Rooted in Rights: LGBTIQ Communities and the Future of Democracy

Okay, I think we're going to get started. Okay, I just can't hear myself. Okay, great. So we are going to kick off our 2026 IDAHOT event, Rooted in Rights, LGBTI Communities and the Future of Democracy. Everyone's welcome, no one's excluded. Great to have you all here. And welcome to anyone watching on UN TV right now or afterwards. I'm Maria Scherin, I'm the Executive Director of OutRight International, a proud member of the UN LGBTI Core Group. Thank you so much for joining us today to mark Idaho with the UN LGBTI Core Group. This year's theme, democracy, could not feel more urgent. Democracy can't be reduced to elections or majority rule. At its core, it depends on respect for minorities, protection of fundamental rights, and the ability of everyone, including LGBTI people, to participate freely and safely in public life. Around the world, attacks on LGBTI people are often early warning signs of democratic backsliding, shrinking civic space, restrictions on expression, association and assembly, and efforts to weaken trust in elections and public institutions. Meaningful inclusion requires more than legal recognition or being counted as voters, as important as that is. It means LGBTI people can participate visibly in public life, influence decisions that affect their communities, and help shape the democratic systems they live within. Outright's report on elections during the 2024 super election year found that anti-LGBTI rhetoric was present in campaigns in 85% of the countries reviewed. But it also showed how LGBTI organizations engage in election cycles through civic education, voter outreach, candidate support, election monitoring, and efforts to counter violence and disinformation. We see through our inclusive democracy program how partners in Jamaica, Kenya, Brazil, the Philippines, Burundi, Malawi, South Africa, and many more are advancing civic engagement, election observation, visibility of out candidates, local decision-making and accountable leadership. This work strengthens participation, accountability and public trust. LGBTI people are not only beneficiaries of democracy, we're builders of it and defending our participation is essential to defending democracy itself. That is why this event today is so crucial and I'm so proud that the UN LGBTI Core Group is addressing this issue today. So I am going to hand over to one of the co-chairs of the core group, representative of Chile, Andres Bolon, please.

Thank you, Maria. Activists, dear friends, dear colleagues, It is a great honor for Chile in his capacity of co-chair of the LGBTI co-group to participate in this Idaho event and to reflect together on this year important theme, the relationship between democracy, human dignity, and the right of LGBTI person. I also speak on behalf of my new ambassador who just arrived yesterday. So he will assume his function shortly. But he would have loved to stay here with us in person. But you will meet him soon. Dear friends, the spirit of this historical meaning of Idaho make this conversation about democracy so important. Every year on May 17, Idaho commemorate the historic decision adopted at the World Health Organization in 1999 to remove homosexuality from the international classification of disease. That moment represent much more than a medical or a scientific correction. It was profound affirmation of human dignity and the rejection of stigma, exclusion, and institutionalized discrimination. In many ways, it also reflect one of the essential promises of democracy societies, the recognition that diversity must never be perceived as a threat. and that every person deserve equal dignity, protection, and respect under the law. At this core, the work of the LGBTI group is grounded in the simple but fundamental principle of international human law, that every person is born free and equal in dignity and rights, and that no one should face violence or discrimination because of who they are. This is why we fight against violence and discrimination targeting LGBTI persons. It's not a marginal issue. It is inseparable from the broader defense of human dignity, equality before the law, and peaceful coexistence within our societies. And this is precisely where democracy matters. Democracy is not only about election, as Maria said. It is about ensuring that people can participate freely in the public life, organize peacefully, express themselves openly, and make their voices heard without fear. It is about protecting civil space and ensuring that diversity can exist openly and safely within our society. In this regard, the role that play activists and civil society organization is essential. Throughout the world, LGBTI organization and human rights defenders have helped bring invisible reality in the public sphere, connect community and legislators and institution, and advance social progress through dialogue, advocacy, and democracy participation. They are your work, strength democracy itself. Today, many democracies are facing important challenge. in different parts of the world. Citizens feel frustration, uncertainty, and distrust toward institutions that are sometimes perceived as unable to respond adequately to social demands and growing inequality. In such context, there can be a temptation to deepen divisions or to portray minority as a convenient target for broader social anxieties. That is why it's so important we affirm that inclusion, pluralism, and respect for diversity do not weaken democracy, they strengthen it. History has shown us that when discrimination, hate speech, or stigmatization of minority become normalized, democratic erosion rarely stops there. The protection of minority, including LGBTI person, is therefore not only a human right imperative, It is also an essential measure of democratic resilience and democratic integrity. So democracy may not be perfect, but they remains the best framework we have to protect freedom peacefully, correct injustice through dialogue and participation, and ensure that every person can live with dignity and equality. Thank you once again for being here today and we look forward for a rich and fruitful discussion. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We are now going to go to keynote remarks by video and they will be introduced by Mr. Thais Amorim Cardoso of the Permanent Mission of Brazil. Please.

