During World Pride 2026, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and COC Netherlands organized the Building Bridges visitor program in Amsterdam. It welcomed 15 LGBTIQ+ community leaders from around the world. Jordan Dittmar, Project Officer for the EU SEE program, got a chance to talk to them. The most important learning? As governments change tactics to repress and dismantle LGBTIQ+ rights, organizations adapt their playbooks to fight back.
By Jordan Dittmar, Project Officer, EU SEE
Globally there has been a clamp down on civic space, the environment in which all activists and civil society organization operate. These changes impact everyone, but the effects are by no means equal. At EU SEE we monitor the enabling environment for civil society and the ongoing deteriorations around the world – and the LGBTIQ+ community is increasingly facing severe repercussions of the clamp downs.
LGBTIQ+ organizations and activists face dire restrictions. Discriminatory legislation, hostile governments, and violence against vulnerable groups are becoming increasingly normalized. While speaking with several LGBTIQ+ activists and organizations from around the globe it became evident that the result of increased repression from governments has also fuelled creativity in advocacy and activism for LGBTIQ+ rights.
Worsening environment for Malaysian LGBTIQ+ organizations
Following the 25 January 2026, police-initiated investigations against nine Executive Committee members of Jejaka, a Malaysian LGBTIQ+ community organization, the situation for LGBTIQ+ organizations has worsened.
This became clear in June 2026, when the Malaysian government announced that the term “LGBT” will be replaced with “budaya songsang,” the Malay term for “deviant culture”. In response to this clamp down organizations have become increasingly cautious about their advocacy. LGBTIQ+ rights have grown increasingly political in the wake of Malaysia’s 2026 elections, where politicians have increasingly weaponized LGBTIQ+ rhetoric to divert attention from existing racial issues in the country in a bid for re-election.
An activist at the event explained how organizations are now prudent about what they say publicly and conduct advocacy behind closed doors: having to balance politics and power while maintaining long term relationships.
Increased advocacy and civic education ahead of elections
The use of anti-LGBTIQ+ rhetoric in the run up to elections is not an isolated case but rather a blueprint for political campaigns. In Kenya, members of parliament have distanced themselves from LGBTIQ+ organizations and are using the crack down on these rights as platforms to run on. Advocacy has since turned to mobilizing and enhancing the civic education of LGBTIQ+ individuals ahead of the elections.
The playbook for advocacy has shifted from targeting governments directly to rather empowering citizens to take up their electoral rights and elect those who reflect and represent their realities. Consensus from the Kenyan activists at the event was that while the move to grassroots mobilization is in full force, the anti-rights movement remains threatening given their increased funding and presence in global politics.
Alternative advocacy success in the Philippines
The success of alternative advocacy is found no clearer than in the Philippines. Following the June 2026 Pride events several thousand people, local governments and organizations came together to celebrate Pride in Manila. Several local LGBTIQ+ organizations have found great success investing in advocacy with local and young LGBTIQ+ leaders where they can maintain rapport over long periods of time.
Moreover, many organizations have pivoted their advocacy strategies to a wholesale blueprint in which they are introducing several new policies at a time to gauge which policy the government is more likely to accept, allowing some if not all policies to be accepted. The move to “advocacy on all fronts” demonstrates the need and success in overcoming previously predictable advocacy and activism.
While the global climate remains tenuous for all of civil society, LGBTIQ+ organizations are not backing down in the wake of the anti-rights movement. Surrounded by a myriad of LGBTIQ+ activists, it is increasingly clear that LGBTIQ+ people are not going anywhere and remain at the forefront of creative advocacy and innovative change.
