Politicians in at least 51 countries used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during elections, NGO finds

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Politicians in at least 51 countries used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during elections, NGO finds

Rights group also finds rise in openly gay, bisexual and transgender people running for office in 36 countries

Rachel Savage in Johannesburg
Thu 11 Sep 2025 05.01 BST
Last modified on Thu 11 Sep 2025 05.02 BST

Politicians in at least 51 countries used homophobic or transphobic rhetoric during elections last year, from depicting LGBTQ+ identity as a foreign threat to condemning “gender ideology”, according to a new study of 60 countries and the EU.

However, there were also gains for LGBTQ+ representation in some countries. Openly gay, bisexual and transgender people ran for office in at least 36 countries, including for the first time in Botswana, Namibia and Romania – albeit unsuccessfully – according to the report by Outright International. The number of LGBTQ+ elected officials doubled to at least 233 in Brazil.

As the visibility of LGBTQ+ people has risen in many countries in the last decade, so too has a backlash from conservative parts of societies, fuelled in many cases by far-right activists and politicians using gay and transgender people as scapegoats for other problems.

There is a growing “weaponisation of hate”, said Alberto de Belaúnde, a director at Outright International, an NGO that promotes LGBTQ+ rights globally.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/11/politicians-in-at-least-51-countries-used-anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-during-elections-ngo-finds

[Glorious bastard]

1. "Rises in discrimination against minorities had come hand in hand with growing authoritarianism"

Hardly surprising. Authoritarianism and human rights don't mix.