Dear John,
At Outright International, we’ve spent 35 years documenting the truth—amplifying the voices of LGBTIQ communities in the most dangerous places and holding power to account. We’ve seen progress, but we’ve also seen how quickly it can unravel.
Now, it’s unraveling at an alarming speed.
In January 2025, the U.S. government froze nearly all foreign assistance—abruptly cutting off a lifeline that supported LGBTIQ organizations around the world. In the span of days, vital programs protecting queer and trans people from violence, ensuring access to HIV treatment, and pushing for legal equality were halted. Activists were forced to shut down their offices. Safe spaces closed their doors. Life-saving services vanished overnight.
We knew we had to act fast—but we also knew we had to get it right.
Over the past few weeks, we have worked tirelessly to document the fallout. We spoke directly with LGBTIQ leaders from Trinidad and Tobago to Uganda, and from Ukraine to Indonesia. The stories they shared were not just about losing funding. They were about losing hope—about watching years of hard-fought progress slip away in real-time.
Today, we release Defunding Freedom – Impacts of U.S. Foreign Aid Cuts on LGBTIQ People Worldwide.
