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Date and Location
Erin Norris
Pride and Power: Global LGBTQI+ Issues in Perilous Times
Facilitators: Jessica Stern and Timothy Patrick McCarthy
Carr-Ryan Center Study Group | Spring 2026
Description
The rights and lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex peoples stand at a critical crossroads. Across the globe, we see a complex and contested patchwork of ideologies and belief systems, legal protections and discriminations, social and political practices, movement tactics and strategies, progress and backlash. In an attempt to make sense of some of these confounding dynamics, this study group will explore the origin and evolution of “queering human rights” in modern times, examine the forces and stakeholders involved in the advancement of and attack on LGBTQI+ human rights globally, map the current state of the movement by highlighting specific “bad spots” and “bright spots,” and consider where we go from here. Our work will be guided by this central question: How can queer people have pride and build power in the face of the very real challenges and opportunities before us in this perilous time?
Schedule & Syllabus
“Pride and Power” is a 4-session spring semester study group offered on select Wednesdays from mid-February through late April 2026. Session One (February 11) and Session Four (April 29) will be held in person in W-102 at the Harvard Kennedy School. Sessions Two (March 4) and Three (April 15) will be held virtually over Zoom.
Session One: Paradox of Progress: Wins, Losses & Global Backlash
Wednesday, February 11 | 12noon-1:15pm | Wexner 102 (Heng Conference Room)
This session will examine the “paradox of progress,” the contested relationship between recent advances in LGBTQI+ human rights and the growing global backlash against LGBTQI+ people and their allies, rooted in “anti-gender ideology” and other beliefs and practices.
Pre-readings:
Jessica Stern and Suzanne Goldberg, Protecting LGBTQI+ Rights is Good Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy (July 2024)
Jessica Stern, Suzanne Goldberg, and Reggie Greer, The State Department's New Human Rights Reports are Silent. We Refuse to Be, Washington Blade (August 2025)
Executive Order 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth in the Federal Government (January 2025)
Facilitator Bios
Jessica Stern is the former U.S. Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons, U.S. State Department, and a Carr-Ryan Center Senior Fellow. Full bio here.
Timothy Patrick McCarthy is Lecturer on Education and Public Policy, Harvard University, and Faculty Chair, Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program, Carr-Ryan Center. Full bio here.
Speakers and Presenters
Jessica Stern, Former U.S. Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons, U.S. State Department & Carr-Ryan Center Senior Fellow;
Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Lecturer on Education and Public Policy and Faculty Chair, Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program, Carr-Ryan Center