by Michael K. Lavers
(Michael K. Lavers is the Washington Blade’s international news editor. The following piece was published on December 30, 2024, and appears here with permission.)

The extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples, anti-LGBTQ crackdowns, war, and elections are among the issues that made headlines around the world over the past year. Here are the top international stories of 2024.

#10 African countries move to criminalize homosexuality

Ghanaian MPs on Feb. 28 passed the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill that would, among other things, criminalize allyship. Outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo did not immediately sign the bill, citing the outcome of a Supreme Court case. Burkina Faso Justice Minister Edasso Bayala on July 10 announced consensual same-sex sexual acts are illegal in the country. Mali’s Transitional National Council on Oct. 31 adopted a draft penal code that would criminalize acts of homosexuality. The Dominica High Court of Justice, on the other hand, on April 22 struck down provisions of a law that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in the Caribbean nation. A judge on St. Vincent and the Grenadines’s top court on Feb. 16 dismissed two cases that challenged the country’s sodomy laws.

#9 More countries extend marriage rights to same-sex couples

Greece, Liechtenstein, and Estonia in 2024 extended marriage rights to same-sex couples. Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Sept. 24 approved a marriage equality bill that lawmakers passed earlier in the year. It took effect on Jan. 22, 2025. Liechtenstein’s marriage equality law took effect on New Year’s Day. The Dutch Supreme Court on July 12 ruled Aruba and Curaçao must extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. Czech lawmakers in February rejected a marriage equality bill.

#8 Gay, lesbian lawmakers make headlines

Steve Letsike, a lesbian who founded Access Chapter 2, a South African advocacy group, on May 29 won a seat in the South African National Assembly. President Cyril Ramaphosa later named her to his Cabinet. French President Emmanuel Macron on Jan. 9 named Gabriel Attal as the country’s first openly gay prime minister. Attal resigned in July after Macron’s party lost its overall majority in the National Assembly. Then-Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on March 20 announced his resignation. He became the country’s first gay prime minister in 2017.

#7 Algerian boxer Imane Khelif faces questions over gender at Olympics

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif faced questions over her gender during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Khelif won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 66-kilogram competition on Aug. 10. She was born female and does not identify as transgender or intersex. The International Olympic Committee said Khelif “is not a man fighting a woman.” Khelif after the games filed a criminal complaint against JK Rowling and Elon Musk with French authorities. The lawsuit claims the two engaged in “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.”

#6 Mexico bans “conversion therapy”

The Mexican Senate on April 25 overwhelmingly approved a bill that bans so-called conversion therapy in the country. The measure passed by a 77-4 vote margin with 15 abstentions. The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Mexico’s congress, in March approved the bill that, among other things, would subject conversion therapy practitioners to between two and six years in prison and fines. Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, France, and New Zealand are among the countries that ban conversion therapy.

#5 Germany’s Self-Determination Act takes effect

A German law that simplifies the process for transgender or nonbinary people to legally change their name and gender in official documents took effect on Nov. 1. The country’s cabinet on Aug. 21 approved the Gender Self-Determination Act.

#4 Russia’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown continues

The Russian government in 2024 continued its anti-LGBTQ crackdown. President Vladimir Putin last month signed a bill that bans the adoption of Russian children in countries where gender transition is legal. Media reports indicate authorities on Nov. 30 raided three Moscow nightclubs that have hosted LGBTQ-specific events. Authorities in October raided two bars in the Russian capital and in Yekaterinburg. The raids coincided with National Coming Out Day events.

#3 Pope Francis continues outreach to LGBTQ Catholics

Pope Francis in 2024 continued his outreach to LGBTQ Catholics. The pontiff on Oct. 12 met with a group of transgender and intersex Catholics and LGBTQ allies at the Vatican. Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founders of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based organization that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ Catholics, arranged the meeting that took place at Casa Santa Marta, Francis’s residence in Vatican City. Clare Byarugaba of Chapter Four Uganda and Rightify Ghana Director Ebenezer Peegah met with Francis at the Vatican on Aug. 14. Francis earlier this year during an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell said priests can bless gays and lesbians who are couples, as opposed to their unions. Francis, in a declaration the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released on March 25, condemned gender-affirming surgeries and “gender theory.”

#2 LGBTQ Israelis, Palestinians grapple with Oct. 7 aftermath

The Washington Blade traveled to Israel in October to cover the first anniversary of Oct. 7 and how LGBTQ Israelis and Palestinians continue to grapple with its aftermath. Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, Pride House of Be’er Sheva, the Aguda, the Israeli Transgender Association, and other Israeli advocacy groups continue to offer access to mental health services, housing programs, and other needs to those directly impacted by Oct. 7. The Blade interviewed Omer Ohana, who successfully lobbied Israeli lawmakers to amend the country’s Bereaved Families Law to recognize LGBTQ widows and widowers of fallen Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Hamas militants on Oct. 8, 2023, killed his fiancé, IDF Maj. Sagi Golan, in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. LGBTQ aid workers who have worked with queer Palestinians in Gaza over the last year also spoke with the Blade. “It became very apparent to me that everything we did was like pouring water into the desert,” said Rain Doe Dubilewski of Safebow, which helped more than 300 people evacuate Gaza. “There was nothing we can offer that is lasting or stable for the Palestinian people.”

#1 Trump re-election sparks concern

Donald Trump’s election in November sparked concern among LGBTQ activists and advocacy groups around the world. “I worry that Trump’s win means no protection for global LGBTQ+ human rights,” Sexual Minorities Uganda Executive Director Frank Mugisha told the Blade. Esteban Paulón, a long-time LGBTQ activist in Argentina who won a seat in the country’s Congress in 2022, echoed Mugisha. Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin in an email to their group’s supporters after the election said the results “have raised deep concerns for many of us who care about fundamental human rights, freedoms, and democratic norms for LGBTIQ people and everyone else around the world.” Trump during his first administration tapped then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell to lead an initiative that encouraged countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations. Activists with whom the Blade has previously spoken questioned whether this effort had any tangible results.

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