ILGA-Europe

15/10/2026

At the ILGA-Europe Annual Conference in Dublin, we heard from Janset Kalan, Kaos GL’s Secretary General and trans activist, imprisoned in Turkey, through a letter she wrote and that was read to the room by Hayriye Kara.

We’re sharing Janset’s words here. They bring us closer to the people behind the news, the realities they are facing, and what it means to keep going when your freedom and your rights are under attack.

We are grateful to Janset for sharing her words with us, and to Hayriye for bringing them into the conference space.

Please take a moment to read the letter and hear Janset in her own words 👇

"Dear colleagues, friends, but most importantly trans activists, my community,

I hope my letter finds you well. Most of you don’t know me, but yet I felt entitled enough to send you my love and thank you for the solidarity you are showing against the unlawful arrests and pre-trial detentions imposed on LGBTI+ activists, s*x workers and HIV human rights defenders in Turkiye.

I am Janset Kalan, a 39-year-old trans woman activist from Ankara, Turkiye, a middle-aged ho**er, a daughter, a sister, a mother of 4 cats, a privileged woman in the trans community, a survivor, a fighter, a consultant, an international advocate, and now a prisoner. Yet what I am or who I am is not a victim or a martyr. My story is one of many similar stories of my trans siblings.

I am speaking to you now through my dear friend’s voices, from Sincan No’4 L Type Closed Prison. You probably saw the news, read the briefing notes and reports on custody and prison conditions, how many LGBTI+ activists, s*x workers and HIV human rights defenders, along with trans women s*x workers face, as many before us, and have been in prisons as a minority group.

I will not repeat many of them. But I will ask you to read them again from a different perspective. How the lack of legal gender recognition and decriminalisation of s*x work, and the instrumentalisation of vague legislations mentioning “public morality, “obscenity” “public health” and “family values” risk our lives under authoritarian regimes.

My or my colleagues’ stories are not unique. Many LGBTI+ people in many parts of the world experience similar criminalising efforts or face worse practices of law. Europe is not excluded.
I hope that everyone present in Dublin now will acknowledge the importance of the legal recognition of our identities and the decriminalisation of our bodies and will labour in avoiding and diminishing any such risks of homelessness, unemployment, criminalisation of association, assembly, expression, and violence.

I want you to make sure to know that in prison or not, I will continue my legitimate fight along with you, on the way to achieving full equality. I take my courage, strength, and entitlement from my daring trans community, from those who came before me, are with me, and are yet to come to be.

With much love, hugs and solidarity.

Janset Kalan
Secretary General of the Steering Board, Kaos GL
From Sincan No’4 L Type Closed Prison"

15/10/2026

ILGA-Europe welcomes the Hungarian National Assembly’s vote to repeal the anti-LGBTQI provisions introduced by the 2021 propaganda law.

The new legislation implements the April ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which found that censoring LGBTQI content violated EU law and the fundamental values of the European Union.

Since June 2021, the law had banned the depiction and so-called “promotion” of homos*xuality and gender diversity to under-18s, stigmatising and marginalising LGBTQI people across the country.

What the repeal means:
✅ LGBTQI people and their stories can return to media and public life
✅ Comprehensive, LGBTQI-inclusive s*x education can return to schools

This is an important first step towards a more equal and free Hungary. It is also a narrow one. Removing legal barriers does not undo years of chilling effect, and significant discrimination from recent years remains in law:
❌ The ban on legal gender recognition must be lifted
❌ The Fundamental Law still contains passages stigmatising trans people and rainbow families
❌ The government decree requiring LGBTQI books to be wrapped in plastic and restricting their distribution must also be repealed

This outcome shows the power of EU law in protecting fundamental rights when national governments fall short.

Together with national LGBTQI organisations and partners, ILGA-Europe alerted the European Commission to how the law infringed EU law, helping set in motion the process that led to this repeal.

Above all, we congratulate Hungarian civil society and LGBTQI people, whose persistence made this possible. We will continue to stand with them until full equality is achieved.

14/10/2026

Our next stop: Malmö, Sweden!

At the closing of the ILGA-Europe Annual Conference in Dublin, we passed the conference rainbow flag to our next local hosts, RFSL Malmö and Malmö Pride.

The flag carries the logos of the conferences that came before, marking each place that has hosted our movement. In Malmö, a new chapter will be added.

Thank you to RFSL Malmö and Malmö Pride for joining us in Dublin. We’re looking forward to seeing you all in Sweden for the next ILGA-Europe Annual Conference.

12/10/2026

We are looking for an Individual Giving and Partnerships Manager to join ILGA-Europe on an open-ended contract and drive our efforts in supporter mobilisation, individual giving, and private sector partnerships.

