Q&A with Julia Ehrt, Executive Director of ILGA World

On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT), UNAIDS sat down with Julia Ehrt, the Executive Director of ILGA World to explore how discrimination impacts the lives of many and discuss ways to ensure that the rights of LGBTQ+ people are protected and upheld.?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.?

1. Why do you care about tackling discrimination and protecting human rights??

At our core, we are driven by a simple truth: every person is entitled to dignity and equality. Discrimination robs individuals of these fundamental rights. We care because injustice anywhere threatens the rights of all. Tackling discrimination is not just about equity; it is about creating a world where everyone person can thrive without fear – and this “everyone” includes people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics.

Our commitment to human rights isn't a choice; it is our duty – in fact, it is everyone's duty - to ensure a future where freedom, equality, and justice will prevail.?

2. How are ILGA World and partners supporting LGBTQ+ people's rights to health and advancing equity and social justice worldwide???

The call made by UNAIDS on the 75th?anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights deeply resonates with our movement, and with many others too: to protect everyone’s health, we must protect everyone’s rights. Protecting rights and safeguarding equality is a state obligation, but many States are failing in their commitment to do so – in particular, in relation to LGBTI people. Any discriminatory law or policy that pushes anyone further to the margins is a blow not just to the individual, but to society as a whole.???

ILGA World is a convener for LGBTI organisations worldwide: together with feminist and other human rights movements, we advocate equality in human rights for all — including by making the voices of grassroots movements heard loud and clear - everywhere, up to the United Nations. Through research and communications, we keep raising awareness of how laws and policies worldwide impact our populations. Most importantly, we bring our global community together: only together can we bring about change!?

3. What needs to be done to ensure that leaders protect the human rights of everyone, including LGBTQ+ people??

Leaders must prioritise doing away with laws and policies that push LGBTI people to the margins, and this starts by repealing laws that criminalise consensual same-sex sexual acts and diverse gender expressions. To repeal such discriminatory laws must go hand in hand with enhancing comprehensive legal protections. International pressure holds leaders accountable, and training for law enforcement and judiciary can help ensure fair treatment.??

Above all, leaders must lead by example, promoting respect for everyone – no matter their bodies, identities, and loves. They must work with civil society to understand our perspectives, needs, and lived realities, and put in the necessary action to lift the veil of discrimination that still leaves part of their own countries to the margins.??

4. What are your hopes and aspirations for ensuring the rights of all and the health of all???

I aspire to live in a world where people see each other’s humanity, where diversity is not considered a threat but just a part of humankind — a tile of the mosaic that we form collectively.??

This is not just a dreamer’s utopia: change and progress are happening, although the constant pushback sometimes is way louder than the victories we should celebrate. Since 1990, for example, 51 UN member States have decriminalised consensual same-sex acts. At least 17 federal governments have done away with abusive preconditions for people to see their gender legally recognised. States are starting to ban unnecessary medical interventions on intersex children and adults.?

Every barrier we remove towards people’s full participation in societies is a step towards a more just world. None of these achievements have come voluntarily, but have been hard fought for, and won rights on a path to equality. ILGA World and our members have been part of that, and we will continue walking that path.??

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Julia?Ehrt?(she/her) is the Executive Director at ILGA World and a widely respected LGBTI?activist and community leader. Before joining ILGA World, she was the Executive Director of?Transgender Europe, where she contributed significantly to how trans?issues are perceived and debated today in Europe and beyond. She served as a founding Steering Committee member of the?International Trans Fund (ITF)?until 2019 and as a board member of the?Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)?for six years. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the?Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and a signatory to the?Yogyakarta Principles plus 10. Julia holds a PhD in mathematics and lives with her partner and child in Berlin and Geneva.?