Distinguished colleagues, your friends, this year's theme for the Idaho reminds us that the protection and promotion of human rights for all is a premise of democratic governance, and there can be no genuine democracy when part of its citizens is excluded from full participation. As we face a critical inflection point for democratic governance worldwide, marked by growing attempts to roll back commitments to gender equality and diversity, it becomes even more important to raise our voices in defense of the principles of equality and non-discrimination in the exercise of human rights. The Brazilian government under President Lula's administration is fully committed to promoting and protecting the rights of LGBTQI+ persons. Last November, we had our fourth national conference on the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, and the Brazilian government launched the national policy on the rights of LGBTQI+ persons. Its guidelines include the promotion and protection of rights in all dimensions, combating all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics. It also includes affirmative action and policies on recognition of the violence and human rights violations committed against LGBTQI+ persons. The launch of the national policy is part of a broader governmental action since President Lula's inauguration in 2023. Nevertheless, the challenges ahead remain significant as we continue to confront deeply rooted structural discrimination and the legacy of historical political inaction. This reality has placed Brazil among the countries with the highest rates of lethal violence against LGBTQI+ people. In Brazil and around the world, violence against LGBTQI+ persons constitutes a serious and ongoing crisis. Prejudice, discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity are multifaceted and it manifests daily across social, institutional and cultural spheres. Therefore, it must be confronted through comprehensive action in each of these dimensions. Today, we are reminded that our truly democratic states depends on the prevalence of actions and initiatives capable of confronting all forms of discrimination and violence. Dear colleagues, it is a great pleasure that I introduce to you a video message by Brazilian Congresswoman Erica Hilton. Erika Hilton is the first black and transgender federal congresswoman elected in Brazil's history. And she has played a prominent role in defense and promotion of human rights, particularly regarding the rights of women and girls of African descent and LGBTQI+ persons. In 2020, she gained national and international recognition after becoming the first transgender city councilor elected in the city of Sao Paulo. she was the most voted in the country. During her term, she was responsible for the creation of the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on Transphobia. Hilton took office as a federal congresswoman in 2023. That same year, she was unanimously elected vice president of the Human Rights Minorities and Racial Equity Committee on the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil. And in March this year, Congresswoman Erica Hilton was elected chair of the Women's Rights Committee in the Chambers of Deputy, becoming the first transgender woman to ever hold this position. Among the bills currently under her sponsorship, it is noteworthy the proposed statute on sexual and gender diversity, which seeks to consolidate comprehensive legal protection for LGBTQI+ persons into a single framework. Without further ado, here we go to Erica Hilton's video message. Thank you so much.

O que demonstra a fragilidade democrática quando nós historicamente fomos expulsas e negadas do direito de participarmos das tomadas de decisão no nosso país. Isso por si só já seria escandaloso se não fosse todos as políticas de incentivos ao ódio e à violência que nós no Brasil enfrentamos durante a gestão do antigo governo, um governo abertamente LGBTfóbico, um governo que se elege com uma plataforma de ódio contra a população trans, contra a população negra, contra a população indígena. Violations of rights, abuses, execution. Brazil follows a ranking that is painful and lamentable for us, which is to be the first country in the world that kills this population the most and kills with the worst refinements of cruelty, kills with barbarism. We had here, for example, a transvestite who had his heart ripped out for the simple fact of being a transvestite. We are talking about that while violence and hatred remain, we are talking about the need to change the law. legitimados e legalizados contra as populações LGBTs que há mais ao redor de todo o mundo, nós nunca conseguiremos instituir de fato um modelo de democracia plena, porque a democracia pressupõe a diversidade de ideias, a divergência de ideias, a diversidade de representações nos espaços de poder e de tomada de decisão. A democracia não pode pactuar, compactuar ou coexistir no mesmo espaço onde a violência, o ódio, a barbárie e a intolerância predomine. Nós estamos diante de de um momento muito duro da história que é as plataformas anti-lgbt que é mais muitas delas institucionalizadas pessoas que ocupam cargos importantes instituições importantes e ousam atentar contra a dignidade aprofundando um índice brutal de desigualdade de injustiça social e de violência que na ponta simboliza a nossa morte e a nossa exclusão defender os direitos das populações lgbts que é mais é depender o direito de um novo pacto de civilidade é defender um world, increasingly integrated, respectful and less hateful. We are seeing high levels of intolerance, of lack of human coexistence between people, and LGBT phobia is at the center of this place, organizing these relationships that in fact weaken our democracy. Our democracy is fragile when social groups do not have their rights guaranteed. Our democracy is fragile when the constitution is torn, diante dos nossos olhos para nos negar direitos que estão assegurados nela. A democracia falha quando nós nos acostumamos a conviver com brutalidade, com violência e com discurso de ódio contra aqueles que só querem o direito de existir. Mas não é existir de qualquer maneira, é existir com qualidade, é existir com dignidade, é existir com seus direitos assegurados e preservados, é existir em um mundo que não ensine as pessoas a odiarem a sua existência, é existir com direito à moradia, trabajo escolaridade a familia a religiosidade ao afeto e existir com direito a non nos vermos obrigadas como e no brasil a vivermos unica exclusivamente da prostituzione compulsoria come ancora oggi, mesmo diante dos inumeros avanzos importantissimi che noi abbiamo, noi ancora abbiamo questo dato triste della nostra realta, difendere uma inclusão de verdade das pessoas LGBTQIA mais é defender um mundo mais fraterno, mais justo, mais equilibrado, que garanta a equidade de direitos, porque ninguém perde quando as pessoas LGBTQIA mais conquistam seus direitos. Não há retrocesso quando grupos minoritários sociais avançam na busca por dignidade e por justiça. É por isso que nós defendemos a democracia, porque ela é um caminho para que nós possamos enfrentar e barrar o ódio e a violência, porque a democracia pressupõe And I hope that we can continue to build a sanitary cord in front of all the discourse and wave of hatred that attacks our existences, that we can continue to occupy all the places that still lack our representation, the arts, the politics, the universities, the television, the radio, the theater, all the social spaces can be occupied so that in fact we can experience a full and true democracy. That's my commitment. These are the vows I make to this organization, to this activity, that we can unite collectively to confront those who want us dead, to confront those who deny our existence, to confront those who work daily against our lives. Because at the end of the day, what we want is just to live with quality and dignity. A hug, brother.

