We, at Pride7, support the Group of Seven’s (G7) values of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. We gathered for the first Pride7 Summit in Tokyo on March 30, 2023, under the leadership of the Japanese lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community, who have been fighting for years for LGBTQIA+ rights, including for an inclusive nondiscrimination law, marriage equality, rights-respecting bodily autonomy, and gender self-determination.  

The Matera Ministerial Statement affirms the G7’s continued dedication to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, recognizing the vital role of coordinated efforts across society. Notably, it welcomes the engagement of diverse voices, including the emerging Pride7 (P7) group, signaling a hopeful and inclusive future where all sexual and gender identities are respected and empowered to contribute to lasting, transformative change. In this perspective, P7 has continued its efforts to be recognized as an official G7 engagement group in order to secure its voice in this space. 

 For its presidency, France has affirmed its commitment to work and reflect on the general weakening of international development aid, rethinking international partnerships for a fairer and more efficient system.  While the Pride 7 welcomes this priority, it’s also considering that LGBTQIA+ populations remains largely invisible in development programming and in response and assistance mechanisms at a time when the fight for LGBTQIA+ remains central for democracy, the rule of law and human rights, particularly in the global context of rising authoritarianism. 

We recognize that people around the world, in and out of the G7 countries, continue to face violence and inequality— sometimes torture or death — because of who they love, how they look and express themselves, or who they are. The G7 governments should stand as global leaders and ensure their laws, policies, and practices meet international human rights standards and ensure their implementation through upholding G7 commitments to overseas development assistance (ODA) to protect LGBTQIA+ people, and take robust actions to address abuses and harassment around the world.  

Building on the visibility of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) issues under the United Kingdom, German, Japan, Italian, and Canadian G7 presidencies, we are therefore calling on the G7 governments under the leadership of the French Presidency to promote and strengthen their political and financial support and protections in the areas of SOGIESC. Moving forward, SOGIESC issues must be included in the G7 Leaders’ Communiques to acknowledge the unique and discriminatory experiences LGBTQIA+ individuals face throughout society.  

To urge G7 leaders to include SOGIESC issues more meaningfully in this year’s G7 leader’s summit, Pride7 has consolidated numerous calls that transcend the topics of democracy, humanitarian action, economic sustainability, climate resilience, gender justice, and health equity, with the aim of supporting G7 states in actively becoming more inclusive for LGBTQIA+ individuals.  

 

Upholding Democracy, Strengthening Legal Frameworks, and Advancing Human Rights Protections 

 

Democracy depends on the full inclusion and protection of LGBTQIA+ people, requiring measures to prevent discrimination, violence, and stigmatization while strengthening support systems for those at risk of harm. In the face of rising authoritarianism across the globe, including in G7 states, governments must re-commit to countering rising attacks to democratic institutions and reaffirm human rights for all, regardless of SOGIESC status. Laws guaranteeing equal opportunities, legal gender recognition through self-determination, and protection against discrimination and violence for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people must be enacted and enforced, while LGBTQIA+ equality must be integrated across all policy areas. 

 

1. Adopt measures to prevent discrimination against and stigmatization of LGBTQIA+ people and strengthen support systems for those at risk of violence, isolation, and poverty. 

1. Counter the rising anti-gender movement through condemning increasing hatred and reaffirming the G7’s commitment to uplifting the human rights of all persons regardless of SOGIESC status. 

1. Protect people born with variations in their sex characteristics – also known as intersex people – from medically unnecessary and non-consensual interventions to “normalize” their bodies. Ensure intersex people have access to health care based on their individual informed consent, and without barriers related to sexism, pathologizing, and stigmatization. Intersex people should be able to self-determine their gender identities and health needs regardless of their sex assigned at birth, gender binary norms or hetero-normative norms, or other gender stereotypes.  

1. Enact new laws and enforce existing laws on equal opportunities and protection against discrimination and violence in order to reduce barriers and uphold equality and equity for transgender, non-binary, and all other gender non-conforming people. This includes legal gender recognition on the basis of self-determination.  

1. Promote consistent mainstreaming of LGBTQIA+ equality into all policy areas by implementing necessary legal, financial, educational and all other viable measures.  

