QueeRadar 2025 Report

In Azerbaijan’s media, 85% of queer coverage is about foreign events – only 1% framed as human rights

The newly released 2025 Annual Media Monitoring Report by QueeRadar sheds light on how LGBTIQ+ topics were covered in Azerbaijani media in 2024, revealing a stark imbalance between domestic and international reporting, and a heavy reliance on politicised framing.

Key findings:

• Out of 691 articles analysed, only 106 (15%) focused on domestic issues, while 585 (85%) covered foreign events.

• 68% of coverage contained discriminatory, biased, or stigmatising language towards LGBTIQ+ people.

• Only 7 articles (1%) adopted a human rights–based and inclusive perspective.

• Most domestic stories came from independent outlets, while pro-government media used queer topics primarily to reinforce political narratives.

Foreign events as political tools

The most covered foreign topics in Azerbaijani media were:

• Georgia’s 2024 “Family Values” law restricting LGBTIQ+ rights (158 articles),

• France’s openly queer politicians and the Paris Olympics (111 articles),

• Donald Trump’s re-election in the USA (55 articles).

In state-aligned outlets, these were often framed as victories for “national and moral values” and used to promote anti-queer sentiment.

Domestic realities sidelined

Only five domestic stories were documented, covering:

• Safety concerns for queer people using online dating apps (Mikroskop Media)

• State compensation following a European Court ruling (BBC Azerbaijani)

• Employment and housing discrimination faced by trans people (OC Media)

• State refusal to recognise queer rights (Voice of America)

• A trans woman’s detention centre experience (Meydan TV)

Sensationalism and distortion

• False claims about Algerian boxer Imane Khelif being a trans woman persisted during the Paris Olympics despite corrections.

• The Olympic opening ceremony’s “Last Supper” performance was reframed as moral decay.

• The European Parliament’s resolution on Azerbaijan’s human rights record, including queer rights, was depicted as a “foreign attack” on national values.

The report concludes that in 2024, Azerbaijani media intensified the instrumentalisation of queer identities in political discourse, focusing overwhelmingly on foreign events while erasing or distorting domestic queer realities. This trend fuels public misinformation and perpetuates discrimination.

You can read the report here. 

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