This role is for someone who is both a strategist and a builder: someone who can design a supporter engagement and giving programme from the ground up, spot the moments in our advocacy work that move people to act, and turn them into compelling opportunities to give and belong.

You will own ILGA-Europe’s supporter engagement and individual giving strategy, build a monthly supporter programme, deliver digital and email fundraising campaigns, and cultivate corporate and professional network partnerships — including around our annual Equality Fundraiser.

Salary: € 62,051.38 to € 68,326.24 (Manager), € 70,239.37 to € 75,418.95 (Senior Manager)

This is a rare opportunity to build a new area of work within a leading European human rights organisation, at a moment when solidarity with LGBTI communities matters more than ever. The position reports directly to the Executive Director and works in close collaboration with the Communications Team, and other teams across the organisation.

Application deadline: Sunday, 18 October at 23:59 CEST.

Full job description and application pack: https://www.ilga-europe.org/job-opportunities/senior-individual-giving-and-partnerships-manager/

Please share with anyone who might be a great fit.

10/10/2026

As our Annual Conference comes to an end in Dublin, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee has expressed deep concern over arrests and legal proceedings against activists and LGBTI+ organisations in Turkey. She stressed that Turkey, as an EU candidate country and Council of Europe member, is expected to uphold fundamental rights for all, and stated Ireland’s full solidarity with LGBTI+ persons and their allies in Turkey.

“Ireland will continue to closely monitor developments and keep different potential and proportionate responses under review, including through bilateral channels or opportunities for coordination with EU Member States, or through other multilateral fora,” she said.

10/10/2026

In many countries across our region, governments are criminalising LGBTI people to distract from failings and corruption and as a method of undermining democracy and freedom for all. This cannot continue.

🚨 Earlier today, multiple Azerbaijani media outlets simultaneously published identical reports claiming that new legislation restricting “LGBT propaganda” will be introduced in the country.

⚠️ Note: While this news was widely circulated across local media outlets using word-for-word identical language, none of the sources provided a reference to an official bill, parliamentary decision, or governmental statement, leaving the origin and official status of this proposal unclear.

According to these media reports, the proposed measures would target:
🔹 Media & Internet: Strict limitations on digital content and online platforms.
🔹 Advertising & Cinema: Bans on LGBTI+ representation in media and films.
🔹 Education: Restrictions on school content regarding non-traditional s*xual orientations.
🔹 Legal Penalties: Fines, potential administrative detention, and license revocations for media outlets.

The reported justification frames these restrictions around protecting minors, lumping non-traditional s*xual orientations into harmful information categories.

We are closely monitoring the situation to verify whether an official legislative process is underway and will keep the community updated.

09/10/2026

06/10/2026

Two months on from Ceuta, torture and inhuman treatment continues. The right to seek asylum is under threat. At least 126 LGBTI people are still in urgent need of help.
In response, the collectives working on the ground have launched an urgent call for funds to directly assist the communities in need: https://bit.ly/4i4x4VG

This cannot go on.

Spanish authorities must end the abuse, protect access to asylum and ensure immediate safety and support for those at risk.

EU institutions must step in, uphold the bloc's own legal obligations and make clear that these violations will not be tolerated.

Our latest blog sets out what is happening and what must change now: https://bit.ly/4i4x5sI

28/09/2026

"There can be no exception to inclusion." We welcome the Council of Europe's adoption of its first ever Strategy for equal rights of LGBTI people, which affirms that "the Council of Europe was founded on the conviction that human rights belong to everyone."

As our Annual Review and FRA data both show, hostility, harassment and violence have increased across our region, and institutional strategies like this one are exactly what's needed to curtail them.

The new strategy sets four priorities for action:

🏳️‍🌈 Recognition of the equal rights and dignity of LGBTI people
🏳️‍🌈 Countering disinformation and manipulation of information
🏳️‍🌈 Preventing and combating violence and hatred
🏳️‍🌈 Establishing, safeguarding and strengthening protections

The need is underlined by the CoE's new report, also released on the same day, showing that rising hostility towards LGBTI people and organised opposition to equality are being made worse by disinformation and AI tools that can amplify the reach of hate speech.

Katrin Hugendubel, Deputy Director of ILGA-Europe says: “In increasingly hostile political environments, the Council of Europe is an important stronghold for human rights and democracy in Europe. We are very happy to see the strategy being adopted and providing a sound base for us to work with the different bodies of the Council to advance equal rights for all.”

Find the text to Strategy and report here: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/first-council-of-europe-strategy-for-equal-rights-of-lgbti-people-adopted-new-report-on-anti-lgbti-hate-speech-released