Global Attacks on LGBTQIA+ Rights Aren’t Going

our only hope is to Organise

Away

Global Attacks on LGBTQIA+ Rights Aren’t Going Away - our only hope is to Organise

It has been a troubling few months for global LGBTQIA+ communities and movements.

Last month, Viktor Orban’s ruling right-wing party fast-tracked legislation through the Hungarian Parliament outlawing Pride parades, which have been taking place in the country for 30 years. It comes after several years of rights regression for LGBTQIA+ communities in Hungary, having abolished its legal recognition of transgender people in 2020 and passing a Section-28 style law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under18s in 2021.

Anyone organising or taking part in Pride rallies - or any assembly that could be deemed as ‘promoting homosexuality’ in a public space - can be fined up to £500. Police are empowered to use facial recognition technology to identify offenders.

A few months prior, Ghanaian MPs brought back legislation clamping down on LGBTQIA+ communities, with a range of prison sentences for identifying as LGBT, a blanket ban on gender affirming care and a 5-10 year imprisonment for ‘promoting’ homosexuality and wider LGBTQIA+ identities.

Across the water, the returning US President has clamped down hard and fast on LGBTQIA+ rights and wider equality measures, putting the brakes on any equality and diversity policies and programmes within the Government and creating a hostile environment for those programmes in private companies.

Transgender people began having their gender markers changed back on IDs, mentions of LGBTQIA+ identities, black history, and women were scrubbed from Government websites. Trump has clamped down particularly on free speech, targeting non-citizens who engage in activism or campaigning on causes he disagrees with. Ireland, and many other European countries, have issued updated travel advice to trans and LGBTQIA+ people travelling to the US, urging caution with official documents particularly for those who have changed their gender marker to ‘X’ on their passport.

Closer to home, we’re seeing a gradual slippage towards a more homo-, bi- and trans- phobic society, with increasing attacks on LGBTQIA+ communities by politicians, the press and even the courts. LGBTQIA+ charities and services have come under consistent attack from a particularly hostile media, and anti-LGBTQIA+ groups have coordinated attacks against vital community services, particularly youth services, through the courts and regulators.

A case currently going through the courts targets one transgender woman’s right to use gendered facilities in the workplace; throughout the proceedings, the judge has allowed the opposing legal team and claimant to directly misgender the woman in question, calling her a man repeatedly and creating an intense and hostile environment. It is clear that there is a concerted effort to erode and undermine transgender people’s ability to move through society, including upholding their rights through the courts.

These attacks on our rights are well organised, well funded, and well connected; they co-ordinate tactics, messaging and strategy on a global scale. From the UK to the US, from Ghana to Hungary, all of these efforts big and small are part of a worldwide attempt to subjugate and erase LGBTQIA+ communities.

While it may, at times, seem hopeless, it’s important not to let these setbacks dampen our energy and our fight. They rely on our communities losing morale and losing hope - we have to keep pushing.

The fightback is happening everywhere, in big and small ways. Directly following the passage of the law in Hungary, LGBTQIA+ activists and allies blocked traffic on a bridge, while opposition MPs lit flares inside the Parliament. Organisations in Dublin and across Europe have staged protests demanding the EU take action against Orban’s government. A global issue requires a global response.

Trans communities across the US have organised to protect each other and build mutual aid networks, particularly in areas where restrictions or bans on access to gender affirming care were in place. The same is true across the UK and Ireland, with organisations and communities working to protect each other, fight back against organised attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights, and deliver support to people affected by those attacks, all in an increasingly hostile environment.

In Northern Ireland, we’ve been working to build opposition and resistance to growing transphobia within politics, working to shift the narrative and improve access to gender affirming care, to push forward a ban on conversion practices, and to rebuild the momentum and movement which developed around the LoveEquality campaign. At the same time, we’ve been improving our services and support for LGBTQIA+ communities, developing a new Cancer Champions service, renewing and expanding our Rainbow Youth service in the NorthWest, supporting access to co-cultural counselling, sexual health testing and support for hate crime victims.

Prides in Belfast and Foyle, as well as the influx of smaller Prides taking place in towns across the region, have been working tirelessly to bringing people together in difficult times, to show that LGBTQIA+ people are loud and proud in every corner of Northern Ireland, giving the invaluable gift of representation and visibility to people who are yet to come out or are questioning their identity.

Communities and groups across Northern Ireland, including organisations in the sector as well as smaller activist groups and self-organised communities, have been taking the fight to politicians on their regressive policies while building support and solidarity across LGBTQIA+ communities

While it may sometimes feel like there’s no one in your corner, people are organising, communities are responding, both challenging anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and supporting each other through what are undoubtedly difficult times. Around the world, organisations like ILGA (International LGBT Association) and GATE (Global Action for Trans Equality) are connecting communities and movements around the world to share strategies, resist globally coordinated anti-trans and antiLGBTQIA+ efforts, and build solidarity between each other.

You can play your part and be the change that Northern Ireland needs. It’s not just about getting angry and active on social media - although, of course, raising awareness and spreading information is so important. It’s about linking into your communities, paying attention to what actions you can take, responding to consultations, pushing your local representatives to be more active in defending and progressing our rights. It’s about supporting your queer friends and family, checking in on them when things are getting worse, turning up for protests and Prides, building solidarity and community through the struggles.

When the hopelessness starts to creep in, remember that we are in this together, that there are communities and organisations fighting for our rights, that we will never stop pushing for equality as a united community.