When a government moves against LGBTI people, it is rarely finished there. That has been one of ILGA-Europe’s main contentions for over a decade: attacks on LGBTI rights are often the entry point for wider repression.
Marking its 30th anniversary in an environment it describes as increasingly hostile, ILGA-Europe has spent the year focused on holding the line: defending rights through strategic litigation, sustaining LGBTI organisations in the most difficult contexts despite deep funding cuts and building alliances across civil society around the argument that Pride, assembly and civic space are one question, not three. Its “Protect Pride. Protect Democracy.” campaign, with the European Pride Organisers Network, puts it most directly — protecting Pride means protecting a democratic right that applies to everyone.
Ahead of Berlin’s CSD weekend, we spoke to Brian Finnegan, Director of Communications at ILGA-Europe, on a range of topics: covering Pride bans and “propaganda” laws to Spain topping the Rainbow Map, plus about why standing still now counts as sliding backwards and about what sustains a movement when the wins are slow and the losses are visible. Thanks Brian for the chat!
● We all know there is pushback to LGBTQIA+ rights at the moment, what are the major trends you can highlight here?
What we’ve been documenting and addressing across Europe and Central Asia is that anti-LGBTI pushback is being entrenched in laws and policies at an unprecedented pace. We see this in Pride and other assembly bans, restrictions on access to healthcare, bans on legal gender recognition and intimidation and malicious scrutiny of civil society organisations.
A second trend is the return of criminalisation through so-called “propaganda” laws, the application of anti-extremism legislation to LGBTI activists and organisations and the expansion of “obscenity” laws or the misuse of child protection narratives.
Trans, intersex and non-binary people are being especially targeted, with governments and anti-rights interest groups seeking to erase gender diversity from law, education and public life. Schools and youth spaces have become a major battleground in a growing number of countries.
These trends increasingly go hand in hand with broader restrictions on democratic freedoms. In a growing number of countries, measures targeting LGBTI people have been followed by restrictions affecting civil society, independent media and peaceful protest. We also see the same tactics emerging across different countries, from anti-“gender ideology” rhetoric and attempts to restrict Pride marches to measures that make it harder for NGOs to operate. While the specific issues vary, the underlying patterns are becoming increasingly familiar.
At the same time, the picture is not only negative. Spain’s rise to the top of our Rainbow Map shows that political will still matters and that leadership is possible. We also continue to see strong examples of European and national courts, as well as parliaments and civil society, successfully pushing back against regression.
● Which group within the LGBTIA+ umbrella is most under pressure right now? Do you see solidarity across the whole community or polarisation exists here too?
Trans people are currently facing the most visible and widespread political attacks across Europe. In many countries, debates around healthcare, legal gender recognition, education and participation in public life have become increasingly politicised. Intersex people also continue to face serious human rights violations, particularly around unnecessary medical interventions.
As in any broad and diverse social group, there are factions within the LGBTQIA+ community that promote divisive positions. But from our bird’s-eye view across Europe and Central Asia, we see a different overall trend. As attacks on one part of the LGBTQIA+ community are increasingly recognised as a gateway to attacks on everyone’s human rights, there is a growing pull towards solidarity across identities and issues, both among community members and in organised civil society. Organisations and activists increasingly understand that attempts to divide the community ultimately weaken everyone’s ability to resist broader attacks on rights and democratic freedoms. While disagreements on approach and strategy remain, the overall direction is away from internal polarisation and towards greater collective action and mutual support.
● On the other side, what advances have you seen across the continent? Can you name a few specific examples?
It’s important not to lose sight of the progress, because we’re still seeing governments choose to strengthen, rather than weaken, LGBTI rights. Spain is probably the strongest example this year. It became the highest-ranking country on the Rainbow Map after continuing to implement the commitments it made in its 2023 equality reforms, from establishing an independent equality body to fully implementing the depathologisation of trans healthcare. At a time when some governments are retreating, Spain showed what sustained political commitment can achieve.
We’ve also seen important progress elsewhere. Czechia abolished the requirement for sterilisation for legal gender recognition, ending a practice that had long been criticised by European human rights courts. Sweden adopted new legislation on legal gender recognition, while Austria introduced alternative gender markers for non-binary people following a Constitutional Court decision.
Courts have also continued to play a crucial role. In the most recent example from earlier this year, the Court of Justice of the EU confirmed that Member States must provide a pathway to legal gender recognition for citizens who have exercised their right to free movement, an important step towards ensuring trans people can fully enjoy their rights across the EU.
● Are there success stories of queer civil society resisting authoritarian forces that more people should know about?
What we see from our position, supporting LGBTI organisations and activists in countries with authoritarian governments, is not resignation but realism paired with determination.
In Russia, where the most draconian crackdown is in place, people continue to organise, even though the time horizons are long and uncertain and the measures of success look different from elsewhere. Keeping the lights on for civic engagement, critical thought and solidarity is itself a form of resistance with long-term value.
In Turkey, despite repeated Pride bans, arrests and growing restrictions, LGBTI organisations continue to organise creatively, support their communities and keep the movement alive. It is a remarkable example of resilience, with activists working under pressure for years, often without the same level of international attention.
Georgia is another example. Even as the government has introduced legislation inspired by Russia’s anti-LGBTI laws, activists have continued to mobilise alongside the wider pro-democracy movement, making it clear that defending LGBTI rights and defending democracy are part of the same struggle.
