How Legal Crackdowns and Aid Cuts Are Silencing LBQ+ Women in the Global South
- Deborah Iroegbu
- Oct 7
- 3 min read
A perfect storm of criminalization and defunding is dismantling support systems for LBQ+ women across the Global South—just when they need it most.
The Double Threat Facing LBQ+ Women in the Global South
Across the Global South, queer women are caught between two devastating forces: new laws criminalizing their very existence and donors abandoning them at the worst possible moment.
In 2025, Burkina Faso enacted legislation that fundamentally reversed its legal stance on LGBTQ+ rights. For the first time, the country explicitly criminalized same-sex relations with prison sentences ranging from two to five years and steep fines.
What makes this law particularly dangerous is its vague language. The prohibition of "behavior likely to promote homosexual practices" can be weaponized against:
Public advocacy and human rights work
Queer cultural events and artistic expression
Online posts and social media presence
Educational programs and community gatherings
Any visibility whatsoever
Activists report an immediate chilling effect: fear, self-censorship, and vanishing safe spaces.
Burkina Faso isn't alone. Across multiple regions, governments are enacting "anti-propaganda" laws disguised as protecting minors or public morality. These laws grant state actors nearly unlimited power to silence dissent.
Feminist organizations and women's rights groups that include LGBTQ+ programming face a heightened risk of being shut down, legally harassed, or blocked from operating entirely.
Impacts of the Funding Crisis on LBQ+ Women in the Global South
In January 2025, the U.S. government froze nearly all foreign aid, triggering immediate stop-work orders for countless LGBTQI+ and human rights organizations worldwide.
Programs ended overnight. Staff received termination notices. Services that kept communities alive simply stopped. Outright International's Defunding Freedom report documents the carnage: program closures, mass layoffs, and suspended services spanning continents.
This funding shock compounds a troubling long-term trend: donors increasingly avoid "politically charged" regions, leaving queer groups with nowhere to turn.
LBQ+ women's organizations in the Global South already operate on razor-thin margins. Many can't access mainstream philanthropy due to stigma or legal restrictions. When international funding evaporates, there's no backup plan.
The brutal math: mainstream NGOs have diverse funding streams and political capital. Queer organizations have neither—and the cuts hit them catastrophically harder. Examples of such situations include:
West Africa: One organization burned through its emergency reserves just to keep office doors open. They dismissed staff, suspended all programs, and abandoned advocacy work. The director described the freeze as "a punch in the face."
Uganda: Local LGBTQ+ groups were forced to halt HIV prevention programs, stop distributing condoms and lubricants, and suspend community services entirely—leaving vulnerable populations without critical health interventions.
Why LBQ+ Women in the Global South Suffer Most
For lesbian, bisexual, and queer women, these funding cuts aren't just financial setbacks—they're existential threats.
Most LBQ+ women in the Global South rely heavily on shelters, safe houses, and community networks for survival. When funding stops, these lifelines disappear first.
Legal services addressing lesbian-specific issues—partner recognition, child custody, identity documentation—are already scarce. Funding cuts eliminate what little support existed.
Safe, inclusive health services for queer women are rare. When LGBTQ+-friendly clinics close, women face impossible choices: ignore critical health needs or risk exposure, stigma, and violence.
Community hubs provide more than services—they provide connection, validation, and hope. When they close, isolation deepens, mental health crises escalate, and invisibility becomes suffocating.
How LBQ+ Women in the Global South can Build Financial Resilience Amidst Funding Cuts
To survive donor volatility, LBQ+ women's organizations must cultivate local financial independence by:
Building donor bases among local allies and diaspora communities.
Creating businesses, services and trainings that can generate internal revenue for the organization.
Collaborating with sympathetic businesses and community organizations.
Creating membership programs with tiered support levels.
Securing donated space, technology, professional services, and supplies.
Systematically setting aside emergency funds.
The LGBTQ+ funding crisis 2025 represents an inflection. LBQ+ women's movements can either be dismantled by this coordinated assault or emerge more resilient, more connected, and more deeply rooted in their communities.
Survival requires refusing to choose between visibility and safety, between advocacy and existence. It requires building power structures that can't be defunded by foreign governments or criminalized by hostile states.
The work continues. The resistance adapts. The movement survives.
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