As LGBTI communities face growing hostility, veteran activist Ailbhe Smyth reflects on how Irish activists united across divides to win a historic referendum victory for marriage equality ten years ago, and what today’s LGBTI organisers can learn from that approach.

We’re living in a time of rising authoritarianism, where politicians use LGBTI people as scapegoats to create a common enemy. This moment demands that our movement work across our differences and truly connect with people’s hearts and minds to build understanding, solidarity, and the courage to push back together.

Ten years ago in Ireland, the campaign for marriage equality showed what’s possible when a movement chooses connection over division. Groups that had long disagreed on strategy came together with a shared purpose: to speak to people’s hopes, their sense of fairness, and their desire to do right by one another. That spirit of unity and genuine outreach helped lead to an overwhelming vote to include same-sex marriage in the constitution

Ten years after Ireland’s landmark marriage equality referendum, this episode of The Frontline offers a powerful and insight rich talk for LGBTI activists, community organisers and anyone working for social change at this moment in time. Ailbhe Smyth, cofounder of the 2015 Marriage Equality campaign and a central figure in Ireland’s feminist and LGBTI movements, shares practical lessons on how to work across differences to build people power, strengthen grassroots organising and create campaigns that win.

Recorded at this year’s ILGA Europe Annual Conference in Vilnius, Ailbhe reflects on the strategies behind both the marriage equality victory and the 2018 abortion referendum. Her talk is filled with guidance for activists navigating today’s challenging sociopolitical context, including how to build broad coalitions, how to work across differences, how to mobilise local communities and how to communicate in ways that shift public opinion.

This episode is designed for LGBTI organisations, grassroots groups, emerging leaders and movement builders looking for clear and real world organising knowledge. Ailbhe explains what helped Irish activists turn local conversations into national momentum and how campaigners can sustain themselves and their communities through long struggles for equality and human rights.

If you are searching for practical strategies for LGBTI organising, examples of successful equality campaigns or inspiration from one of Ireland’s most respected activists, this episode offers grounded and actionable insights you can use immediately.

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In a world where we are all are expected to keep going no matter the cost, what happens when we choose to pause? In this special episode of The Frontline, we explore what it means to truly care for ourselves, particularly at the intersections of queerness, race, and mental health.

Joining the conversation are Suranee Abeysuria, Director of Rainbow Mind, a mental health service by and for LGBTQIA+ people in the UK, and Uz Afzal, a senior practitioner and co-creator of Rainbow Mind’s radical self-care programme.

From navigating the emotional toll of activism to confronting the layered impacts of racism and homophobia within the asylum system and other racist structures, Suranee and Uz offer hard-won insights and practical tools for sustaining ourselves and our communities.

This episode isn’t just about stepping back to heal, it’s about reclaiming power, rewriting the rules of resilience, and a queer revolution grounded in healing.

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What the latest drops reveal about Europe's future.

In this episode of The Frontline, we unpack the major headlines emerging from this year’s Rainbow Map, the annual ranking of European countries based on their legal and policy environments for LGBTI people.

Hungary has plunged seven spots to 37th place, following the European Union’s first-ever Pride ban. Organisers have been criminalised, and authorities have been granted sweeping powers, including the use of facial recognition to identify and fine peaceful participants. Close behind, the United Kingdom has dropped six places to 22nd, after a Supreme Court ruling stripped key legal protections from trans people. Meanwhile, Georgia, once a hopeful EU candidate, has fallen seven places to 44th, after passing a harsh legislative package widely seen as mirroring Russian-style crackdowns on LGBTI expression.

With expert insights from ILGA-Europe’s advocacy leads Katrin Hugendubel, Belinda Dear, and Cianán Russell, we explore the most significant collective decline in the Rainbow Map’s history. We ask: are Pride bans, court rulings like the UK’s, and other laws erasing LGBTI human rights becoming a wider European trend? And what does this all mean for everyone in Europe, not just LGBTI people?

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A wave of anti-LGBTI attacks over the past month has sparked mass protests in Italy, as hate-fueled rhetoric from political leaders fuels an increasingly hostile climate. In this episode of The Frontline, we speak with leading activists about the growing crisis.

Over the past month, Italy has seen a surge of LGBTI-phobic violence. There have been no less than four hate-motivated attacks in the last four weeks, while hate messages have appeared on the doors of the Cassero LGBTQIA+ centre in Bologna.

The attacks have prompted large protests in both Rome and Milan, demanding the government to take urgent action. But all this is taking place at a time when openly LGBT-phobic rhetoric is used by Italy’s leaders, while legislative protection for LGBTI people in Italy is seriously lacking.

In this episode activists from Italy speak truth to the alarming rise in hate attacks and how the government is failing to acknowledge the anti-LGBTI motives of the attackers, while at the same time creating a fertile ground for such attacks.