Thank you so much Senator Hilton for that very passionate speech. We're going to dive into a little bit more the different aspects of LGBTI and democracy. And we are going to go first to Ari Shaw who is a senior fellow and director of international programs at the Williams Institute at UCLA. So your research shows that anti-LGBTI rhetoric and policies are not just symptoms of democratic backsliding, but predictors of it. And can you speak to this evidence and what it tells us about why LGBTI communities so consistently find themselves, ourselves, at the frontline of democratic erosion, please?

Thank you, Maria, and Thank you to OutRight and the UN LGBTI Core Group for inviting me to be here and intervene in this important conversation. It's a really urgent question for understanding how and why we increasingly see the convergence of these two global dynamics, right? The uptick in anti-LGBTQI laws and rhetoric, and at the same time, a global decline in democracy. My colleagues and I at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law published a study analyzing data from 175 countries over nearly four decades. And we found that countries that are more accepting of LGBTI people and their rights tend to be stronger democracies that are more economically prosperous, while those that are less accepting tend to be weaker democracies or even authoritarian states. And we looked at the sequencing of these events in some contexts where governments use anti LGBTI rhetoric or enact anti LGBTI measures. Other forms of democratic backsliding are more likely to follow. So restrictions on independent media, crackdowns on the freedom of assembly or efforts to curtail judicial independence. In other words, we see that attacks on LGBTI rights, as Maria noted, can signal a more fundamental erosion of democratic norms and institutions. And it's important that the data suggests that this isn't merely static, that Measurable declines in LGBTI acceptance may function as both a symptom of the erosion that's taking place and as a factor that's contributing to it as well. One that's polarizing the political environment, that delegitimizes minority rights protections, and that can create the conditions that authoritarian populists can then exploit further. The relationship between LGBTI acceptance and democratic strength varies by region and by country. As you can see on the slide up on the screen, there are some general trends that I just want to highlight. In Western Europe and North America, for instance, we see the clearest alignment as democratic institutions remain stable or strengthened over the past two years. past two decades rather, acceptance of LGBTI people rose and this was the largest gain of any region. These countries were already among the most accepting and they kept becoming more acceptance at least within this time period. Within Eastern Europe and Central Asia, we see a different story as several countries in the region move toward democratic backsliding, acceptance either stagnated or it fell in some of the sharpest declines that we saw globally. Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, we saw a similar decline in acceptance over this period, consistent with limited or contracting democratic spaces. Asia Pacific saw little movement in either direction, again, at least within this time period. And we're updating this data currently, and we're hoping to have more scores and insight soon. But I think what's striking is not that regions with higher levels of democracy have higher acceptance. but that the direction of the change in democracy appears to track with the change in direction of acceptance. So where we see more acceptance, democratic conditions improved or held steady. Where acceptance stagnated or worsened, democratic conditions eroded. So in this sense, LGBTI acceptance isn't just an outcome of democracy, something that we see flowing from democratic institutions. In some cases, it's a signal of the overall trajectory of democratic health and where things are going. I want to note something else that we see in a lot of extensive research about why LGBTI people are targeted in the first place. It's not merely coincidental to threats to democracy. We see that these are tools that autocrats deploy because they serve strategic political ends. Just to highlight a few of these that we see often, illiberal leaders present LGBTI rights as a decadent or dangerous topic, convincing citizens that liberal institutions that protect individual rights, indeed democracy itself, is part of the problem that they're meaning to address. In other contexts, we see anti-LGBTI mobilization has proven effective for galvanizing voters, uniting otherwise disparate groups as part of a strategic electoral bloc that can turn out votes in a major election. Or in other contexts, a still third strategy is that autocrats use anti-LGBTI rhetoric to create a moral panic that changes the permission structure of political conversation and allows for policies that might not otherwise be accepted. And research shows that when LGBTI people have been framed as a threat to national values, it can be a useful distraction from political, from domestic political or economic crises. And so it's important to see how LGBTI civil society organizations are often among the first targeted for instance, in cases where so-called foreign agent laws are deployed that ultimately end up restricting the freedom of association for all of us. I think it's also important to note that we see threats to LGBTI rights alongside threats to democracy because as extensive research shows, a transnational network of conservative resistance has emerged to challenge LGBTI rights while actively working to co-opt international human rights law. illiberal actors are now using the very mechanisms built by liberal international organizations and the international community to organize and advance anti-LGBTI norms at the global level and across countries in every region. By attacking LGBTI rights, this global network undermines the liberal commitment to human rights principles of equality before the law And that weakens international institutions and weaponizes democratic pluralism to create a more polarizing discourse that undermines the cohesion required for and that serves democracy in the end. I want to end though on a more positive note by reflecting what I think is the emerging evidence that LGBTI communities, as Maria pointed out as well, are not only on the front line of democratic backsliding, but they are in many cases fundamental to the efforts to strengthen democratic resilience. And this is the animating question by research that we are currently conducting, examining LGBTI political participation in six regions around the world. We're still conducting this work, but the early evidence suggests that where LGBTI people can organize, they can participate in politics and build coalitions across movements, democratic institutions tend to be more robust. We see this in practice. We see when more than 100,000 people showed up for Budapest Pride last year, despite the government's ban, they were not just defending LGBTI rights, they were asserting the freedom of assembly and expression as core democratic freedoms that belong to everyone. And the evidence suggests that it's precisely this type of civic engagement, this broad resistance that makes democracies harder to dismantle in the end. So I'll leave it there and thank you all for the opportunity.