What these examples have in common is that success is not always measured by the adoption of a new law. Sometimes it means keeping organisations alive, continuing to support communities and refusing to disappear.
Budapest Pride and Pécs Pride are among the most visible recent examples of resistance to authoritarianism. Despite attempts to ban the events, organisers continued to mobilise, built broad alliances across civil society, and Budapest Pride in 2025 drew an unprecedented turnout. It was a powerful reminder that attempts to shrink civic space can also galvanise public support.
● In the midst of this conservative turn, is donor interest in your work dwindling? If it is dwindling, where exactly — foundations, governments, individual giving? And who’s stepping up as others step back? What about the corporate sector and individual giving?
Over the past two years, we have seen a significant political and financial contraction across progressive causes, including the rights of LGBTI people, sexual and reproductive rights, democracy, media freedom, racial justice, climate justice, Indigenous organising and land rights, and more. It’s visible in both active cuts, in private sector and government engagement, and in legislative and policy attempts to limit access to funding for NGOs, or discredit NGOs. This contraction is part of a broader conservative strategy to starve progressive civil society and organising of resources.
As these funding cuts coincide with the rise of far-right and authoritarian governments, LGBTI organisations across Europe and Central Asia are facing increasing attacks at exactly the moment when the funding they need is becoming harder to secure.
We should also remember that even before this crisis, global funding for LGBTI equality was tiny compared with the resources flowing into anti-rights movements. The corporate sector is becoming more cautious. As the US and, in a domino effect, several other governments have turned support for LGBTI equality into a significant risk management issue, some companies are retreating from visible support and sponsorship altogether.
But this is not a story of corporate abandonment across the board. Some companies continue to hold the line through inclusive workplace policies, employee benefits and civil society partnerships, rather than limiting their engagement to rainbow marketing.
At the same time, individual giving is growing, not in large numbers yet, but steadily, as more people recognise that everyone’s fundamental rights are at risk, and that they have a real role to play in defending them. Every monthly donation adds up to real impact. It cannot replace funding at the scale that is needed, but it shows something important: that ordinary people are choosing to stand with us and this cause, one contribution at a time
● When a government turns hostile, what tactics actually work?
Strategic litigation has been incredibly important because court judgments can strengthen long-term protections. Recent cases have clarified how EU law protects LGBTI people in practice. In Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan v Wojewoda Mazowiecki, the Court of Justice of the EU confirmed that Member States must recognise same-sex marriages concluded in another Member State when couples exercise free movement rights. In Romania, the Bucharest Tribunal ordered the issuance of a new birth certificate for Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi reflecting his legally recognised gender in the United Kingdom, reinforcing the obligation to recognise legal gender recognition decisions across borders. While in Bulgaria, the Shipova ruling further established that Member States must provide accessible legal gender recognition procedures. Together, these cases strengthen legal certainty, mobility, and recognition rights across the EU.
But legal work alone isn’t enough. Some of the most successful responses combine legal action with community organising, public communication, broad coalitions, and bringing regular people along. Poland, for example, shows the value of sustained organising over many years, alongside legal advocacy and political engagement.
Documenting violations also matters because it creates evidence that can be used nationally and internationally as anti-democratic forces continue to implement a playbook of undermining the independence of the judiciary and media, whilst scapegoating minorities. ILGA-Europe’s Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of LGBTI People in Europe and Central Asia is wide ranging and verified by over 200 experts across the regions, while our contribution to submissions to the European Commission’s consultation ahead of its annual Rule of Law report also document violations. While we see attacks against fundamental rights of LGBTI persons (such as freedom of expression and assembly) as part of a broader dismantling of fundamental freedoms, it is still important for the European Commission to respond to the specific targeting of LGBTI persons and organisations, as these attacks are affecting real LGBTI persons.
● How do you keep activists going and not burning out when the wins are slow and the losses are visible?
Burnout is real, and we shouldn’t expect activists to be endlessly resilient. Many organisations are working under enormous pressure, responding to immediate threats while trying to keep their communities safe.
That’s actually the thinking behind the theme of this year’s ILGA-Europe conference, Resist and Rise. We want to create space not only to talk about how we respond to the pressures we’re facing today, but also how we prepare for the future. History shows that periods of backlash are often followed by periods of rapid progress, but those breakthroughs don’t happen by chance. They happen because people spend years building alliances, developing leaders and laying the groundwork long before the political moment changes. Holding on to that longer-term perspective is one of the ways we sustain ourselves through difficult times.
● Do you think LGBTI rights have become a kind of barometer for the health of democracy itself? Why does this issue end up at the centre of culture and identity wars?
Since at least 2012, we have been highlighting LGBTI rights as an important indicator of the health of democracy. Since then, governments have increasingly used a playbook of attacks on LGBTI people to test how far they can go in restricting rights and freedoms more broadly.
Hungary is a clear example. Measures that began with the removal of legal gender recognition and the so-called “anti-LGBTI propaganda” law were initially seen by many as affecting only one minority. But the same legal framework was later used to ban Budapest Pride, introduce facial recognition surveillance, and restrict freedom of assembly, alongside growing pressure on civil society. What started as an attack on LGBTI rights evolved into broader restrictions on democratic freedoms. That’s why we should all pay close attention when LGBTI people are singled out. It’s rarely just about one community. It often tells us something about the direction a country’s democracy is taking.
