Today, the Human Dignity Trust, whose lawyers and local partners work to decriminalise consensual same-sex intimacy across the world, launches its 2026 Pride campaign, #DoubleYourPride, with a pledge to match every £1 donated in support of its work. Each donation, whether large or small, will be doubled.
Our work is more urgent now than ever. In 65 countries – one third of the world – same-sex intimacy is still a crime, and often a legacy of British colonial laws. These laws are used to prosecute and persecute LGBT+ people. Stigma and discrimination suffered by people at the sharp end of these antiquated laws pushes them into lives driven by fear.
While the Human Dignity Trust has successfully helped decriminalise same-sex intimacy in nine countries, there is a dangerous trend towards regression, with Mali and Burkina Faso advancing new laws, having never previously criminalised, and Senegal, Uganda and Ghana adopting more severe laws criminalising LGBT+ people.
This situation is further exacerbated by the anti-rights movement, which is gaining strength in many regions of the world, fuelling damaging narratives that seek to sow division and hatred towards LGBT+ people.
The Human Dignity Trust has proven the power of legal action, by supporting courageous litigants to challenge unjust laws and secure landmark victories in courts from Belize to Namibia. Since 2011, the Trust’s legal work has led to the human rights of 16.5 million LGBT+ people being upheld, including the rights to be free from criminalisation, to be free from forced and invasive medical examinations to ‘prove’ same-sex intimacy, and to freedom of association. The organisation’s work has garnered over £29 million worth of pro bono legal expertise from the world’s leading law firms and barristers.
The #DoubleYourPride campaign will run from 21 May to 15 July, so there is ample opportunity for people to make a donation that will help this work continue in those countries where LGBT+ people still live under the weight of these laws.
Notes to editors
- The pledge to double each £1 donated will be made up to a maximum of £40,000.
- More information on how to support the Human Dignity Trust can be found here.
- See our History of LGBT+ Criminalisation timeline which charts the course of criminalisation worldwide and the subsequent evolution 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
E: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)7394 805140
