The fight against transphobia as a fundamental pillar of human rights

Transgender communities are among the most vulnerable targets in a landscape of regressive policies and the defunding of human rights institutions. An attack in which identity, social class and prejudice intersect.

Within the broad range of struggles for the right to identity in the diversity movement, raising awareness against transphobia has in recent years become a central focus of debate. Delving into the historical violations suffered by transgender populations in economic, cultural and social terms has become a central part of the human rights agenda. Despite progress on this front, in 2025 a multiplicity of factors still persist that not only render these discussions invisible, but even stigmatize and directly confront them. This translates into ongoing manifestations of violence and hate speech that place trans people among the most attacked identities within the LGTBIQ+ movement.

As 2025 drew to a close, Amnesty International once again emphasized the background in which transphobic violence takes root, especially the social structures in certain countries that enable such discrimination from within their very legal framework. Cases such as Turkey, for example, cited by the humanitarian organization, where the country’s 2024 Pride march was violently attacked, illustrate this phenomenon. According to Amnesty, the government itself instigated severe bans and regulations in 2023 against holding demonstrations such as the Pride March, which set a worrying precedent for the local community.

Likewise, the designation of 2025 as the “Year of the Family” in that country has been interpreted by activists in Turkey’s LGBTQ+ community as an official discourse that seeks to impose a conservative and patriarchal outlook on society, with a view to erasing the rights of sexual minorities. 

In the middle of last year, Amnesty was unequivocal about the Turkish case, denouncing the institutionalized discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community that was already anticipated at the time, with a strong transphobic component. Likewise, in April of this year AI turned the spotlight on the case of the United Kingdom, where a Supreme Court ruling caused an uproar by establishing that womanhood must be based on biological criteria, violating the rights of people whose gender differs from the one assigned at birth. 

The constant attacks on transgender communities have even prompted actions such as that of the United Nations, which in June 2025 released a new report on sexual violence and devoted a specific section to discrimination based on biologically essentialist stereotypes. It cited the aforementioned UK case and warned about the implications that such precedents could have in reinforcing sexist and oppressive stereotypes, to the detriment of diversity and human rights.

Added to this are the regressive reactions from the highest levels of government which, in many cases, resort to rhetoric that fosters discrimination and places transgender populations as direct social targets. According to a report released this year by the organization ILGA-Europe, countries such as Austria, Albania, Georgia and Bosnia, among others, have seen the emergence of right-wing political parties that have made anti-LGBTI+ rhetoric a central campaign plank.   

Discrimination based on gender and poverty

Human rights violations against the transgender and travesti population are embodied not only at a sexist and stereotyping discursive level, but also at an economic and social level. Attacks on travesti populations are often situated in contexts of social marginalization, poverty and rights violations that deepen their exposure to risk. According to a report released this year by the Federación  LGTBI+ of Argentina, nearly half of trans people in that country are at risk of poverty.

According to the organization’s survey, 1 in 4 households made up of trans people has an income of less than 1,000 euros a month. In addition, only half of the transgender population reports never having experienced any form of destitution. Moreover, 3 in 10 respondents have only 3 months of paid work a year, placing them in the “low work intensity” bracket.

The UN’s message in 2025

On the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, observed on May 17, the United Nations once again reiterated its awareness-raising message on this issue, which year after year raises more alarm in the human rights world. On that occasion, the international organization highlighted the difficult situation currently faced by the policies and institutions dedicated to fighting to guarantee the rights of LGBTQ+ groups. One of the most frequently cited problems in this regard is the gradual defunding that many governments around the world have imposed on organizations and entities dedicated to this agenda. 

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia