Across Central America, LGBTQ+ people continue to face extreme violence, discrimination, and impunity. In Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, hate crimes and murders remain alarmingly high—often without justice. Political repression and daily discrimination force many to flee in search of safety and dignity. For many, Costa Rica has become a rare refuge: a country with relative stability, stronger institutions, and access to education and healthcare. Yet LGBTQ+ migrants and refugees still face exclusion, xenophobia, and barriers to work and protection. 

IRCA Casabierta is Costa Rica’s only organization dedicated to protecting and empowering LGBTQ+ migrants and refugees. Founded in 2013, it combines human rights advocacy with psychosocial, legal, and employment support. The organization runs the country’s only LGBTQ+ Employment Office (in partnership with the Ministry of Labor), provides legal and mental health assistance to hundreds of displaced people, and promotes inclusion through advocacy and partnerships. 

The current project strengthens IRCA Casabierta’s capacity by expanding employment training, legal aid, and mental health services; maintaining safe facilities and key staff; and advancing advocacy for displaced LGBTQ+ people. The funding helps secure the continuity of core programs and long-term resilience at a time when international support for LGBTQ+ and migration work in Latin America is rapidly shrinking. From Costa Rica, IRCA Casabierta not only provides lifesaving assistance but also builds inclusive, community-led models that inspire change across the region. 

The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERs) is one of Nigeria’s leading LGBTQI organizations. Since 2005, they have built a strong model for rights work through legal advocacy, research, advocacy, and community-driven programs.

TIERs defends hundreds of LGBTQI people in court each year, provides over 5,000 people with access to inclusive healthcare and mental health, and campaigns that reach millions of people. Through training, media programs, and emergency support efforts, thousands of LGBTQI people have been given protection, security, and the opportunity to earn a living. They have also strengthened alliances with national actors and documented over a decade of human rights violations, contributing to policy change.

In Nigeria, LGBTQI people live with systematic violence, discrimination, and criminalization, particularly through the same-sex prohibition act, which is used to justify abuse, extortion, and denial of care. Between 2021 and 2024, TIER documented

over 2,600 violations – the highest number in ten years. The need for legal support, security, care and shelter is urgent.

At the same time, a clear effect is seen from TIERS’ long-term work to document human rights violations and raise facts in the public domain. In 2024, TIERS conducted a national attitude survey on the view of LGBTQI people in Nigeria. The results show a clear, albeit slow, change: support for criminalization has decreased from 92% in 2013 to 66% in 2024. In addition, 42% of those surveyed stated that acceptance had increased over the past five years.

The Rainbow Fund and TIERS partnership funds salaries for key staff such as lawyers, healthcare professionals, social workers, researchers and human rights officers – roles that are crucial for the organization to provide emergency support, legal aid and protection, offer inclusive care and mental health support, document abuse and conduct advocacy, create new narratives that counter stigma, strengthen LGBTQI people’s livelihoods and build long-term sustainability in partnership with national authorities.

TIER’s work improves lives, strengthens the movement and pushes for real social change in one of the world’s most risky contexts for LGBTQI people.

Blue Diamond Society (BDS) is Nepal’s first and largest LGBTQI-led organization, founded in 2001. They work nationally with 35 local groups to strengthen the rights, health and safety of LGBTQI people. BDS provides HIV prevention, legal support, mental health counseling, humanitarian aid and advocacy. They have been instrumental in getting LGBTQI rights included in Nepal’s constitution and have played an important role in obtaining the historic court decision that opened up same-sex marriage registrations.

Despite this, LGBTQI people in Nepal still face serious discrimination, lack of access to healthcare, threats, violence and obstacles in dealing with authorities. Implementation of laws is slow, and resistance from the anti-gender movement is growing.

The project, which BDS is implementing with support from the Rainbow Fund, will strengthen security, rights and community support through training for politicians and authorities, increased security for both the organization and the community, campaigns that address hate and disinformation, legal and psychological support for victims, local mobilization in all seven provinces of Nepal, as well as documentation and storytelling for increased visibility. The goal is to improve security, strengthen resilience and create positive change in a political climate where LGBTQI rights are under increasing attack.