 “The people are diversity:” a message shared during the 2022 LGBTQI+ pride day walk in San Pedro Sula, Cortés, Honduras. USAID has provided technical assistance to the Comité LGBTQI+ Valle de Sula members on citizen advocacy, social oversight, and participation mechanisms. Photo: USAID Honduras Local Governance Activity, DAI
The past two decades have seen a rise in democratic backsliding coupled with state-sanctioned rhetoric and policymaking targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) people globally. Democratic backsliding is a threat to USAID objectives globally and across all sectors. The 2023 LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development Policy recognizes that locally-led, LGBTQI+ inclusive development strengthens livelihoods, economies, and democracies. The Policy provides a blueprint for integrating LGBTQI+ individuals in USAID policy and programming.
Since 2015, the number of countries backsliding has surpassed the number democratizing, and in 2023 80 percent of the world’s population lived in a country with some restriction on freedoms. LGBTQI+ people have become a particular target of authoritarian and autocratic leaders and movements in a period of increased polarization around LGBTQI+ rights. A new study from the University of California, Los Angelas (UCLA) School of Law Williams Institute uses Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) data and the LGBTI Global Acceptance Index to examine the relationship between indicators of liberal democracy and acceptance of LGBTQI+ people around the world. The study is the first to do so with a comparative perspective across four countries: Brazil, Indonesia, Poland, and Ghana. This learning digest presents key findings from the Williams Institute report along with other research on the topic and the implications for USAID’s democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) work.
In celebration of Pride month commemorated in June, this edition of the DRG Learning Digest examines the following topics:
- LGBTQI+ Acceptance and Democracy
- Why Attacks on LGBTQI+ Rights Can Signal Democratic Trouble
- Supporting the LGBTQI+ Community Supports Liberal Democracy
Please make use of DRG Evidence and Learning Team resources! (See text box at the end.)
LGBTQI+ Acceptance and Democracy
Globally, LGBTQI+ acceptance has grown since 1980 with changing social attitudes and more countries passing legislation to protect the rights of LGBTQI+ people. This progress is neither universal nor linear. While the most accepting countries, largely in Western Europe and North America, have become overall more accepting, the least accepting countries have seen decreasing or unchanged levels of acceptance. The Williams Institute report found that countries more accepting of LGBTQI+ people tend to be more democratic and have a higher gross domestic product (GDP), as compared to less accepting countries. The report explains how denying the human rights of individuals on the basis of their immutable characteristics is fundamentally undemocratic, yet democracy alone is not necessarily sufficient to guarantee (or safeguard) the rights of LGBTQI+ people. Nevertheless, multiple studies have found that the fundamental characteristics of liberal democracy, including civil liberties, media independence, free and fair representation, an independent judiciary, and rule of law, may be necessary to advance LGBTQI+ acceptance and inclusion.
In the most accepting countries, support for LGBTQI+ people is not only upheld by democratic systems, but is fundamental to what it means to be a liberal democracy. Additionally, as found in the Williams Institute report, “there are no cases in which strong LGBTI acceptance or legal inclusion is found in non-democracies." Evidence suggests that strong democratic institutions and respect and acceptance for LGBTQI+ people are mutually reinforcing and reciprocal. That is to say, aspects of liberal democracy may be necessary to achieve LGBTQI+ acceptance, and that acceptance often reinforces liberal democratic institutions. However, as we have seen in recent years, during times of democratic backsliding, support for LGBTQI+ communities may provoke a backlash. For example, LGBTQI+ acceptance is sometimes painted as “neo-colonialism,” resulting from Western influence despite documented histories of same-sex affection and gender diverse identities in Africa and around the world prior to Colonial contact. The irony is that, across many countries in Africa, in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia, the legal discrimination of today is actually a relic of Colonial penal codes.
 Figure showing mechanisms of association between liberal democracy and LGBTQI+ acceptance, from the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute study.