Thank you so much, Ari. And you mentioned Budapest, so it's only fitting that we're going next to Thomas Dombos, executive director of the Hatter Society in Hungary. And I mean, you have worked in Hungary for many years under, you know, different types of, with different types of governments and elections. What does your experience tell us about the role of LGBTI people in civil society, both as part of the early warning systems and active defense of democracy? And what would the future of democratic inclusion look like for LGBTI persons in Hungary and for Hungary more broadly?

Please. Distinguished guests, members of the audience, thank you for inviting me to share my views from the perspective of the Hungarian LGBTQI movement. In the past 16 years, Hungary faced a systematic erosion of democracy, doing away with checks and balances, abolishing and/or undermining the legitimacy of independent institutions, attacking independent media and civil society, completely disregarding and oftentimes actively attacking fundamental human rights. One of the key targets of these attacks were the LGBTQI community. While in 2012 Hungary stood at the ninth position in Europe regarding the respect for human rights for LGBTQI people, it currently ranks 38th. In just a few years, we backslided 29 positions. The assault on sexual and gender minorities started soon after the right-wing government took power in 2010. They adopted a new fundamental law, our constitution, which defined marriage as a union between a woman and a man and family only with reference to marriage and parent-child relationship. Since then, our families have lived in a legal vacuum. Governmental homophobia and transphobia reached a new peak in 2019 when high-ranking public officials Governing politicians and overwhelmingly government-controlled public and private media started to speak in an unprecedentedly hostile way about our community. The speaker of the parliament likened same-sex couples raising children to pedophiles. Our prime minister said homosexuals should keep their hands off of our children. Since then, a series of restrictive legislations were adopted. Legal gender recognition for trans people was banned, gender identity was removed from the list of protected characteristics in our Equal Treatment Act, the Equal Treatment Authority was abolished, stigmatizing language on trans people was added to the fundamental law. Adoption by unmarried persons, including people living in same-sex relationships, was restricted. A law was adopted that bans access of minors to LGBTQI content, doing so under the auspices of protecting children from pedophilia. Most recently, in 2025, assemblies with LGBTQI content such as pride marches were banned. In 2022, the government organized an anti-LGBTQI referendum at the same time as the general elections. We, as civil society, called on people to vote invalid. There were no good answers to the biased, stigmatizing questions posed to voters. In spite of the billions of foreign the Hungarian government spent on propagating hate, the referendum failed as 1.7 million people, nearly a third of all voters, the votes were invalid. This was the first sign that anti-LGBTQI politics might not work in Hungary as expected. Just a few weeks ago, on April 12th, the political parties that formed these government in the past 16 years suffered a major electoral defeat. Hungarian voters delivered a clear message that they are fed up with the hate mongering, with government propaganda in the public media, in the streets, in every part of their life. The new majority party received over two thirds of parliamentary seats, empowering them to reintroduce democratic decision making and respect for fundamental human rights. While it would be clearly an overstatement to say that election results were due to the government's handling of LGBTQI rights, it did play a role. Many people drew inspiration from how the LGBTQI movement showed resilience and resistance to years of stigmatization and increasing oppression. After the Budapest Pride March was banned in 2025 and organizers were threatened with criminal charges and participants with fines, Hungarian LGBTQI people and their allies showed what pride is really about, courage in the face of injustice and oppression. Instead of staying at home and remaining silent, hundreds of thousands of people took the streets of Budapest in June 2025, creating not only the biggest ever Pride event in Hungary and the whole of Eastern and Central Europe, but one of the largest ever demonstrations in the country's history. Pride was no longer about the rights of LGBTQI people, but about freedom of assembly and fundamental rights for all. The Pride showed Hungarians that they need not be afraid. The government is not as omnipotent as it purports itself to be. While Budapest Pride was probably the most visible sign of resistance, it was not the only tool that the LGBTQI movement used to tackle oppression. Strategic litigation has been widely used to challenge restrictive legislation. 89 trans people turned to the European Court of Human Rights to reinstate legal gender recognition, dozens challenged the restriction of family rights in domestic and international fora. Strategic litigation is not only about legal expertise, it is also about the courage of individuals to say no when their rights are stripped away, engaging in years long painfully slow procedures to bring justice not only for themselves, but for their whole community. Resistance is also about finding allies. We spent much of the past few years gathering with other civil society groups also under pressure. We engage not only with our traditional allies like the women's movement or minorities like the Roma, but also with environmentalists, anti-corruption and migrants groups sharing experiences, identifying common goals and strategies. Finally, voter mobilization. Not only did the Hungarian voters oust a regime employing zillions of tricks to remain in power, they did so with the highest ever voter turnout, especially among young voters. As nonpartisan actors, LGBTQI civil society did not campaign for any political party, but we did call on everyone, including LGBTQI people, to practice their democratic rights and express their opinions via voting. A new government was sworn in yesterday, but the damage done in the past 16 years is still with us. The new government has to abolish all the restrictive laws adopted since 2019, but not only that, they now have a clear mandate to put in law full equality and autonomy for same sex couples and trans people and to adopt a national strategy and action plan to tackle anti LGBTQI discrimination and violence in all areas of life and institutionalize regular dialogue with LGBTQI civil society. In 2015, before the concerted attack on LGBTQI community, our Prime Minister said he is thankful to the Hungarian LGBTQI community for not pushing a… radical agenda. Well, I don't think there's anything radical about demanding equality, dignity, and human rights for all. He also added, if we become more radical, there will be repercussions. We now see what he meant by that. Threatening civil society for doing their job is unacceptable in a democracy. So what is the message of the Hungarian LGBTQI movement, civil society more broadly, and most recently, the large majority of Hungarian voters that they send in response to this? Well, you might rule for some time, dominate public discourse, stigmatizing minorities, tricking elections, but ultimately people will gather the courage to say this is not the kind of government we want. We want governments that work for us, not governments that want to rule us. Governments that aim to fulfill the promise of human rights for all, not those that want to undermine them to gain and remain in power. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Thomas, for especially speaking about the people power and what people can do. Now we're going to go next to Dr. Natalia Linu, the global lead on health policy at the United Nations Development Program. And what we're hoping to hear from you is what this requires from the international institutions and how the development frameworks can support democracy. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Maria, and good morning, excellencies, colleagues, friends, and partners. And thank you also to the UN LGBTI Core Group, Outright International, and other partners for bringing us together and inviting UNDP. So IDAHOBIT matters, as we've heard, because the exclusion of LGBTIQ people from public life is not a marginal issue. It's central to democratic quality, to the legitimacy of institutions, and to development effectiveness. So from UNDP's perspective, I want to bring up basically three key issues around your questions, and I'm really happy that they align well with Ari's analysis and data. So first is that we need to move from visibility to structural inclusion. So visibility and representation, of course, matters, but that's not enough. Structural inclusion means asking how institutions distribute power, asking questions around electoral systems, parliamentary processes, national development plans, public administration, justice systems, digital identity systems, social protection, some of the boring public sector questions, but really asking does public financing and all of these systems really serve everyone? And if the answer is no, then we have a problem. So UNDP understands that LGBTIQ inclusion is not a special issue. It's part of the core work on democratic governance and sustainable development. And for the health team, it's a really critical part of our work. So how do we move from visibility to structural inclusion? And it's been raised a bit already from Maria and Ari and others that recognizing that LGBTQ communities are not just beneficiaries, they're political actors, they're civic actors, they're experts, partners, and in this regard, paying attention to civic space and the sort of restriction and the movements and the trends is so important. The selective enforcement of public order laws, for example, or the shrinking civic space, I agree fully, is where the democratic fault lines start to appear, and they appear early. So international organizations like UNDP need to pay attention, need to pay attention to civic space, not as an add-on, but as a condition for effective development. And this means supporting community-led organizations over time, investing in the legal empowerment, safety and protection, ensuring that human rights defenders have a space and can engage with us at the UN and with other development processes And really understanding that, as Ari said, that these restrictions on associations, smear campaigns, foreign agent narratives really are not just weakening the ability of these communities, but really weakening our institutions and the broader ecosystem and accountability. The second is that development frameworks must connect the rights and institutions to material outcomes. Like does this actually translate to a better life for people on the ground? And that we must work with the law, but not stop there. So, you know, we've heard that discrimination is not just a violation of dignity, but it affects all our lives. In the health world where I come from, it's very evident that discrimination impacts all your health outcomes for life. But we're seeing it in education, in housing, employment, and really access to justice and economic and productivity. So there is a loss that is actually material as well as a human rights moral loss. And it affects trust in institutions as has been raised. So development institutions have a responsibility to translate these human rights commitments into actual practice to ensure that the legal environment assessments and inclusive government reforms actually translate. So, you know, as we heard from Tomas, the law matters, right? We need to think about legal reform, criminalization, discriminatory family laws, barriers to legal gender recognition, restrictions in association, et cetera. But we do also need to take it a step further and say that, you know, how do we ensure that we have lived equality, you know, the sort of qualitative piece from legal to a lived experience. And we can do that. It means training judges and police and electoral officials and parliamentarians, public service, health care workers around what it means to improve the interactions and the qualitative sort of lived experience. And UNDP, some of you might know, invested in invest in this work, whether it's with the Inter Parliamentary Union or other partners to really ensure that we move from the general commitments to a practical institutional change. And the third point I want to raise that hasn't maybe been raised as much is that institutions, we clearly need data, we need digital transformations, all the conversations that are happening on the side, but we need to think about this seriously and with accountability in mind. If people LGBTIQ+ people are absent from the data, they're also absent at times from policy, budgets, accountability frameworks. But of course, we need to be very careful in how we do this work and UNDP and partners develop this LGBTI inclusion index in part to capture that qualitative work. And working together with communities and international stakeholders, it helps us move inclusion from a rhetoric to really a measurable commitment and seeing how it is impacting daily life. But of course, this data and, you know, with all the discussions happening, we need to think about safety. We need to think about the rights, ethical use, community informed and how we're using it in a rights affirming, you know, purpose. So So I want to give just one example in UNDP's work, there has been a persistent investment in capacity, research, and dialogue, which has been yielding results. We in Vietnam, UNDP helped focus on connecting evidence, policy dialogue, and community advocacy, including through this index. And a 2025 public opinion survey shows encouraging progress, including 65% supporting same-sex marriage and 87% of respondents comfortable interacting with transgender people. It also points to where there's still work to be done. And one of these issues was that there was lower comfort level with LGBTI people in leadership positions. So looking at data and measures is a helpful place for us to think about where we put our attention. And a side note, you know, in this discussion of AI and digital tools, we need to be very careful. We need to expand access, connect communities, support participation, but also think about how these tools can be used for disinformation, for outing, for harassment, So I think there's a responsibility of international organizations to be thinking about these ethical frameworks. So what do we do? We move from consultation to co-creation, from isolated projects to institutional reform, from visibility to power shifting, from data extraction to community informed evidence and accountability, and from digital access to digital rights and safety. Most importantly, it's treating LGBTIQ inclusion not as a niche issue, but as a central to our development goals. So UNDP, I will close by saying UNDP remains committed to working with member states, civil society, UN partners, and most importantly, LGBTQ communities themselves to advance inclusive participatory and rights-based developments. And while we've talked a lot about this through a rights framing for a development agency and given all the conversation, it's also important to say that it's also a development effectiveness strategy. You know, exclusion, it wastes human capital, it reduces productivity, increases vulnerability, it wastes sort of the development money that's going in because as we have heard, inclusive democracies are more legitimate, more resilient, and more capable of delivering the opportunities, the outcomes, the prosperity, dignity, and well-being that we want for people. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We're now going to go to an open dialogue, and I have a bit of a speaker list where everyone's going to get two minutes. so that we get through the list. We're first going to go to Ambassador Laura Dupouy of Uruguay, please.

