LGBT+ History Month commemorates the legacy of individuals and communities who have shaped the course of LGBT+ human rights in the UK and beyond. To mark the occasion this year, the Human Dignity Trust is launching its first legacy gift campaign so that supporters can now play their very own part in LGBT+ history.
The Legacy of Love campaign is a collaboration between the Human Dignity Trust (HDT) and the Will-writing service, Farewill. It will be launched on Valentine’s Day 2026. The campaign celebrates love in its most enduring form – the ability to love openly, safely and without fear – and supports HDT to make this possible for others, long into the future.
Leaving a legacy to HDT provides us with the long-term stability to end the criminalisation of LGBT+ people wherever it persists around the world, and to protect future generations from discrimination and violence. Your foresight can secure the freedoms of tomorrow.
According to the Money & Pensions Service, over half of adults in the UK do not have a Will. The new free Will-writing service offered by HDT and Farewill removes practical barriers to making a long-term commitment to this work as supporters can write a Will from the comfort of their own homes in less than half an hour. HDT is also launching a free Gifts in Wills guide to help those who want to understand this type of charitable giving and how they can leave a gift.
With the assistance of millions of pounds worth of pro bono support from major law firms and leading barristers, HDT provides free technical legal assistance to local activists and lawyers seeking to use the courts to overturn laws that criminalise LGBT+ people globally, and to help governments reform these laws and enact legal protections against hate-motivated crime. Discriminatory criminal laws often originated during the colonial period Britain expanded its control over large parts of the world and exported its Victorian-era criminal laws in the process.
Philippa Drew, former Trustee of HDT and career-long UK civil servant, was born two decades prior to the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy between men in England and Wales in 1967. According to Philippa, ‘There is still a great deal of work to be done, particularly in countries that were formerly British colonies. Many of these countries did not criminalise homosexuality themselves; those laws were imposed by the UK. In a very real sense, we therefore have a moral duty to support those who are working to remove this painful legacy of colonialism. Doing so takes time, effort, and above all, money.’
Notes to editors
- The free Will writing service and Gifts in Will guide can be accessed here.
- See our History of LGBT+ Criminalisation timeline which charts the course of criminalisation worldwide and the subsequent birth of the decriminalisation movement.
- Learn more about the criminalisation of same-sex intimacy globally at our Map of Jurisdictions that Criminalise LGBT+ People.
- The Human Dignity Trust works with LGBT+ activists and lawyers around the world to defend human rights in countries where private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity is criminalised. We provide free technical legal assistance to local organisations and lawyers that are challenging criminal laws that persecute people on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
For more information and to arrange interviews, contact:
James Aldworth, Communications Manager, Human Dignity Trust
T: +44 (0)7394 805140