Why Attacks on LGBTQI+ Rights Can Signal Democratic Trouble
State-sanctioned attacks on LGBTQI+ communities can be both a precursor to democratic backsliding and evidence that democratic backsliding has occurred. Action against minority populations, including LGBTQI+ people, is not a tangential process to growing authoritarianism, but a core mechanism by which these regimes build and maintain power. Autocratic and authoritarian regimes frame LGBTQI+ rights as an effort to subvert traditional values regarding gender and family structures, thereby threatening national identity. Once in power, these governments use the levers of institutional power, such as referenda, elected bodies, and courts to enact legislation curtailing the rights of LGBTQI+ people. Authoritarian and autocratic regimes use rhetoric against marginalized groups to consolidate and align ultra-conservative and anti-rights groups to stoke fear and division, generating support for themselves. They also target minority groups to distract from their own inaction or failure. While there are examples of countries, such as Poland, where anti-LGBTQI+ movements predate democratic backsliding, in many cases LGBTQI+ people and other minority groups are used as scapegoats to generate or maintain support for autocratic and authoritarian regimes.
Some regimes use the divide and conquer technique to maintain power, and attacks on LGBTQI+ communities are often early warning signs that democracy is in trouble. In Uganda, not only has anti-LGBTQI+ legislation curtailed civil liberties, but this legislation has also extended the government’s control over the media as recent legislation criminalizes reporting on LGBTQI+ issues. Media control is another hallmark of rising authoritarianism. In another example, policies that restrict the rights of LGBTQI+ people and other minority groups may limit their options to oppose the regime through legal channels. Maintaining the balance of power is essential to protecting LGBTQI+ rights and stemming further backsliding. When government leaders in Poland targeted LGBTQI+ people in the context of electoral campaigns the immediate response of organized LGBTQI+ groups helped to turn the tide on some of the anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric and policy utilizing the independent courts.
 Photo from a Pride Month celebration in Botswana, featured in a thoughtful and motivating 2022 Pride Month article in USAID’s Medium. Photo: LEGABIBO
Supporting the LGBTQI+ Community Supports Liberal Democracy
As development practitioners, it is useful to understand the link between liberal democracies and acceptance of LGBTQI+ people. Attacks on LGBTQI+ communities should raise a red flag for examining growing authoritarian forces in a country, as the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, when viewed as less enshrined as human rights of other minority groups, may be the first to come under attack — something of a “canary in the coalmine.” For example, in Brazil, the decline in LGBTQI+ acceptance leading up to the 2016 impeachment of then-president Dilma Rousseff suggests that the changes in rhetoric around LGBTQI+ people was a precursor to democratic backsliding. Similarly, other indications of democratic backsliding may signal a need for more protections of LGBTQI+ people.
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This figure from the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute study looks at the relationship between V-Dem’s Liberal Democracy Index Score and the LGBTI+ Global Acceptance Index between 1981-2020. In Brazil and Ghana, the graph shows that a small step in the Liberal Democracy Index score correlates with a large jump in LGBTQI+ acceptance, while in Indonesia and Poland it is not as clear cut, there are sections with a step on the index scale, but a dip in acceptance.
USAID supports LGBTQI+ people both through integrating protection for marginalized and minority groups in vulnerable situations into a variety of programming, as well as through targeted support through the Multi-Donor LGBTI Global Human Rights Initiative and the Alliance for Global Equality. Given the dangers of LGBTQI+ activism and the potential for backlash in a backsliding democracy, it can be challenging to directly support LGBTQI+ rights and advocate for acceptance. However, the USAID LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development Policy underscores:
“‘Do No Harm’ should not be employed as an excuse to do nothing or to short-circuit or avoid programmatic engagement on LGBTQI+ inclusive development. Instead, USAID staff should be proactive and implement intentional efforts to reach and include LGBTQI+ individuals in programming … When assessing potential program activities’ risks, LGBTQI+ people themselves are often best equipped to identify real threats and suggest mitigation and avoidance measures, as local LGBTQI+ communities have incorporated such assessments into their daily lives. Failing to facilitate LGBTQI+ inclusive programming, even in sensitive contexts, will exacerbate risks to LGBTQI+ individuals, entrench restrictive social and gender norms, and raise the risk of social instability and even conflict.”
The evidence suggests that to effectively support LBGTQI+ communities, it may be particularly valuable, in backsliding contexts, to support strong democratic institutions, such as a free and independent media, rule of law, and vibrant civil society. Supporting resilient democratic institutions, including a strong civil society that builds coalitions across movements, is helpful to moderate the effects of anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric and policy. In contexts with politically organized and empowered minority groups, democratic institutions tend to be more resilient to backsliding. The rights that LGBTQI+ groups are fighting for are fundamental human rights, and supporting their work is a vital component of supporting democratization globally.