Thank you to all the panelists today. As a proud member of the LGBTI Core Group in New York and the LAC5 Group in Geneva, Uruguay welcomes this side event to commemorate International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. We also particularly commend this year's theme, At the Heart of Democracy, which is particularly timely given the increasing challenges faced by democracies worldwide. I would like to take this opportunity to renew a year-wise firm commitment to continue advancing towards a more inclusive society that fully respects the human rights, diversity and dignity of all LGBTIQ+ persons. In our view, rejecting all forms of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia is part of the commitment undertaken by the international community and the UN itself since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and are therefore entitled to protection against all forms of violence and discrimination. We further emphasize that this commitment was renewed through the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action in 1993, and that more than 25 years of jurisprudence of the human rights treaty bodies recognize that international human rights law prohibits discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Let me be clear, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia have no places in our societies and no place in our democracies. Democratic societies are founded on pluralism, respect for diversity, and the equal dignity and rights of all persons, and are strengthened when they embrace inclusion and ensure that every individual, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, can live free from violence, discrimination, and exclusion. Promoting equality and protecting the human rights of LGBTIQ+ persons is therefore not only a matter of human rights and justice, but also an essential condition for building more democratic, open, tolerant and cohesive societies. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. We're now going to go to Ms. Delaney, Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia, please.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today to commemorate IDAHOP. I think it's sobering actually to recall the World Health Organization depathologized homosexuality in 1990 with transsexuality following just eight years ago. And I think it's just reinforces certainly for me the importance of the United Nations and the importance of the international community in really advocating and driving change. Can I thank the expert panelists for sharing your insights this morning into the clear and undeniable intersections between LGBTIQIA+ communities and democracy. For us, diversity is at the core of Australia's vibrant democracy, and this of course includes diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics. That's why advocating for the equal rights of LGBTIQIA+ persons internationally is a human rights priority for Australia internationally, regionally and bilaterally. We know human rights applies to everyone equally, no matter who they are or who they love. It's enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We also know human rights, just like democracy, underpin peace and prosperity. When we protect and promote the human rights of everyone, regardless of differences, the benefits are enjoyed by everyone. If we allow the human rights of someone to be drawn back, we sacrifice democracy and we sacrifice peace and prosperity. Meaningful democratic participation depends on creating safe and inclusive environments for all people. We really look forward to continuing to work with the UN LGBTI Core Group and civil society to reinforce what is really a simple message: LGBTQIA+ inclusion and equality is at the heart of democracy. So thank you.

Thank you so much. We're next going to Colombia, Deputy Permanent Representative Mr. Raul Esteban Sanchez Ninio, please.

