2025 in Review: A Global Year of LGBTQI+ Rights Between Progress and Backlash

Hamida Giyasbayli

From legal victories to violent raids, 2025 showed how LGBTQI+ communities worldwide continue to fight, survive, and resist.

The year 2025 will likely be remembered as one of contradictions for LGBTQI+ rights worldwide. Across continents, communities experienced moments of historic progress alongside renewed repression, revealing once again that advances in equality are neither linear nor guaranteed. 

While some governments expanded legal recognition and protections, others doubled down on exclusionary laws, censorship, and moral panic. Taken together, these developments paint a global picture of a movement under pressure but far from defeated.

Historic progress on legal recognition

According to global data tracked in 2025, while stigma and legal repression persisted in many countries, dozens of nations continued to reform discriminatory laws and expand protections, highlighting an uneven but evolving world landscape. 

At the beginning of 2025, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage, making headlines around the world as roughly 1,800 couples registered their marriages in a single day and celebrations took place from Bangkok to Thai embassies abroad. 

This legal change replaced gendered terms in civil codes with the gender-neutral term “spouse,” granting same-sex couples equal rights to adopt and inherit, and marking a major milestone after decades of activist effort. 

In Europe, Liechtenstein also expanded marriage equality, introducing same-sex marriage at the start of the year. This extended legal protections that had previously included registered partnerships and adoption rights, signalling legislative momentum in parts of the continent. 

With gradual progress, courts in the European Union issued rulings obliging member states like Poland to recognise lawful same-sex marriages performed abroad under freedom-of-movement rights, even in countries that have yet to legalise marriage domestically. Advocates described the decision as a step toward broader equality across EU jurisdictions. 

At the global level, organisations like ILGA World documented that marriage equality had become legal in more than three dozen countries by mid-2025, even as challenges persisted. 

Backlash, restriction, and criminalisation

Despite these victories, 2025 was also marked by legal and social setbacks. In the South Caucasus, Georgia’s parliament adopted the Law on Family Values and Protection of Minors, a sweeping legal package that outlawed same-sex marriage, banned gender reassignment surgeries and legal gender changes, restricted adoption rights, and imposed censorship on media and public depictions of LGBTQI+ relationships and identities.

As Armenia approached the 2026 parliamentary elections, LGBTQI+ rights became a tool in political campaigns. Opposition parties and some MPs introduced bills banning same-sex marriage and labelled LGBTQI+ visibility as “immoral propaganda,” aiming to mobilise conservative voters.

In Central Asia, Kazakhstan passed a law banning “LGBT propaganda,” criminalising public information and expression relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in a move widely compared to Russia’s repressive measures. Critics warned this would further marginalise queer communities and limit freedom of expression. 

Institutional responses and global norms in Ffux

Multilateral institutions provided mixed signals. On the one hand, United Nations-affiliated data from ILGA World showed that tens of millions of LGBTQI+s still live under criminalisation or legal barriers to freedom of association and expression. 

This data comes with at least 64 UN member states criminalised consensual same-sex sexual acts and many imposed legal restrictions on LGBTQI+ advocacy or assembly. 

On the other hand, coordinated diplomatic criticism and human rights reporting against discriminatory legislation, including in Georgia and other states, indicated that global norms remain deeply contested, but far from settled. 

Civil society organisations and international experts continued to insist that LGBTQI+ rights belong within universal human rights frameworks. 

Social climate: violence, harassment, and health access

Beyond the courtroom and legislatures, lived experiences of LGBTQI+s continued to be shaped by hostility and restriction. In late December 2025, Azerbaijani police raided Labyrinth, a queer‑friendly nightclub in Baku, detaining over 100 people. Many were reportedly forced to stand outside in cold weather for hours, and some suffered physical harm and harassment during the detention.

In Georgia, the killing of trans model and activist Kesaria Abramidze shocked the nation and underscored how social exclusion and heightened legal hostility can intersect with extreme violence. 

In the United States multiple states passed laws restricting access to gender-affirming health care for trans youth and curbing participation in sports that aligned with gender identity, while other states imposed bans on bathroom access and forced “outing” practices in schools. 

Meanwhile in the UK, LGBTQI+ charities reported sharp declines in funding amid a political climate hostile to LGBTQI+ advocacy, reflecting broader global trends of shrinking resources for civil society in 2025. 

Stories of resilience and community innovation

Even in difficult contexts, queer communities demonstrated remarkable resilience. In Hungary and Poland, where public Pride marches faced legal bans, organisers pivoted to underground cultural events, film festivals, and art exhibitions, carving out spaces for visibility and solidarity despite repression. 

Community networks in Mexico City organised rapid-response legal aid and shelter for LGBTQI+s facing violence or discrimination. In Southeast Asia, online support groups expanded rapidly, offering safe spaces for LGBTQI+ youth from rural or conservative regions to connect, learn, and find affirmation.

These examples highlight the creativity and determination of grassroots movements adapting to political pressure, building alternative infrastructures, and sustaining hope even when formal protections falter.

As we move into 2026, the lessons of 2025 are clear. Progress and backlash are often intertwined, legal victories can be fragile, and social change requires sustained effort across sectors. Global standards on LGBTQI+ rights continue to be debated in courts, parliaments, classrooms, and community spaces. 

But the persistence of queer movements worldwide offers not merely optimism, but evidence that dignity, connection, and resistance can survive and eventually transform  even the harshest political climates.

Why local queer media matters and how you can help

For regions like the South Caucasus and Azerbaijan in particular, independent queer media is not a luxury — it’s a lifeline. Mainstream outlets often ignore or misrepresent queer experiences, while official sources exclude them altogether. This is where Minority Azerbaijan has become indispensable, producing investigative reporting, lived experience narratives, contextual analysis, and educational content in English and Azerbaijani.

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