How Anti-LGBTQ+ Ideas Help the Georgian Dream Consolidate Power Published: 17 April 2025 Analysis Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has been a central element of the Georgian Dream’s anti-democratic turn towards the far right. How do anti-LGBTQ+ statements and policies help GD expand its grip on power, and why does this strategy work? By Tamta Gelashvili
Beyond the Cuts: How the Defunding Affects Feminist and Civil Society Organizations Published: 13 March 2025 Analysis The rise of the far-right movement and recent shifts in global politics have led to significant cuts in foreign development assistance. What are the impacts on feminist and civil society organizations? By Merima Šišić and Derya Binışık
On Kitsch, Camp and Queer Culture in the Eurovision Song Contest Published: 22 April 2024 Analysis The ESC usually stands for camp in the gay male tradition. Can it also be of interest to lesbians and feminists? On kitsch and camp as queer communication strategies. By Prof. Dr. Tiina Rosenberg
Silenced Voices, Rising Movement: The Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights in Iran Published: 4 April 2024 Analysis Despite enormous challenges, the LGBTQ+ movement in Iran has come a long way in the last years. Queer individuals actively participated in the Women, Life, Freedom protests. However, the isolation and solitary existence of the movement remains a challenge. By Rezvaneh Mohammadi
Same-sex marriage under attack in Brazil Published: 14 December 2023 Analysis In Brazil, the conservatives in Congress attack the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. Thiago Amparo explains why same-sex marriage, which has been possible since 2011, is a thorn in their side and how this lines up with other attempts to challenge former decisions of the Supreme Court. By Thiago Amparo
Latin America: Three ways to understand the situation of transgender persons Published: 26 October 2023 Analysis The most common factors that increase inequality, violence and lack of opportunity for trans people in the region include barriers to accessing the health system and a lack of laws that recognise their identity in official documents, as well as police and military violence and an increase in hate speech and misinformation. By Lina Cuellar
The Future of Thai Women’s and LGBTQ+ rights in Thailand Published: 1 June 2023 Analysis With the recent national election in Thailand and results still up in the air on the exact nature of the next parliament, the future of Thai women’s and LGBTQ+ rights are also still in question. By Sirin Mungcharoen
German Code of Crimes against International Law: gender bias and the need for reform Published: 14 March 2023 Analyse Germany’s government likes to consider itself a global pioneer in the field of international criminal law, and yet the German Code of Crimes against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch, CCAIL) contains a gender bias that hampers the prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict in accordance with the Statute of the International Criminal Court. By Karina Theurer
Where do we stand? The overlook of LGBTIQ+ rights across the globe Published: 10 October 2022 Analysis Feminist and LGBTIQ+ issues are almost as diverse as the communities themselves, yet both movements are discriminated against, marginalized, often attacked, and violated, simply because of their non-conformity to conventional and hegemonic notions of gender. By Adna Kalajdzisalihovic Vuga, Naida Kucukalic, Joanna Barelkowska, Kai Münch and Jana Prosinger
One Queer Fight for Southeast Asia amid a Pandemic of Fear and Oppression Published: 17 May 2022 Opinion As the COVID-19 pandemic draws to a close, it will leave the vulnerable, especially countless LGBTQIA+ persons, desperate for deliverance and justice. In this regard, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) has become more significant than ever. It calls us to seek those who are scared and traumatized, and lift them from the rubbles.
Locating Gender in the Disinformation Landscape Published: 28 April 2022 Commentary Digital Rights Foundation, in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, conducted a series of focus group discussions with researchers from across the globe in order to deconstruct ‘gendered disinformation’, understand existing work on the subject and identify areas for future interventions. By Shmyla Khan and Amna Khan
Identity Politics Has Always Existed How Do We Deal with the Vagueness of the Term? A Suggestion Published: 6 December 2021 A democratic, human rights oriented ‘We’ has to be interested in bringing transparency into the thicket of identity politics. By Ines Kappert
Identity politics - What does it constitute? Who is it there for? Published: 2 December 2021 We want to create a space for power-critical engagement with debates around identity politics. By Barbara Unmüßig, Josephine Apraku, Lou Herbst, Gita Herrmann, Ines Kappert and Jana Prosinger
Pan-European Anti-feminist and Anti-LGBT Mobilization Published: 1 December 2021 The anti-gender movements in Central and Eastern Europe have led to anti-democratic turns in gender and sexuality policies. The best counterstrategy is to reveal such movements’ underlying objectives, strategies, participants, and stakeholders. By Iza Desperak
Veiled Bodies of Muslim Nonnormative Sexualities: Notes from a Youth Ethnography in Turkey Published: 1 December 2021 The veiling experiences of two LGBTI+ women in Turkey open questions about the discursive constructions of femininity, masculinity, piousness, LGBTI+ secularity, and how these are used in political rhetoric. By Zeynep Kuyumcu
From Cairo to Berlin: Architectures of Homophobia Published: 1 December 2021 What does a police raid on a bathhouse in Cairo have in common with a police raid on a queer rave in Berlin? Through an examination of two case studies of homophobic violence in Cairo and Berlin, separated by temporal and spatial dimensions, the architecture of homophobia employed by state and media is revealed. By Ahmed Awadalla
Political homophobia and the making of a rainbow criminal in Turkey Published: 1 December 2021 In the past months, Turkey has prosecuted students who have displayed rainbow flags in Istanbul, indicating a pattern of state-induced political homophobia and violence against marginalized groups, together with the motivation to delegitimize the political opposition in Turkey and elsewhere. By Tunay Altay
Women, Queers, and Far-Right Politics in Israel/Palestine Published: 1 December 2021 Israel's embrace of far-right politics rendered the lives of the marginalized Jewish population and Palestinians ever more precarious with forces that promote women’s and queer rights, in tension with forces promoting misogyny and homophobia, all contributing to the contemporary far-right political landscape in Israel. By Sa’ed Atshan and Katharina Galor
School as a Battlefield: The Debate on Sexuality Education in Ukraine Published: 1 December 2021 Over the past decade, activists and CSOs have argued with conservative and religious groups in Ukraine over the introduction of the so-called “comprehensive sexuality education” in Ukrainian schools. By Maryna Shevtsova