Last year was a brutal year for LGBTQ rights around the world. 2024 saw 64 countries go to the polls to elect new governments, but the backlash against gay rights was harsh.
Political anti-gender and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric was high as authoritarian leaders spewed hate in their bids to hold onto, or gain, power. Governments carried out waves of crackdowns on queer rights, from passing anti-LGBTQ laws in legislatures to arbitrarily arresting protesters in the streets.
The year saw at least 350 transgender people killed globally and murders of lesbians and gay men from Argentina to South Africa.
By the end of the year, once strong governments — France and Germany — collapsed and a wave of authoritarian governments won popular votes in the European Union, South America, Asia, and Africa. In the U.S., former President Donald Trump, now the president-elect, has exhibited some signs of authoritarianism as he prepares for his January 20 inauguration and a second term in the White House.
There was little Pride to celebrate last year. However, there were some glimmers of hope and a couple of big wins. Those victories will fuel LGBTQ activists around the world as they gear up to fight to hold onto hard won rights and push back against hate in 2025.
Israel-Hamas war
The Israel-Hamas war entered its second year as peace talks failed in 2024. Queer Bay Area Palestinians expressed anger at LGBTQ organizations, such as San Francisco Pride which they said, while calling for a ceasefire and release of the hostages, responded too late to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as the Bay Area Reporter reported.
The war showed a divided LGBTQ community regarding Israel and Palestine — much like the U.S. and the rest of the world. By June, SF Pride was silent on the Israel-Hamas war at its second annual human rights summit that kicked off Pride weekend.
By November, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association suspended Israeli LGBTQ organization The Aguda's membership and revoked its bid to host ILGA World, reported the Jerusalem Post.
To understand the conflict better, last summer the B.A.R. got a close-up look, speaking with queer Israelis and Palestinians on the occasion of a press trip to Israel in a three-part series of articles (part 1, part 2, part 3.)
LGBTQ people aren't only on the frontlines fighting for their rights and the rights of others in the Israel-Hamas war, they've historically been the defenders calling out human rights abuses in conflict zones around the world. Last year, Outright International highlighted LGBTQ Burmese activists' ongoing resistance to the 2021 military coup in Myanmar in a report in September. Queer Ukrainians similarly took up arms, as widely reported, battling Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Outright also published a first-of-its-kind report on including LGBTQ people in humanitarian aid, "'They Know What We Don't:' Meaningful Inclusion of LGBTQ People in Humanitarian Aid."
Brutal killings
Last year saw the killings of several prominent community leaders. The B.A.R. reported about the murders of Carlos Fernandez, a gay Angolan activist, in March; Georgian model and transgender activist Kesaria Abramidze the day after the country's parliament passed its draconian anti-LGBTQ bill in September; and in Mexico, gay bar owner Omar Guido Chávez was killed in October.
Also in October, Finland's first gay pro ice hockey player Janne Puhakka, who came out after retiring from the sport, was allegedly killed by his ex-boyfriend, Rolf Nordmo, who reportedly confessed to the crime when he was arrested.
Killings of lesbians in Argentina and South Africa in 2024 shocked the world. In May, the B.A.R. reported on the fire attack on two Argentinian couples (one woman survived) as they slept in their rented room in Buenos Aires, and the execution-style murder of a queer female couple in South Africa in September.
The perpetrator for the arson attack on the Argentine lesbian couples — Pamela Fabiana Cobas and her partner, Mercedes Roxana Figueroa, and Andrea Amarante — was arrested. Amarante's partner, Sofía Castro Riglos, survived the attack, reported CNN.
In South Africa, Nombulelo Bhixa and Minenhle Ngcobo were gunned down in front of their families, allegedly by one of the women's ex-boyfriends and the father of her child, reported the B.A.R. It is unclear if anyone was arrested for the murder.
In December, Kenya saw a conviction for the 2023 murder of Kenyan gay activist, Edwin Chiloba, also known as Edwin Kiprotich Kipruto, as the B.A.R. reported. Chiloba's housemate and alleged lover, photographer Jacktone Odhiambo, was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
In Spain, four men were convicted in November for the 2021 homophobic murder of Samuel Luiz, a gay nursing assistant, in A Coruna in the northwestern Galicia region, reported Reuters.
Global campaign of hate and violence
Before the middle of the year, Outright, the Williams Institute, LGBTQ media, and other human rights organizations sounded the alarms about a sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation and violence against queer people. Barely into the second quarter of 2024, the B.A.R. reported about multiple anti-LGBTQ bills aimed at criminalizing queer people. That was just the beginning. The rest of the year, queer and human rights organizations documented and reported on the attacks on LGBTQ people — especially transgender and gender-expansive people — legislatively and physically. LGBTQ people were singled out with anti-gay legislation, online bullying, conversion therapy, arbitrary arrests, and violence at home and within the community.