“Democracy cannot thrive without the protection and promotion of universal human rights and the recognition of the inherent dignity and worth of every individual.”
— Freedom House
Further Assistance
USAID’s LGBTQI+ team in the Inclusive Development Hub is available to support USAID Missions with training and technical assistance; for more information, contact the team at lgbtqi@usaid.gov.
Recent and Upcoming DRG Learning Events
Agency Learning And Evidence Month: In May, USAID highlighted the evidence and learning informing our programming in its annual Agency Learning and Evidence Month. The DRG Bureau was proud to participate in a variety of different sessions throughout the month.
DRG Learning and Social Behavior Change (SBC) Community of Practice (CoP) Event: “Cracking the Code: Social Norms and the Anti-Corruption Puzzle.” On May 24th, RTI International, in partnership with Besa Global, presented at the DRG Learning and SBC CoP event, where they uncovered the role of social norms in driving or hindering anti-corruption efforts in two studies in the Philippines and Africa, and identified practical approaches for integrating social norms into anti-corruption programming.
Evidence and Learning Talk Series: “Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Relationships in Africa 2014-2023: Any Noticeable Shifts or Just More of the Same?” Join us on June 4 for a talk with Dr. Boniface Dulani, Director of Surveys at Afrobarometer, for a presentation on attitude change toward homosexuality in Africa over the last ten years. Talk info here.
Evidence-to-Action Training: USAID staff are invited to participate in the three-day Evidence-to-Action training in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 20, and 21. This training will provide participants with new concepts, resources, and tools to aid in incorporating evidence in activity design, learning throughout the program cycle, generating new evidence through rigorous evaluation, and incorporating social and behavioral change approaches. USAID staff can register here.
Use Our Resources!
Welcome to the DRG Learning Digest, a newsletter to keep you informed of the latest learning, evaluation, and research in the Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) sector. Views expressed in the external (non-USAID) publications linked in this Digest do not necessarily represent the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.
Check out past editions of the Learning Digest here. Want the latest DRG evidence, technical guidance, events, and more? Check out the new DRGLinks website: https://www.drglinks.org/.
Don't forget to check out our DRG Learning Menu of Services! (Link only accessible to USAID personnel.) The Menu provides information on the learning products and services the Evidence and Learning Team offers to help you fulfill your DRG learning needs. We want to help you adopt learning approaches that emphasize best fit and quality.
The Evidence and Learning Team is also excited to share our DRG Learning, Evidence, and Analysis Platform (LEAP) with you. This Platform contains an inventory of programmatic approaches, evidence gap maps, the DRG Learning Harvest, and inventories of indicators and country data portraits - all of which can be very useful in DRG activity design, implementation, evaluation, and adaptation. Some of these resources are still being built, so check back frequently to see what has been newly added.
The DRG Learning Harvest on LEAP is a searchable database of DRG learning products, including summaries of key findings and recommendations, drop-down menus to easily find documents related to a particular country or program area, and links to the full reports on the DEC.
Our friends at the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute are also seeking to expand their research partnership with USAID on the complex nature of democracy by inviting research questions from you for V-Dem to work on. If there's a DRG technical question you've been wondering about, please email the Evidence and Learning Team at drg.el@usaid.gov.
Each month the DRG Bureau will be sharing with Missions and practitioners a wealth of evidence and learning resources on the themes below. These themes are scheduled a month ahead of international days or months of commemoration in order to get evidence and learning to Missions and practitioners in time to apply it during the month/day being celebrated or honored. In the month following the monthly theme, there will be a Fireside Chat for Missions to engage with the resources shared throughout the month and provide an opportunity for Missions and OUs across the Agency to share and exchange learning and experiences. If you are interested in contributing to one of the monthly themes or would like to be invited to the Fireside Chats, please reach out to drg.el@usaid.gov.
We welcome your feedback on this newsletter and on our efforts to promote the accessibility, dissemination, and utilization of DRG evidence and research. Please visit the DRG Bureau's website for additional information or contact us at DRG.EL@usaid.gov.
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