1. Ensure that G7 host governments show leadership in fulfilling their duty by instituting laws that guarantee equality regardless of SOGIESC status, in line with international human rights standards including in the forms of non-discrimination legislation, marriage equality, bodily autonomy and gender self-determination.  

1. Recognize Pride7 as an official civil society engagement group, alongside the other existing and recognized G7 official engagement groups, such as Women7, Civil7, and Youth7, and pledge to consult Pride7 throughout G7 processes. 

1. Strengthen the Equal Rights Coalition (ERC), an intergovernmental body of 45 Member States for the protection of the rights of LGBTI persons, as proactive members and by making commitments and by financially supporting its structure to advance its goals. 

1. Call on all countries to recognize the centrality of freedoms of speech and assembly to democratic institutions and the rights of minority communities, denounce global trends limiting these rights, and encourage the peaceful celebration of LGBTQIA+ Pride and related demonstrations for rights, bodily autonomy, and equality in G7 countries and beyond. 

1. Call on all countries to uphold their obligations under the Paris Agreement and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) 0225 Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, to adopt and implement binding climate commitments, to scale up financial contributions, to ensure the protection of LGBTQIA+ environmental defenders from threats and violence, and to guarantee their rights to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. 

 

Peace, Stability, and Humanitarian Action 

 

LGBTQIA+ individuals face heightened risks during humanitarian crises and conflicts. As war often weakens the rule of law and intensifies social inequalities, increased impunity for violence occurs, with LGBTQIA+ individuals becoming frequent targets of violence, discrimination, and harm. Even during crisis responses, legal and cultural stigmatization persists, leaving aid and services inaccessible and unsafe for LGBTQIA+ people. This is also particularly true in light of the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, where aid and services are vital. The confluence of legal, social, and institutional exclusion leaves LGBTQIA+ people with few avenues for safety or redress, compounding their exposure to harm during precarious and dangerous situations. Even during times of peace, LGBTQIA+ individuals experience exclusion that places them in vulnerable positions. According to the Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (IE SOGI), many LGBTQIA+ individuals face forced displacement in search of safer environments. The number of LGBTQIA+ individuals experiencing forced displacement will only increase in the coming years, due in part to adverse effects of socioeconomic fragility and climate degradation. As of 2026, critical gaps are still visible in the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and calls, such as those from Women7, have echoed the lack of willingness from G7 members to identify the connection between conflict and gender inequities. 

 

1. Affirm the right to refugee protection for those fleeing persecution, even among G7 countries, on the basis of SOGIESC and recognize the unique and overlapping vulnerabilities of LGBTQIA+ refugees during all points in the migration cycle of displacement and resettlement. 

1. Call for urgent and renewed global attention to the numerous ongoing humanitarian crises, such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran. Additionally, according to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ICJ, hostilities and violence in Palestine are resulting in a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and suspected war crimes waged against civilian populations. We call on all G7 nations to reaffirm their commitment to upholding the human rights and dignity of all individuals in conflict-afflicted geographies and acknowledge that LGBTQIA+ people should be safe from all violence and never be used as justification for violence.  

1. Call on G7 nations to enter the Hague Group to reaffirm the importance of international law, namely, to uphold decisions by the ICJ and the ICC. 

1. Affirm G7 member states responsibility to not only be prepared to engage in the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda in a more transformative manner but to also identify gaps that many members have regarding the impact of conflicts on LGBTQIA+ individuals, which have left behind many LGBTQIA+ individuals facing persecution in conflict and crises.  

 

Economic Sustainability, Equity, and Climate Resilience 

 

Amid a growing retreat of international aid – particularly in countries and regions where support for marginalized communities can mean the difference between life and death – the G7 has a crucial role to play in upholding global human rights standards. As leading democratic economies, G7 members hold both the influence and the responsibility to ensure that the rights and dignity of LGBTQIA+ people are meaningfully integrated into foreign policy, development assistance, and multilateral and bilateral engagement, especially in the context of the expansion of the U.S. Global Gag Rules. This renewed policy from a member of the G7 is a grave attack on the human rights of women and LGBTQIA+ populations, especially the rights of trans people, and threatens the entire global architecture of the funding system for international assistance. In the face of global uncertainty, this moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the G7 to reaffirm its commitment and emerge as a more visible, unified voice in protecting and advancing the rights of people with diverse SOGIESC worldwide, and especially in multilateral spaces where G7 members have influence. Online harassment and algorithmic bias continue to silence and marginalize LGBTQIA+ voices, particularly when LGBTQIA+ content is wrongly flagged. 