Maria, thank you, and it's good to see you. I have a prepared statement, but I wanted to begin by saluting what we're discussing today, the way we are approaching the dialogue, the way the UCLA colleague is underscoring the challenges here within democracies, example from Hungary, what UNDP is doing, and in the case of Colombia, what we're having in our electoral process right now. Several of our presidential or presidential candidates are part of the LGBTI community. They're bringing up front the discussion in the political sphere in Colombia right now with challenges, with rejection, with many things that we still have to learn as a society. But I salute that Colombia is having that conversation at the highest level with political leaders, and we're learning and we are in a process of consolidating all our policies. Non-discrimination is not an abstract principle. It is a democratic necessity. Societies cannot preserve democratic values when some persons are treated as less worthy of protection, participation, or dignity. Equality before the law, access to justice, and the effective enjoyment of human rights are essential to sustain public trust, social cohesion, and inclusive democratic institutions. It is particularly relevant in the current global context marked by polarization, disinformation, hate speech, and attempts to roll back hard-won rights. These trends have a concrete impact on persons and groups historically subjected to discrimination. LGBTIQ+ persons continue to face disproportionate levels of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, as well as violence, exclusion, and stigmatization. often aggravated by factors such as race, ethnicity, disability, migration status, age, poverty, or territorial marginalization. States was therefore move beyond general commitments and adopt specific sustained and measurable measures to protect LGBTIQ+ persons, prevent violence, ensure accountability, and remove structural barriers to equality. Protecting diversity is not as separate from defending democracy. It is one of the clearest measures of its strength, legitimacy and capacity to guarantee dignity for all. Count on Colombia in supporting this core group and moving forward with all our initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We are going next to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Malta, Ms. Borg, please.

You, Maria, and good morning, excellencies and colleagues. It is an honor for me to represent my country and be here today as we commemorate Idaho. Malta reaffirms the importance of democratic governance. However, we recognize that having rights today does not ensure that they will be protected tomorrow. For this reason, and also as we have heard this morning from the experts here on the panel, the protection of LGBTIQ rights cannot be seen as separate from the protection of democracy. A democracy that excludes, silences or marginalizes part of its population is not a genuine democracy. Malta recognizes that LGBTIQ communities have consistently stood at the forefront of defending democratic values. In many parts of the world, they have mobilized not only for their own rights, but for broader principles of equality, participation, and accountability. Their advocacy reflects the very ideals that democratic systems are meant to uphold. As a proud member of this core group, Malta firmly advocates for meaningful inclusion and participation of LGBTIQ communities as rights holders and agents of change in democratic systems. This year's IDAHO comes at a crucial juncture when pushback against gender equality is intensifying and LGBTI communities bear the brunt of a growing political backlash. It is more important than ever to renew our commitment to stand by values that define democracy, equality, participation and respect for all. This aligns fully with Malta's national commitment to equality as a constitutional principle and to upholding the dignity of every individual regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. In conclusion, let us remember that rights endure only when we stand up for them. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We are going next to Sweden and to hear from the Deputy Permanent Representative, Andreas von Yxkull, please.

How could I forget that after three years? Thank you, Maria, and good to see everyone. And thank you also for the wonderful interventions. They have been very insightful. Here at UN headquarters, we hear global voices defending human rights and the right to live free from discrimination, fear and violence. At the same time, we see, we face constant intensified pushback against even discussing issues affecting LGBTIQ persons. Almost no UN document acknowledges them and those that do face strong resistance. Sweden is fully aware of the situation and together with Finland we are responsible for the first UN resolution mentioning sexual orientation and gender identity in the resolution on extrajudicial executions. Even though this resolution aims to prevent murder, several states still try to remove the SOGIE reference. I mention this because this resolution is up for a vote and for adoption this fall. And in today's global context, we need all possible support from member states and civil society to reaffirm that the right to life also applies to LGBTIQ persons. Chair, colleagues, today's theme shows a clear trend. Anti-democratic movements use scapegoating and disinformation about LGBTIQ persons to fuel fear and shrink civil space. I therefore urge all Member States to strengthen dialogue with its communities. And in closing, a message to our speakers, you have friends out there and in the countries where you work, reach out to our embassies, they want to help out. The LGBTI Core Group remains active and committed to highlighting the human rights of LGBTI persons in all contexts. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. And now we are going to South Africa to Counselor of the Permanent Mission, Jonathan Passmore, please. Jonathan.