Joining us to explore ways forward for the LGBTI movement, and what the EU should be doing, are Roberto Muzzetta from Arcigay, the largest LGBTI organisation in Italy, and Silvia Magino from Associazione Quore, which works with the community in Turin, and Rosario Coco, President of Gaynet, and Italy-wide association working on training and communication on LGBTI issues.

Tune in now to stay informed on the situation in Italy, the actions activists are taking in response, and their demands, as the country’s leadership continues to politicise anti-LGBTI sentiment within the European Union.

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The LGBTI activist movement has long been a beacon of social justice, achieving remarkable successes through solidarity and a shared sense of purpose. But in today’s polarised world, where political scapegoating and the divisiveness of social media test the very fabric of unity, how can we continue to stand together?

In this episode of The Frontline we revisit an inspiring panel discussion from last October’s Annual Conference in Bucharest. The conversation, moderated by Simona Muršec from Ljubljana Pride, with Matt Kennedy from Trans Equality Together in Ireland, Nari Alibekova from TransDocha in Kazakhstan, and Simon Blake from Stonewall in the UK, explores how activists can build bridges across diverse identities and experiences to strengthen solidarity in the face of external challenges.delves into how we can embrace opportunities to build bridges across diverse identities and experiences.

Discover the strategies, insights, and courage needed to nurture the unity that remains the cornerstone of the LGBTI movement.

Tune in and be part of the conversation shaping the future of queer solidarity.

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In this episode of The Frontline, we explore a crucial question: What happens when the righteous anger driving social justice movements turns inward, targeting our own communities?

Within the LGBTI movement, how has cancel culture influenced our work and relationships—and how can we move beyond it while staying true to our values? Sabah Choudrey’s inspiring talk at the ILGA-Europe Annual Conference in Bucharest last October unpacks this pressing question. Drawing from adrienne maree brown’s transformative book, ‘We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformational Justice’, Sabah examines the rise of cancel culture, explores compassionate alternatives to "calling out," and discusses how to address harm with accountability and care.

This episode invites you to step back from the fast pace of activism and the reactivity of social media to reflect on how we can create healthier, more supportive activist spaces.

If you’re ready to rethink justice, accountability, and the future of our movements, this episode of The Frontline is not to be missed.

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Just under two weeks ago Romania was thrown into political turmoil that may have far reaching effects for Europe and the world, and for LGBTI people and other minorities in the country. In the first round of the country's Presidential election, nobody saw the victory of far-right, Russia-leaning Calin Georgescu, who was barely on the radar of the polls. Then, last Sunday, in Romania’s parliamentary elections saw mainstream parties gaining enough seats in parliament to form a government, although the far right has gained substantial ground in the legislature.

Meanwhile potential breaches in campaign finance laws and unfair practices exploiting the use of TikTok’s algorithms were credited to have boosted Georgescu, giving him enormous exposure despite the fact that he was relatively unknown. The European Commission have said they will be investigating whether there was unlawful TikTok interference.

So, as Romania gets ready for the nail-biting second round of its presidential election, what does all this mean for LGBTI people in the country? How are activists reading the conflicting results of the presidential and parliamentary elections, amid viral anti-LGBTI TikTok videos and the bombshell rise of Calin Georgescu who has previously said he wants to ‘ban homosexuality’? And what does this mean in terms of elections everywhere?

To discuss the questions and implications, we’re joined on The Frontline by Vlad Viski, President of Romania’s community-based LGBT organisation MozaiQ and Stefi Ionescu, board member of ACCEPT Association, which advocates for the human rights of LGBTI people in Romania.

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This summer in Bulgaria, as two new anti-LGBTI laws were fast-tracked in advance of forthcoming elections, a cross movement effort came together to try and stop it.

With rising levels of backlash and political scapegoating, how do LGBTI organisations relate to the greater struggle for democracy, freedom and equality? How do we avoid playing into political division in our quest for success? And in a world where there are no easy wins, what does that success look like?

In this episode of The Frontline we’re looking at discussion that took place during the ILGA-Europe annual conference in Bucharest in October, where over 400 activists joined us to look at ways forward for LGBTI activism at this critical time in the world.

For our panel on finding the courage to seek new strategies in current political contexts, ILGA-Europe’s Advocacy Director, Katrin Hugendubel is joined by Irena Moozova, Deputy Director General responsible for the International Dimension of Justice Policies, Rule of Law, and Equality in the European Commission, Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo, General Rapporteur for LGBTI rights at PACE in the Council of Europe, Denitsa Lyubenova, lawyer from the LGBTI organisation Deystvie in Bulgaria, and Magda Rakita from Fundacja Interakcja in Poland.

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