Tilting the Balance: Funding global trans organizing to become a beacon of democracy, not a scapegoat of authoritarianism

n just the first half of 2026, anti-trans legislation has surfaced in at least 11 different countries. Trans communities have been and continue to be a dangerous focus of attack for ultra-conservative leaders and anti-rights movements, which have weaponized and scapegoated broader gender issues (trans identities among the most conspicuous and contested) for political gain.

This is not just an example of how trans rights are curtailed and restricted, but of how trans rights have become a political battleground for democratic backsliding and the rise of authoritarianism.

In the newly released 2023-2024 Global Resources Report, GPP found that just one large anti-trans organization had a budget larger than the entire global trans movement. We also know that funding cuts in 2025-2026 have deeply affected trans movements, while adversary organizing has gained more ground and resources to advance a legislative agenda – one that has succeeded in passing many new anti-trans bills into law with very little opposition. Although transgender communities continue to be targeted, criminalized, and scapegoated for the consolidation of authoritarian power, they have continuously sustained a democratic infrastructure while defending their own livelihoods. Funding, however, has not been able to meet them at this crossroads or keep up with their leadership. 

Since 2009, GPP and its 23 member organizations have worked actively to increase and improve funding for trans movements worldwide – through research, resource tracking, donor education, fund mobilization, and direct advocacy.

On September 17, join GPP’s webinar “Tilting the Balance: Funding global trans organizing to become a beacon of democracy, not a scapegoat of authoritarianism” to make the connections between trans rights and democratic backsliding, and to build strategic philanthropic responses to interrupt and disrupt these dangerous forces and invest in trans-led responses.

This webinar is open to all.