Amnesty International and transgender people

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, including the human rights of trans and gender diverse people.

Background

Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by British lawyer Peter Benenson. Benenson profiled two Portuguese students held as prisoners of conscience under the authoritarian Salazar regime. Benenson’s appeal quickly attracted supporters globally, leading to the formal establishment of Amnesty International later that year.

During the 1960s, Amnesty expanded rapidly, creating national sections throughout Europe, North America, Australia, and other regions. In 1963, it established the International Secretariat in London under its first Secretary General, Martin Ennals. The organization developed a distinctive research-based methodology, documenting political imprisonment and lobbying governments through letter-writing campaigns. By the end of the decade, Amnesty had become one of the world’s leading nongovernmental human rights organizations.

The 1970s marked a period of significant growth. Amnesty broadened its work beyond prisoners of conscience to oppose torture and the death penalty. Its 1973 Campaign Against Torture helped bring international attention to state-sponsored abuse and contributed to the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Torture in 1984. In 1977, Amnesty received the Nobel Peace Prize for “having contributed to securing the ground for freedom, for justice, and thereby also for peace in the world.” The following year it received the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.

LGBTQ+ rights activism

In 1979, Amnesty formally adopted a policy recognizing that individuals imprisoned solely because of their homosexuality should, under certain circumstances, be considered prisoners of conscience. Throughout the 1980s, the organization documented arrests, torture, and executions of gay men and lesbians in countries where same-sex relationships remained criminalized. Amnesty also campaigned on behalf of individuals detained under anti-sodomy laws and highlighted abuses committed by police and security forces.

During the 1990s, LGBTQ+ rights became a more explicit component of Amnesty’s global human rights agenda. The organization broadened its research to include discrimination, violence, and restrictions on freedom of expression and association affecting LGBTQ+ communities. Amnesty increasingly argued that international human rights treaties protected individuals regardless of sexual orientation, and it urged governments to repeal laws criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct. It also supported asylum claims by people fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation.

In 2001, Amnesty formally committed itself to campaigning against discrimination based on sexual orientation and adopted more comprehensive policies addressing violence against LGBTQ+ people. It supported international efforts that culminated in the 2006 publication of the Yogyakarta Principles, which articulated how existing international human rights law applies to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Starting in the 2010s, Amnesty campaigned against laws restricting legal gender recognition, documented violence against transgender and gender-diverse people, and criticized the use of medical or legal requirements that it viewed as violating bodily autonomy or privacy. It also opposed conversion therapy practices and advocated for equal access to healthcare, education, employment, and public accommodations.

2026 Amnesty International UK report

In July 2025, Amnesty International UK released a report of 65 anti-rights groups in the UK, “32 of which spent £106 million from 2019 to 2023, a rise of more than a third. […] This briefing is an update of the findings published in July 2025 and includes gender-critical organisations, which were examined in detail in a separate briefing published in May 2026.”

In July 2026, Amnesty International UK released an updated report titled “A Growing Threat – the Anti-Rights Movement in the UK.” The 2026 report expanded the groups studied to include “gender critical” organizations. The backlash from anti-trans activists was swift and intense.