World
U.S. lags behind other countries on LGBTQ rights
Report cards released ahead of Summit for Democracy
A series of report cards from the Council for Global Equality and F&M Global Barometers that rank countries on their LGBTQ rights records indicate the U.S. continues to lag behind.
The report cards rank the 110 countries that are participating in the White House’s Summit for Democracy that began on Thursday. They specifically rank the nations on 30 specific benchmarks that are grouped together in three categories.
Basic Human Rights:
– No criminalization of sexual orientation
– No criminalization of gender identity or expression
– Freedom from arbitrary arrest based on sexual orientation
– Freedom from arbitrary arrest based on gender identity
– Legal recognition of gender identity
– No physiological alteration requirement for legal gender recognition
– No psychiatric diagnosis requirement for legal gender recognition
– LGBTQI organizations are allowed to legally register
– LGBTQI organizations are able to peacefully and safely assemble
– Security forces provide protection to LGBTQI pride participants
Protection from Violence:
– Ban on gay conversion therapy
– Hate crimes legislation includes sexual orientation
– Hate crimes legislation includes gender identity
– Hate crimes legislation includes sex characteristics
– Hate speech laws include sexual orientation
– Hate speech laws include gender identity
– Equality body mandate exists
– Prohibition of medically-unnecessary non-consensual medical interventions on intersex individuals
– Gender affirming prison accommodations
– Asylum for LGBTQI individuals is available within the country
Socio-Economic Rights:
– Workplace non-discrimination laws include sexual orientation
– Workplace non-discrimination laws include gender identity
– Workplace non-discrimination laws include sex characteristics
– Fair housing non-discrimination las include sexual orientation
– Fair housing non-discrimination laws include gender identity
– Head of state supports marriage equality
– State allows for marriage equality
– State prohibits discrimination in health care based on sexual orientation
– State prohibits discrimination in health care based on gender identity
– Legal classifications, such as an X sex or gender marker, universally available
The U.S. scored 70 percent on the “Basic Human Rights” benchmarks, 30 percent on the “Protection from Violence” benchmarks and 50 percent on the “Socio-Economic Rights” benchmarks.
Malta scored 100 percent on all three sets of benchmarks. Uruguay received a 100 percent score on the “Basic Human Rights” benchmarks, an 80 percent score on the “Protection from Violence” benchmarks and a 90 percent score on the “Socio-Economic Rights” benchmarks.
The report cards the Council for Global Equality and F&M Global Barometers released on Tuesday are based on 2020 data.
The groups will release a second set of report cards in 2022 based on new data. Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley told the Washington Blade the U.S. will have a higher score because the State Department will have begun to offer passports with an “X” gender marker and President Biden explicitly supports marriage equality.
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, which the White House describes as “a landmark set of policy and foreign assistance initiatives that build upon the U.S. government’s significant, ongoing work to bolster democracy and defend human rights globally.” Biden in a speech he delivered at the opening of the Summit for Democracy noted the initiative, among other things, includes programs that seek to empower LGBTQ people.
“We have to stand for justice and the rule of law, for free speech, free assembly, a free press, freedom of religion, and for all the inherent human rights of every individual,” said Biden.
Hungary
Charges against Budapest mayor for organizing Pride march dropped
Country’s new government took office last month
Hungarian authorities on Thursday dropped charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony over his role in organizing the city’s 2025 Pride march.
Karácsony spoke at the event, even though then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government banned it.
More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in the march that took place on June 28, 2025. The Associated Press notes the Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office in January charged Karácsony with “organizing the unlawful assembly despite a prohibition order.”
Karácsony, who has been Budapest’s mayor since 2019, described himself as a “proud defendant” after his indictment.
“It seems that in this country, this is the price you pay if you stand up for your own freedom and the freedom of others,” he said in a statement, according to the AP. “If anyone thinks they can ban me, deter me, or prevent me and my city from doing so, they are gravely mistaken.”
Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12.
Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the Budapest Pride march to take place this year.
The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021. The BBC notes Hungarian authorities cited the decision in their decision to drop the charges against Karácsony.
Authorities in Pécs, a city near Hungary’s border with Croatia, have also dropped charges against Géza Buzás-Hábel, who organized a 2025 Pride event.
Hungary
Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban
Country’s new government took office last month
Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.
“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.
Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.
Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.
The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.
The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.
“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.
Colombia
Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election
Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government
Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.
López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.
López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.
“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.
Runoff to take place June 21
Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.
Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.
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