Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights

This research cluster is designed to help strengthen and scale the work of the recently launched Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program, housed at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School.

LGBTQI+ human rights have become a canary in the coal mine for broader authoritarian projects. The deliberate targeting of LGBTQI+ communities—through draconian legal and legislative action, disinformation campaigns, and dehumanizing political rhetoric—is part of an increasingly coordinated and well-resourced transnational strategy to polarize societies, weaken democratic infrastructures and institutions, and expand illiberal influences.

This research cluster examines the transnational networks and political strategies that weaponize LGBTQI+ people and their rights as a central tool in the global backlash against democracy and human rights. We bring together leading human rights scholars, policymakers, civil society practitioners, and grassroots activists to analyze and respond to the expanding and accelerating influence of anti-LGBTQI+ movements in global politics.

Our cluster examines the interplay of state and nonstate actors—Putin’s Russia, Orbán’s Hungary, Museveni’s Uganda, the World Congress of Families, the Alliance Defending Freedom International, and others—as leading drivers of this recent global backlash. We analyze these dynamics across five key concerns:

1. Anti-democracy movements and democratic resiliency: How are LGBTQI+ peoples and their rights weaponized to fuel polarization and erode democratic norms and human rights protections, and how effective are these efforts?
2. National security implications: What role do state and nonstate actors play in spreading LGBTQI+ disinformation to foment social and political instability?
3. Social consequences and policy interventions: What are the lived realities of LGBTQI+ communities targeted by these campaigns and what policy frameworks and interventions do we need to develop to counteract them?
4. Exploring the role of the United Nations in furthering accountability for LGBTQI+ violence and discrimination: This line of inquiry focuses on how UN mechanisms beyond the established Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity contribute to advancing LGBTQI+ rights globally. It includes examining the roles of special rapporteurs and other standing bodies across the UN system that intersect with LGBTQI+ issues, and how their work can be leveraged more effectively.
5. Examining the role of foreign policy in advancing LGBTQI+ rights: This area looks at how foreign policy, particularly from the United States, has affirmed LGBTQI+ rights and worked to protect individuals from violence. It also considers the role of special envoys for LGBTQI+ rights appointed by various governments—exploring their strategies, coordination, and potential as a model for global influence and collaboration.

Our cluster convenes leading human rights scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and activists to produce cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, data-informed policy recommendations, and new public engagement and culture change strategies. By drawing on expertise from across Harvard University and beyond, our cluster aims to create a new intellectual and policy framework for understanding and countering the rising transnational backlash against LGBTQI+ human rights and democracy. This work could not be more timely and urgent.