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About

The Human Rights Report Cards and the LGBTQI+ Perception Index were created by the F&M Global Barometers in partnership with the Council for Global Equality.


Overview

The LGBTQI+ Human Rights Report Cards are an extension of the 2021 Summit for Democracy and the F&M Global Barometers LGBTQI+ Perception Index is an outgrowth of the first Human Rights Report Cards. The Report Cards measure states’ legislative protections whereas the Perception Index documents the lived realities of LGBTQI+ people. The two projects complement one another: the first documents human rights protection, and the second demonstrates the actual human rights climate.

LGBTQI+ Human Rights Report Cards

A concise measurement of core human rights protections for LGBTQI+ individuals, setting the collective standard for participating states’ core legal obligations toward their LGBTQI+ peoples. Countries are graded on three dimensions: Basic Rights, Protection from Violence, and Socio-economic rights. The Summit for Democracy launches a year of action when all states should demonstrate progress in advancing the human rights and democratic participation of their LGBTQI+ peoples. Report Cards will be updated annually.

LGBTQI+ Perception Index

A groundbreaking global survey which documents the lived realities and perceptions of LGBTQI+ people. Going beyond mere measurement of legislative protections, the Perception Index gives voice to LGBTQI+ people worldwide. The survey, available in four languages, focuses on safety, acceptance, and level of discrimination.

History

In fall of 2021, the Council for Global Equality approached the F&M Global Barometers team to create a human rights report card that would focus primarily on state protections of LGBTQI+ people for the invited countries to the 2021 Summit for Democracy. Accessible to global policy makers, activists, and researchers, the Report Cards quantify legislative protections for non-binary and intersex people in addition to sexual orientation and gender identity minorities.

The Perception Index evolved out of the need to create an additional tool to show potential differences between existing legislation and the actual human rights climate in countries.

Attribution

The F&M Global Barometers partnered with the Council for Global Equality to create the LGBTQI+ Human Rights Report Cards. The F&M Global Barometers collaborated with the Council for Global Equality and the F&M Center for Opinion Research to create the LGBTQI+ Perception Index. In addition, Grindr for Equality, HER, Eden and numerous global LGBTQI+ NGOS provided outreach support for the LGBTQI+ Perception Index.

Team

Dr. Susan
Dicklitch-Nelson
Principal Investigator, Professor of Government,
Franklin & Marshall College
more info
Stefanie
Kasparek
Senior Data Analyst,
Franklin & Marshall College
more info
Erin
Hallenbeck
Project Manager and Research Assistant,
Franklin & Marshall College
more info
Dr. Susan Dicklitch-Nelson
Principal Investigator, Professor of Government,
Franklin & Marshall College

Dr. Susan Dicklitch-Nelson is Professor of Government at Franklin & Marshall College and founder of the F&M Global Barometers. She is the Principal Investigator on the F&M Global Barometers. She holds a Ph.D., in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and an Honors B.A. (summa cum laude) from McMaster University.  She has published widely on human rights and democracy and has served as an expert witness in over 100 asylum cases.

Stefanie Kasparek
Senior Data Analyst,
Franklin & Marshall College

Stefanie Kasparek is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Government  at Franklin & Marshall College and the Senior Data Analyst for the F&M Global Barometers. She received her M.A. in Political Science from Temple University (2015) and M.A. in American Studies/Political Science/International Law from Tuebingen University, Germany (2013). She also served as the Assistant Program Director for the Pennsylvania Public Policy Database Project at the Institute for Public Affairs at Temple University from 2016 to 2020.

Erin Hallenbeck
Project Manager and Research Assistant,
Franklin & Marshall College

Erin Hallenbeck is the Project Manager and a Research Assistant for the F&M Global Barometers. An alumna of Franklin & Marshall College, Erin completed her B.A. in English Literature and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and received her MSt. in Women’s Studies from the University of Oxford, Worcester College. Previously, she taught social studies and ESL classes outside of Boston and in the Netherlands as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. Erin joined the team in Fall 2022.

