LGBTIQ People In Elections Around the World in 2024

The super election year of 2024 presented a unique opportunity to look into the state of LGBTIQ inclusion in democracies around the world. More than one and a half billion people came out to vote in at least 89 countries, home to almost half of the world’s population. Elections of varying degrees of integrity were held in countries across the world, including the five largest democracies—India, the European Union, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. This unprecedented electoral cycle took place within the context of democratic backsliding, where LGBTIQ communities and other marginalized groups were among the first casualties of attacks against democracy.

LGBTIQ people operated in diverse political, electoral, and legal contexts that enabled or restricted their participation in the 2024 electoral cycle: 

• Queer candidates made history in LGBTIQ political representation from Brazil to Botswana, while LGBTIQ groups worked to raise political awareness and ensure electoral inclusion and integrity. While there were no specific voting restrictions for LGBTIQ people, the absence of legal gender recognition, the existence of criminalizing laws, the risk of violence, and gendered electoral practices impacted their right to register and vote.
• LGBTIQ issues became a political football, instrumentalized by politicians to pander to voters. In 50 of the 61 jurisdictions covered in the report, political candidates, parties, and groups negatively used LGBTIQ issues in political speech and campaigning, which, in some cases, amounted to hate speech and incitement to violence.
• In the face of organized attacks on democracy, LGBTIQ people in several countries showed up to assert their place in the body politic—from the July revolution in Bangladesh to anti-authoritarian protests in Türkiye. Queer people mobilized to counter anti-rights movements and stand in solidarity with other marginalized groups even when increased visibility came at a price.