As has been repeatedly documented by human rights experts, LGBTQ advocates on the frontlines were the primary target for anti-gay actors. Despite the dangers, LGBTQ advocates remain committed to gaining and utilizing legal protections to live authentically, according to a report, "The Global LGBTQI+ Inclusive Democracy and Empowerment (GLIDE) Initiative's 2024 Landscape Analysis," published by Outright, Synergia Initiative for Human Rights, and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Along a similar vein, the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ think tank at UCLA School of Law, found a direct link between social acceptance of LGBTQ people and laws protecting gay rights in its report, "Pathways to LGBTI Protection: The Relationship Between the Social Acceptance of LGBTI People and their Legal Inclusion." Both reports were published in July.
Russia continued to crack down on LGBTQ rights with police raiding bars, publicly beating suspected LGBTQ people, and arbitrarily arresting people. One of them, travel agent Andrey Kotov of Men Travel, who was accused of organizing and booking LGBTQ tours, died in custody on December 29, nearly a month after Russian police reportedly beat and arrested him on November 30, reported Meduza.
Russia's influence continued to expand beyond its borders. There was a wave of Russian-styled anti-LGBTQ laws in many countries and arbitrary arrests happened in Belarus, China, and Serbia.
Throughout 2024, Russian-style laws, such as the "foreign agent," "LGBTQ propaganda," and others, spread around the world. Eleven countries introduced and/or passed laws criminalizing LGBTQ people, including: Belarus, Bulgaria, Comoros,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Ghana, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Mali, Uzbekistan, and Vanuatu, reported Q News.
The interior ministry of South Osetta, a semi-recognized state, appealed to its parliament to draft an anti-LGBTQ propaganda law in December, reported Open Caucasus Media.
Uganda's Constitutional Court upheld most of the East African country's draconian anti-LGBTQ bill early in the year, but LGBTQ Ugandan activists aren't giving up. The B.A.R. reported that in July, they took the fight to Uganda's Supreme Court. A ruling hasn't been made yet. In the meantime, it's estimated that the anti-gay bill has cost the African nation upward of $1.6 billion in funding and other money brought in by trade, tourism, and other industries, reported the Washington Blade. As the country suffers, Uganda's Human Rights Commission pleaded with the government to decriminalize homosexuality.
The most notable countries the B.A.R. reported on were Georgia, Ghana, and Uganda. All three countries, which have strong ties to the U.S. and Europe, were slapped with sanctions and other restrictions costing the governments billions in aid and other funding. Georgia's ascension into the E.U. was suspended due to its crackdown on LGBTQ rights and other human rights abuses.
Brutal attacks against LGBTQ people continued as queer people around the world pointed fingers at political leaders for the rise in violence against the community.
At the beginning of 2024, LGBTQ activists in Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. raised concerns about increased violence against community members. The year started with the savage knife assault on Ugandan gay activist Steven Kabuye. Before the month was out LGBTQ Latin American and U.S. activists sounded alarms about the rise in violence against LGTBQ people. U.S. queer activists, believing that the U.S. has lost its status as a safe haven for LGBTQ people, brought their concerns to the United Nations.
Ivory Coast, which was once considered a safe haven in Africa, also saw a wave of anti-LGBTQ violence that queer people started to push back against, reported the New York Times and 76 Crimes.
Same-sex couples and family rights
Same-sex couples and families saw limitations being put on their relationships and growing their families in 2024. In January, Pope Francis called for a universal ban on surrogacy the B.A.R. reported. Italy followed suit in the fall, banning overseas surrogacy, reported the Associated Press.
Malawi's Constitutional Court declined to legally recognize same-sex relationships in June, the Blade reported.
Transgender rights
Transgender athletes around the world continued to be under attack, with some countries and sporting organizations banning them from playing. At the same time, a record number of 199 LGBQ athletes competed in the summer Olympics in Paris, according to Outsports. (There were no out trans athletes.) The International Olympic Committee also launched a number of LGBTQ initiatives during the games, the B.A.R. reported.
In August, the British government announced a ban on hormone blockers for trans youth 18 years and younger in the United Kingdom. Germany, however, made a landmark move in April, passing one of the most progressive transgender rights bills in the world, reported HRW.
Health care
Unfortunately, health issues affecting gay men took a hit in 2024. The B.A.R. reported the World Health Organization declared mpox a global emergency in August. A month before, news of the decline in HIV/AIDS funding was announced at the 25th International AIDS Conference.
Good news was also announced on the HIV front, as German researchers declared a second person was cured of HIV following a stem cell transplant, as the B.A.R. reported.
Hope
Not all the news was bad. Last year, the U.N. called for decriminalization of homosexuality around the world, reported the Blade.
Greece became the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex marriage in February, the B.A.R. reported.
The Mediterranean country was in good company, as Thailand passed marriage equality.
The Czech Republic expanded civil partnerships to include same-sex couples in May, and Poland introduced a Civil Partnership Bill for same-sex couples in October.
Namibia's LGBTQ community fought back against an anti-LGBTQ bill and won in June, as the B.A.R. reported.
Fighting back
As the LGBTQ community enters an unprecedented backlash with anti-gay authoritarian governments and a growing conservative movement around the globe in 2025, LGBTQ leaders are gearing up for a battle to hold the line on the rights gained and to continue to fight for new rights through funding, information, policy, and strategy.
Got international LGBTQ news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp/Signal: 415-517-7239, or [email protected]
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!