Mark
Bromley
Co-chair,
Council for Global Equality
more info
Julie
Dorf
Co-chair,
Council for Global Equality
more info
Stephen
Chukwumah
Policy Advocate,
Council for Global Equality
more info
Mark Bromley
Co-chair,
Council for Global Equality

Mark Bromley is Co-Chair of the Council for Global Equality. He helped launch the Council in 2008 to encourage a clearer and stronger American voice on international LGBTQI human rights concerns. In 2016, he provided the first-ever testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the state of LGBTQI rights around the world. Today, Mark and his colleagues provide regular briefings on trends impacting LGBTQI individuals globally. He also monitors the UN human rights system and has conducted research on sexual violence as a war crime. Mark previously worked for Global Rights, where he coordinated donor relations, supported field offices, and launched an organization-wide LGBTI Initiative. From 2001-2002, Mark staffed Senator Feingold’s work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including the Senator’s Chairmanship of the Africa Subcommittee. Mark holds a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BSFS from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has published on human rights and international law issues and has served as an adjunct professor for the human rights clinic at Virginia Law School. He lives in Washington with his husband and their children.

Julie Dorf
Co-chair,
Council for Global Equality

Julie has been a leader in the global LGBTI rights movement for nearly 30 years. Julie currently serves as Co-Chair of the Council for Global Equality, a coalition of 32 organizations working together for an inclusive U.S. foreign policy, which she co-founded in 2008. Julie also founded and directed the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (now OutRight Action International) from 1990 to 2000, creating an organization that protects and advances the human rights of all people and communities subjected to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status. She has bridged her activist career with philanthropy, serving as the Director of Philanthropic Services for Horizons Foundation, a San Francisco Bay Area foundation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community; and as an independent consultant for WPATH, Open Society Institute, Global Fund for Women, Arcus Foundation, Astraea Foundation, and Fenton Communications/J-Street Project. Julie is currently the lead advisor to the Equality Without Borders individual donor initiative. She also serves on the board or advisory boards of PowerPAC, Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program, and Horizons Foundation.

She holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Russian and Soviet Studies. Julie has written, spoken, and advocated extensively on social justice issues ranging from reparations for gay victims of the Nazis, Jewish-Palestinian relations, and marriage equality.

Stephen Chukwumah
Policy Advocate,
Council for Global Equality

Stephen Chukwumah is a Policy Advocate with the Council for Global Equality, where he joined the team in 2022. A Nigerian-born advocate and strategist, Stephen has extensive knowledge and expertise in movement building, policy, and fundraising. He has previously worked as a youth advisor to the United Nations Population Fund and founded the first youth-led organization in Eastern Nigeria to address discrimination and abuse targeting sexual minority youths and other public health issues including HIV. Before joining the Council, Stephen was a lead coordinator in the Asia and Pacific Department of the International Monetary Fund, where he received several recognitions and, in coordination with economists and research assistants, was in charge of the Fund’s regional economic outlook report and events for South Asia. He has raised money to support queer youth organizing in Africa through his work as a co-founder and chief strategist with the African Queer Youth Initiative. In addition, Stephen is regularly consulted by the State Department and IREX to review and recommend fellows for the prestigious Fulbright and Mandela Washington fellowships. He is also recognized as a leader for a changing world by DyNamc and has appeared on the magazine’s front page. A former fellow of the law faculty at the University of York England, Stephen has an MA in Global Policy from Johns Hopkins University and a certificate in organizational leadership from Harvard.

Contributors

Yael Asofsky | Erin Maxwell | Kate McBride | Amy Moreno | Scottie Thompson Buckland | Juliana Stoll | Indira Rahman | Ian Lekus

Our Partners

This project is not possible without the collaboration of LGBTQI+ civil society organizations and courageous LGBTQI+ activists worldwide.  We are grateful for the generous support of our key partners: Council for Global Equality, the LGBTI+ Global Human Rights Initiative, Grindr for Equality, HER, Eden, Tower Marketing and Franklin & Marshall College.