Thank you and our deep appreciation for the presenters today. I'm here to represent my permanent representative and my DPR who could not join us because the UN says there's a million things that must be attended to at once. But they are -- convey their apologies and respect to everyone and regret not being able to be here. When we looked at this topic as South Africa, We looked at it from multiple perspectives, non discrimination. We looked at it from the perspective of democratic institutions, the importance and the centrality of non discrimination within human rights as a critical safeguard for democracy, as well as a human rights culture and the protection, the fight against inequality. And it's important to understand LGBTQI rights within that framework. We also looked at the importance of expressing concerns about current shifts in democratic norms that tend to isolate and create special cases where discrimination is acceptable. This is never acceptable. And are we looking at the canary in the coal mine situation? But then we thought, no, perhaps it is better that from South Africa's perspective, perhaps our best contribution is to tell our story. So as everyone knows, South Africa has a racially discriminatory history, widely known, our liberation movement and our leaders are central to South Africa's identities, and we all walk past Nelson Mandela every morning. No one knows this, but I give him a touch on the hand when I go and do human rights just to get some inspiration. But But what is not known about the apartheid regime is that it wasn't just racist, it was massively homophobic, transphobic and biphobic. It's an environment I grew up in and it was a powerful patriarchy. Essentially, discrimination was an accepted standard. It wasn't a world of non-discrimination, it was actually discriminatory and this was seen as normal and fine. The struggle against apartheid therefore was a struggle against discrimination in all its forms and the LGBTQI movement was expressly integrated into our mass democratic movement. In fact, our liberation movement formally recognized LGBTQI rights, the rights of LGBTQI persons into its policy frameworks and this was informed by the ideals that an identity-based struggle is also a struggle for democracy. So what the consequence was is that often we don't see that the LGBTQI culture in South Africa is not one that we saw the world around us and we went, oh, that's a good idea. It's one that is informed inherently from our identity, from our story. It is African, as African can be, that the struggle for democracy, the struggle for freedom in South Africa was connected to LGBTQI rights and integrated, and it was by design and intention. The consequence is we have this rich culture of non-discrimination in South Africa. We have sexual orientation discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation expressly prohibited in our constitution. But we also have gender identity discrimination expressly prohibited by constitutional court judgments in this regard. So we've developed that. I think the bottom line is that it's important to recognize that the LGBTQI struggle in South Africa was not a parallel movement. It is integrated in human rights. It is integrated in social norms and society today. And freedom in South Africa is never going to be discriminatory because it can never be discriminatory. And if we create carve outs for discrimination in a world for groups or for persons in any shape or form, we're creating an environment where we can accept discrimination and then the downward spiral from there is frightening. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Jonathan. I know we had maybe a couple of other speakers who wanted to speak today, but we are coming up on the hour. So I am going to give the floor to the other co-chair of the UN LGBTI Core Group, Mr. Loewald, Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway, please.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Maria, and to all of you for being here and remaining extremely active and committed. But I must say really, really thanks to both Erica and Thomas for providing very powerful testimonies and sharing with us the experience you have faced, but also telling us a story about the change is possible. in some sort of moving in a direction that is positive in terms of strengthening the rights and the freedom of the LGBTIQ+ community but also democracy at large. And also to you Ari and Natalia for providing us with extremely important data and perspectives on how the work we do as member states on this and what we should be aware of. And to all member states who spoke and also who are in the room, I think like my Swedish colleague said, it's very important for us to send that message that none of you are alone. And despite negative trends declined in generally on democratic norms and values globally, we stand together and we remain a very steadfast cross-regional strong core group. So that in itself is a very important political message. I know we're over time, so maybe just a few takeaways. I think all of you who spoke, I think the main narrative or the situation is that definitely the situation for the LGBTQI+ community and the rights of everyone is part of a larger decline in democratic norms and and the situation for democracy generally. Meanwhile, to address the situation clearly protecting and ensuring larger inclusion and participation by the LGBTQ+ community, it has to take place in a broader setting. And I think Natalia, you really provided us that framework, you framed it as the structural inclusion, which I think all of us clearly subscribe to, but I think saying basically everything hangs together with each other, it's part of a comprehensive package we need to address, could also end up in kind of fatigue, where do you start? So I think it's very important for all of us to agree on some sort of very concrete steps, action points to take to address certain issues because it's very clear that if you're not addressing legislation, for instance, which clearly we heard from Thomas as well, that has represented a direct threat. The laws have become your enemy. So, but clearly also the right legislation is the answer. So how do you move there? Institutions themselves matter and whether the institution will be able to protect and secure comprehensive inclusion. that is also a significant test. And it goes beyond what we're talking about here because it includes kind of everything in the societal fabric of democracy, independent courts, free speech, et cetera. So that will be key, looking at both protection needs but also participation because what we heard today is that participation in itself, if it's successful, in itself will strengthen protection by itself because they will hopefully after a while be lawmakers themselves. So that's a very important testimony. Finally, maybe just say from the perspective of Norway how much it does matter to develop comprehensive national, Natalia you said dialogues is not sufficient, we need to move from dialogues, consultations to coordination, I totally agree, but the premise is that you actually have a regular permanent set of dialogue between the authorities, the government and the LGBTIQ+ representatives and the larger civic community. Secondly is the expertise and data, fully agree how important that is because data is not always neutral. And that it must also to address a certain situation it must have the right data and the relevant data. And finally, none of you have mentioned that but maybe also stress the exceptional need for protecting a sufficient amount of financial support to international advocacy and work on protecting and strengthening the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community. So I end with that and thank you so much for bringing us together, Maria.

Thank you so much. And thank you everyone who is here in the room. Thank you everyone who is watching online. I have to say my own takeaway is that I feel maybe a slightly stronger sense of hope than when I walked in the room this morning. When you work on these issues every day, you hear about horrible things that are happening around the world. And what I always love about coming to any event with the UN LGBTI Core Group is to really feel that there are governments who are pushing and doing whatever you can to advance the protections for LGBTI people around the world. And conversation today about how this is so central to the projects of democracy really centers that how important it is. And I will take away one of the things that Erica said in her speech about, you know, we are really working toward a world that's less hateful, like where we have a vision of something better for all of us. So thank you everyone for joining here today. Thank you everyone for all the work that you're doing. And I think closing out, this was an amazing way to celebrate Ida Hot Day. Thank you, everyone.