors Anita May Rosenstein Foundation and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, Friend Sponsors Seattle Pride and the David Bohnett Foundation, and the following corporate partners: Presenting Sponsors Adobe Foundation and Procter & Gamble Company; With support from Google.org; Signature Sponsors Critical Role Foundation, Levi Strauss & Co., Microsoft Corporation, and the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality (PGLE); Premiere Sponsors Dell Technologies, Global Citizen, Herman Miller Cares, Hunter Boot, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Michael Kors, Scotiabank and The Walt Disney Company; Major Sponsors Boohoo Group, Groupe Dynamite, JAMF, Waterdrop, and Zynga; Official Sponsors Barclays, Bluebella, Revolut, Verizon, and World Bank Group GLOBE; Friend Sponsors Imperfect Foods, JIMDO, JKP Fundraising, Nomura Holdings America, Ooni, Shogun, and TomTom.