 

1. Recognize the disproportionate impact on LGBTQIA+ and other minority communities of the current global crisis in areas of development assistance, emergency response, and global financing, and commit to increased funding for, and, in consultation with, LGBTQIA+ civil society to support the fundamental rights and opportunities of LGBTQIA+ persons in all countries and regions. 

1. Protect the autonomy and integrity of international and multilateral mechanisms, as well as the sovereignty of aid-recipient states, in the face of political, ideological, and financial pressure exerted by the United States, and reconfirm that international aid must remain a tool of solidarity, grounded in human rights, including the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights, rather than an instrument of political and economic coercion. 

1. Uphold and promote the rule of law to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ people to tackle discrimination in and barriers to employment and economic stability, climate resilience, and equal access to education, health care and social service systems within and outside of their countries.  

1. Ground climate and environmental action in human rights and justice ideals, while recognizing that Indigenous peoples have always been stewards of vital ecosystems. G7 states must ensure that LGBTQIA+ communities have a meaningful voice in decision making processes around climate action and must dispel misinformation that associates climate disasters with greater LGBTQIA+ human rights. 

1. Ensure full, equal, safe, and meaningful participation of LGBTQIA+ people in all spheres of society, including politics, economy, education, employment (both formal and informal), health care, social welfare, culture and sports, the institution of marriage, and legal recognition of families in all their diversity.  

1. Invest in building inclusive datasets, ethical responsibility, safeguarding inclusivity, and knowledge of the risk and rewards of building AI powered products. As P7, we strongly recommend that there should be strong consideration of how emerging technologies, including biometric systems, AI surveillance, and digital ID programs can disproportionately harm LGBTQIA+ people, particularly in repressive or unregulated environments.  

1. It is essential for all G7 governments to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies within public institutions and actively promote their adoption in the private sector. DEI policies are powerful tools for fostering inclusive and accepting work environments and cultivating a culture of inclusivity – bringing significant benefits not only to underrepresented groups but also to the overall economy. G7 countries must confront misinformation and reject U.S. policies that assert that DEI contributes to a lesser qualified workforce.  

 

Gender Justice and Health Equity 

 

Within G7 countries and across the globe, we are witnessing rising attacks against women in all their diversity, as well as people of diverse genders and sexualities. There is evidence that policy-regression and laws that seek to limit sexual and reproductive rights are contributing to this climate of violence and intolerance. Health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the HIV epidemic, have further pushed LGBTQIA+ individuals to the peripheries of society and exposed deep inequities in their access to and treatment in healthcare systems within G7 countries and globally. Similarly, shifts in policy and development assistance have also left key populations without access to life-saving HIV medications and critical services. 

 

1. Protect LGBTQIA+ individuals from escalating violence and rhetoric that seeks to perpetuate harm and disinformation by shedding light on structural discrimination and violence stemming from hetero-normative gender norms.  

1. Invest in targeted programming for housing, health, mental health, and cultural revitalization tailored to LGBTQIA+ individuals to address gaps exacerbated by intersectional discrimination. 

1. Protect families in all their diversity, including through legal recognitions that respect LGBTQIA+ families and their caregiving structures. The right of all persons to found a family must be respected, including access to assisted reproductive technologies. 

1. Invest in Global Health structure, through a fully funded 8th Replenishment for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and other multilateral partners such as UNAIDS and WHO, committed to protecting and advancing the rights, health, and dignity of our communities in low- and middle-income countries to end HIV/AIDS.  

1. Collect disaggregated data on LGBTQIA+ individual’s experiences across all development priorities, including health, education, and housing. 

 

​​＊Please note that endorsing this Pride7 Communique means support to the values of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. ​ 

​​＊The terms used in this communique are based on discussions in the international community, as well as on past G7 and W7 discussions and achievements. ​ 

​​＊We acknowledge that the way gender and sexual minorities identify themselves should be respected.​