Pride in Supporting LGBTQI+ Children in Humanitarian Emergencies
By Audrey Taylor and Julie Freccero
Across the US and around the globe, LGBTQI+ people are celebrating Pride month, a month dedicated to LGBTQI+ visibility, courage, diversity, and love. But Pride is more than just a celebration; it’s also an act of protest, as LGBTQI+ people fight for the right to live openly without fear of discrimination, violence, criminalization, or even death. Today, for example, LGBT identities are still criminalized in 64 countries, and homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of discrimination remain rampant globally.
The Human Rights Center’s Health and Human Rights Program is proud to join in the fight for LGBTQI+ rights through our work with the PRISM Project. The PRISM Project, a joint effort together with Save the Children and Edge Effect, funded by the US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), aims to improve protection, mental health, and psychosocial support services for LGBTQI+ children (ages 0–18) impacted by armed conflict or natural disaster through research and development of principles, guidance, and tools for humanitarian actors. To begin the project, the HRC completed a scoping study, including a literature review and 30 interviews with humanitarian actors working with LGBTQI+ refugee children, to better understand what we know about their protection and mental health needs, how services and support can better meet those needs, and what research and resources would support practitioners working with them. Here are a few of the things we learned:
- LGBTQI+ refugee children face a number of serious threats to their safety and wellbeing. Some of these include poor access to basic needs like food and housing, discrimination, harassment, rejection by families and communities, and physical and sexual and gender-based violence, including forced genital examinations, rape, and trafficking. Additionally, many face psychological and emotional abuse, like name-calling, bullying, death threats, and so-called “conversation therapy,” often leading to shame, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
- Specialized services are rarely available for LGBTQI+ refugee children, and when they are, there are often serious barriers preventing LGBTQI+ children from accessing them. While LGBTQI+ community-based organizations exist in many countries, they are often unable to serve children. Likewise, child protection and mental health services exist in most countries, but they rarely offer specialized services for LGBTQI+ children if they serve them at all. Children who try to access services may not be able to find them, might be turned away because they don’t have a supportive parent to give permission, or may be treated poorly by a staff member.
- Effective approaches to supporting LGBTQI+ refugee children center their needs and desires and promote equal partnerships with LGBTQI+ community-based organizations. Other lessons include the importance of training staff to build competency around supporting LGBTQI+ children, building a culture of safety and inclusion in response organizations, and using tailored and creative approaches to child protection and mental health services such as mental health hotlines with staff who are trained to serve this community of youth.
- There is still a lot to learn about how to support LGBTQI+ refugee children. Currently, humanitarian actors who are eager to support this population have very few resources to turn to, and there is very little evidence on which to build them. Providers desperately need guidelines, toolkits, and trainings, as well as research on what works to support LGBTQI+ refugee children.
The report will be released to the public in the coming months.
We’re now using these findings to guide the next phase of the project: a ground-breaking, youth-centered study exploring the protection, mental health and other support needs, preferences, and priorities of LGBTQI+ children in humanitarian settings. This two-country study will be conducted this fall in collaboration with local LGBTQI+ rights organizations. Through workshops with LGBTQI+ refugee youth, we’ll use art, games, and other participatory activities to identify challenges and co-create solutions. Our research findings will provide the foundation for the development of guiding principles and practical tools for humanitarian actors to more effectively support this community of youth. The toolkit will be piloted in three countries and made available to humanitarian agencies globally by the fall of 2025.
This is just the beginning of this important work. We have so much to learn alongside LGBTQI+ children and their families about creating a more just, equitable, and inclusive world where everyone is safe and celebrated in all their diversity. We hope you’ll join us in this fight, both during Pride month and every month.
The Health and Human Rights Program at the Human Rights Center promotes the health and protection of marginalized communities affected by conflict, forced displacement, and violence. Through applied research and technical assistance, we partner with local and international organizations to develop new tools, guidance, and evidence-based interventions.
