How are anti-gender movements undermining the right to freedom of association?

On 19 December 2025, GATE submitted a report to the Call for input – Draft General Comment No. 38 on Article 22 (Freedom of Association) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Summary

This submission documents how coordinated anti-gender movements have violated the right to freedom of association of trans and gender diverse communities by restricting civic space through spreading disinformation and fueling discrimination and violence. It shows how systematic attacks from anti-gender movements on trans and gender diverse human rights defenders undermine not only their right to freedom of association but also the universality and indivisibility of human rights principles.

What are the challenges?

Over the years, the anti-gender movements have had a rising influence across different regions with a direct impact on shrinking civic space for trans and gender diverse communities. Anti-gender movements have gone from disparate national actors into a well-funded network deploying sophisticated strategies across multiple fronts, such as:

• Disruption of trans-led research: in 2023, when GATE conducted global research to uncover anti-gender opposition, the survey itself became a target. Of the 500 initial responses, 400 had to be discarded as anti-gender actors flooded them with transphobic rhetoric.
• Exploitation of discourse topics focusing on family values, sex education, abortion, children’s protection and Western-imposed ideas. These narratives generate public fear and outrage, enabling rapid mobilization.
• Influencing social and political processes, especially in the area of social support and manipulation.

How is the right to freedom of association of trans people and organizations being affected?

GATE findings illustrate that anti-gender opposition affects organizations across multiple dimensions to create a vicious cycle, and this pattern represents a deliberate strategy led by anti-gender actors to entirely dismantle the capacity and survival of trans and gender diverse human rights defenders, thus directly impacting the right to freedom of association.

As shown, the orchestrated manufacturing and spreading of disinformation directly negatively impacts the right to freedom of association of trans and gender diverse communities. Here is a summary of how that is happening:

1. Actors are spreading or enabling the spread of anti-gender disinformation: social media platforms are failing to be safe places for LGBTQI people, especially trans people, and serve as the main platforms for disinformation.
2. Weaponization of AI for politics: where State actors and political movements use sophisticated technology to fuel discriminatory practices
3. Psycho-emotional stress and burnout among staff, volunteers, and board members. This is the single most widespread impact of anti-gender opposition. Thus, compelling human rights defenders to leave the movement and consequently weakening the organizations’ capacity.
4. Reduction in advocacy opportunities and a limited ability to reach decision-makers: anti-gender actors hinder advocacy by obstructing access to decision-making spaces and shrinking funding landscapes.
5. Fewer community members accessing services: as a result, organizations lose their operational capacity. The pause and closure of essential services led by trans and gender diverse organizations leave vulnerable communities without access to crucial resources such as HIV prevention, legal aid, emergency shelter, and psychosocial support. cancellation of events, limited access to funds, and the emergence of legal threats and proceedings.
6. Criminalization of gender and sexual diversity and other forms of legal constraints: in countries where criminalizing laws exist against LGBTQI individuals, these laws pose a direct barrier to these groups in their right to freedom of association.
7. Civil society groups are not allowed to access and use funding freely: due to some countries’ discriminatory legal burdens, trans and gender diverse organizations can’t carry out their work defending human rights and supporting vulnerable communities.
8. Russian-style “foreign agent” and anti-LGBTQI propaganda laws are spreading across Eastern Europe and Central Asia to suppress civil society and advocacy around trans and gender diversity issues.
9. Anti-gender movements are deliberately defunding trans and gender diverse organizations, especially HIV and health services, undermining freedom of association and directly threatening the right to health for key populations.

How can we protect trans rights to freedom of association?

As seen, what’s at stake is the clear violation of the right of freedom of association, as mentioned in Article 22 of the ICCPR, by these anti-gender movements. Therefore, it is essential to protect this right for our community’s safety and dignity, as well as for the protection of democratic societies as a whole.

To address these violations, GATE recommends the Human Rights Committee (for GC No. 38 drafting) to:

1. Affirm that criminalization of gender and sexual diversity violates Article 22
2. Affirm that freedom to seek, receive and use funding is central to Article 22
3. Recognize anti-gender movements as a structural threat to civic space
4. Address digital disinformation, surveillance, and AI explicitly
5. State that “anti-propaganda” laws are incompatible with Article 22
6. Highlight the interdependence between freedom of association and the right to health

Read the full submission and recommendations