By Meg Foley Yoder
The Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights’ Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program brought its growing international community to Amsterdam this August for the WorldPride Human Rights Conference, joining LGBTQI+ leaders, advocates, and policymakers from around the world for conversations about equality, political leadership, movement building, and the future of LGBTQI+ human rights.
Held as part of WorldPride Amsterdam 2026, the conference coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Netherlands becoming the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Twelve members of the Program community representing eight countries participated in WorldPride, including staff and faculty, fellows, senior fellows, and alumni of the Program’s International LGBTQI+ Activism Summit.
“WorldPride Amsterdam 2026 is a unique and global stage to spotlight two of the movement’s most significant areas of progress: the historic rise of openly LGBTQI+ heads of government and state to the highest levels of public leadership, and the remarkable advances—and continuing challenges—for LGBTQI+ equality across East Asia,” said Diego Garcia Blum, Director of the Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program.
Looking Ahead on Marriage Equality
The Program hosted two sessions at the Human Rights Conference. The first, “Marriage Equality: The Steps Ahead,” was moderated by Program Manager Ying Xin and focused on marriage equality movements in East Asia and the ways advocates are combining litigation, policy advocacy, community organizing, and cross-regional learning to advance LGBTQI+ rights.
“I was motivated to organize this conversation because, while LGBTQI+ rights globally have experienced significant backlash in recent years, we are also witnessing important progress and powerful movement-building in East Asia,” Xin said. “It is also important to recognize that East Asia is not a single story. Progress is taking different forms in different places.”
The session highlighted developments in Japan and South Korea, where marriage equality and relationship recognition have become increasingly visible issues, as well as movement building and international advocacy in Mongolia. For Xin, bringing those experiences together also offered an opportunity to consider how movements can learn from one another while adapting strategies to their own political and social contexts.
“Legal victories alone do not automatically create broader social change or guarantee equality in people’s everyday lives,” Xin said. “Movements can learn from each other’s experiences, not by simply copying one model, but by understanding different strategies and adapting them to their own local contexts.”
Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling
On August 7, the Program convened “Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling: Leadership Lessons from LGBTQI+ Heads of Government and State,” bringing together current and former openly LGBTQI+ heads of government and state for a conversation about political leadership, representation, and their potential collective role in advancing LGBTQI+ human rights.
The gathering grew out of the Program’s ongoing collaboration with 2025-26 Senior Fellow Leo Varadkar, former Taoiseach of Ireland. Varadkar was joined in person by Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten and former San Marino Captain Regent Paolo Rondelli. Other current and former heads of government, including Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir of Iceland, Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg, and Xavier Espot Zamora of Andorra, participated through pre-recorded messages.
The conversation addressed growing threats to LGBTQI+ rights, with particular attention to attacks against transgender people. Jetten warned that efforts to target trans rights threatened the broader LGBTQI+ community and called for greater organization and solidarity in response. Varadkar reflected on how the political environment for LGBTQI+ rights has changed, while Rondelli emphasized the importance of maintaining unity across the community.
“At this moment, we have the largest number of current and former heads of government and state who are LGBTQI-identified in the history of the world, and this presents an exciting opportunity,” Faculty Chair Timothy Patrick McCarthy said ahead of the conference. “Our leaders have a historic opportunity to represent our community by speaking out collectively and forcefully on issues and policies that impact us directly.”
The Washington Blade covered the session from Amsterdam, highlighting Jetten’s call for stronger action to defend transgender rights.
For McCarthy, bringing these leaders together was also an opportunity to consider what their experiences might offer a new generation of LGBTQI+ public servants.
“I love that all of us came away from this discussion with more hope than despair, more energy than inertia, more optimism than cynicism,” McCarthy said. “In these times, that alone is a clear and crucial victory!”
A Global Community at the Human Rights Conference
The Carr-Ryan Center’s presence at the conference extended beyond its two sponsored sessions. Nayyab Ali, 2025–26 Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow, spoke on faith, law, and liberation in Muslim-majority communities and on new paradigms of justice from Global South and diasporic perspectives. Kimberly Zieselman, an incoming 2026–27 Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow, joined discussions on strengthening LGBTQI+ movements through intersex voices and resisting gender monitoring of LGBTQI+ bodies, while Jessica Stern, 2025-27 Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Senior Fellow, participated in a conversation on political leadership and the future of global development policy. International LGBTQI+ Activism Summit alumni also brought their perspectives to the conference, including Yanzi Peng (2025), who joined the Program’s marriage equality session; Mariano Ruiz (2025), who spoke on queer forced displacement amid global backlash; Omar van Reenan (2024), who participated in a session highlighting personal stories from Global Majority Prides; and Vidda Guzzo (2024), who joined conversations on intersex inclusion and intergenerational care in LGBTQI+ movements. Reggie Greer (2025-26 Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow) was also in attendance at World Pride, speaking as part of the Amex GBT Inclusion Summit.
Beyond the conference, the Program delegation traveled to The Hague for an official visit, participated in the WorldPride March, and, together with Varadkar and the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, co-hosted a Presidents and Prime Ministers Reception.
Taken together, the week reflected a central ambition of the Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program: connecting people working at different levels and in different parts of the world, from grassroots movements to the highest levels of government.
“As our Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program enters its third year, we feel that WorldPride Amsterdam 2026 was an ideal occasion for us to gather with our global counterparts, listen to and learn from them, and also spotlight our people and showcase our work,” McCarthy said.
Kyle Faneuff | Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
