New anti-trans coalition calling itself 'LGB International' sparks backlash from LGBTQ+ rights and trans support groups
– 2 min read
A new alliance of gender-critical groups, calling itself LGB International, has drawn sharp criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates and human rights organisations for promoting exclusionary rhetoric and undermining trans rights under the guise of gay advocacy.
The group, which emerged from the UK’s LGB Alliance - long criticised for its anti-trans stance - claims to represent lesbian, gay and bisexual people globally. However, its launch has been met with concern from LGBTQ+ communities, who see it as part of a broader backlash against trans inclusion and equality.
LGB International’s leadership has openly rejected the inclusion of transgender people in the LGBTQ+ umbrella, accusing mainstream organisations of being “captured by gender ideology”. In doing so, they have aligned themselves with a growing international network of anti-trans campaigners, many of whom have ties to far-right and religious conservative movements.
The group’s launch comes amid a wave of anti-trans sentiment in the UK and abroad, with increasing attempts to restrict access to gender-affirming healthcare, limit trans participation in sports, and exclude trans people from public spaces. LGB International has echoed many of these talking points, framing trans inclusion as a threat to same-sex attraction - a claim widely discredited by medical and human rights experts.
Responding to the launch of the new organisation, a spokesman for the Beaumont Society, a trans support group in the UK, said: “The emergence of yet more LGB isolationist and similar ‘sex-based’ advocacy groups such as this, represent the continuing efforts of well-funded groups with their own agenda to divide the LGBTQIA+ family, and this is now spreading beyond the USA and UK.
“This is a retrogressive step as it ignores the fact that all sections of the family intersect each other and that the history of the fight for rights for all sections depended on the actions of all working in harmony.”
ILGA-Europe, which works for LGBTQ+ people's safety, equality and freedom, has condemned the new alliance, reaffirming their commitment to solidarity across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. "None of us will be free until all of us are free. Division only weakens the advancements we have already made,” the organisation said.
