ILGA-Europe has published a new communications guide to help LGBTQIA+ organisations explain their contribution to democracy and engage with people who have lost faith in democratic institutions. Published on 22 October 2026, ‘We Need to Talk About Democracy’ was developed in collaboration with eight LGBTQIA+ organisations across Europe.
The European LGBTQIA+ rights organisation says the conditions that enable people to organise, express themselves and hold those in power accountable are under increasing pressure across Europe and Central Asia. In some countries, democratic freedoms are being openly dismantled, while elsewhere they are being gradually eroded. Economic insecurity and institutional failures are also contributing to public disillusionment with democracy.
The guide argues that LGBTQIA+ movements should not see themselves as outsiders seeking inclusion in democratic systems. Through advocacy, community organising and efforts to hold authorities accountable, they already play an active role in democratic life.
ILGA-Europe aims to help organisations communicate this contribution while taking people’s doubts and concerns about democracy seriously. Rather than prescribing a single approach, the guide offers ideas that organisations can adapt to their own national and local contexts.
The publication forms part of ILGA-Europe’s broader work on democracy. This includes funding strategies developed by LGBTQIA+ organisations, supporting groups that maintain spaces for collective action under repressive conditions, bringing evidence from the LGBTQIA+ movement into European debates on democracy and the rule of law, and helping organisations share knowledge and develop skills across borders.
ILGA-Europe is also examining how its own structures and practices can reflect the democratic principles it promotes, including participation, shared power and accountability.
Developed with eight LGBTQIA+ organisations
The guide was produced in collaboration with partners in ILGA-Europe’s Democracy Lab grant programme: Campaign Against Homophobia in Poland, the Center for Social Group Development in Kosovo, Il Cassero LGBTQIA+ Center in Italy, Ljubljana Pride Association in Slovenia, the LGBTI Support Centre in North Macedonia, MozaiQ in Romania, Sarajevo Open Centre in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Single Step Foundation in Bulgaria.
AJ Venturini wrote the guide, which was edited by Anastasia Smirnova and reviewed by Belinda Dear, Katja Štefanec Gärtner, and Luca Dudits. Svetlana Zakharova served as project lead.
