Published on : 2024/01/17 – By Arcus Foundation Blog

Countries rarely succeed in establishing legislative protections for LGBT people without the existence and visibility of LGBT advocacy organizations, according to a new study commissioned by the Arcus Foundation as part of a review of its Social Justice Program strategy.

The report, Measuring the Impact of LGBT Advocacy on LGBT Protections: 2011-2020, found evidence during the 10-year period that the existence, visibility, and advocacy of LGBT nongovernmental organizations positively affected the adoption of LGBT human rights protections in as many as 45 countries in four regions of the world.

PFFSAQ marches at 2023 Soweto Pride.

Researchers at two Pennsylvania-based educational institutions—Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) and Albright College—found that the Caribbean and Southern Africa regions made the most significant progress in LGBT advocacy and visibility.

East Africa fared the worst comparatively, with several governments consistently blocking registration applications from LGBT groups between 2011 and 2020: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

“LGBT people remain some of the most targeted and vulnerable people in the world,” says Dr. Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, one of the report’s authors and founder of the F&M Global Barometers used to analyze the 45-country dataset. “They’ve been branded as social pariahs and scapegoated for the economic, political, and social ills in their countries.

“While we can’t say that societal acceptance of LGBT people resulted from the advocacy efforts and visibility of NGOs,” says Dr. Stefanie Kasparek, the report’s other main author, “our research shows that the presence and work of these organizations are linked to the development of LGBT-protective legislation.”

Legislative protections range from absence of laws criminalizing acts or practices related to sexual orientation and gender identity, to rights to privacy and to a fair trial, freedom from arbitrary arrest, enactment of hate crime legislation, and legal recognition of gender identity.

Arcus’ Social Justice Program strategy, launched in 2018, aims at increased safety and protections for LGBTQ people in 12 countries of the Americas and Africa that were analyzed as part of the F&M study.

The program, which made some US$160,332,172 in grants mostly to nongovernmental organizations during the period under study, envisions a world in which all LGBTQ people live with dignity, safety, and opportunity in inclusive communities and societies.