The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, revealing an 18% increase in homelessness compared to the previous year. Conducted in January 2024, the report states that the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 was the highest ever recorded.
A total of 771,480 people—or about 23 of every 10,000 people in the United States—experienced homelessness in an emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing program, or unsheltered location across the country. The report notes that the data is a year old and does not fully reflect the impact of recent policy changes and interventions.
As for the cause, HUD’s report says, “Several factors likely contributed to this historically high number. Our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits. Additional public health crises, natural disasters that displaced people from their homes, rising numbers of people immigrating to the U.S., and the end to homelessness prevention programs put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the end of the expanded child tax credit, have exacerbated this already stressed system.”
This is the second year in a row that the HUD report mentions the national affordable housing crisis as the main cause of homelessness. The 2023 report also listed it as the first and largest contributor to homelessness.
Despite the overall rise, the report highlighted a nearly 8% decrease in veteran homelessness, marking the lowest number recorded. The number of unsheltered veterans fell nearly 11%, with 32,882 veterans experiencing homelessness in 2024 compared to 35,574 in 2023.
HUD credited programs such as HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH), which connected nearly 90,000 veteran households to stable housing in 2024. The Department of Veterans Affairs also announced that it permanently housed 47,925 veterans during fiscal year 2024, the highest annual figure since 2019.
“Veteran homelessness has declined by 55.2% since 2010, demonstrating the effectiveness of evidence-based strategies,” said HUD Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman.
Several cities reported progress in reducing homelessness:
Dallas: A $30 million public-private partnership decreased homelessness by 16% from 2022 to 2024.
Los Angeles: Increased funding led to the first decline in homelessness in seven years, with a 5% drop in unsheltered homelessness across the county.
Chester County, Pennsylvania: Eviction prevention, affordable housing initiatives, and fair housing education have reduced homelessness by nearly 60% since 2019.
HUD announced multiple funding initiatives to address homelessness in 2024, including:
$3.16 billion through the Continuum of Care program.
$290 million in Emergency Solutions Grants.
$85 million through the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing program.
$72 million for the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program.
Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration expanded the Housing and Services Partnership Accelerator to improve coordination between housing and service providers. HUD also announced plans to repurpose federal properties for affordable housing and homeless assistance. “We know what works,” Todman said. “With sustained efforts and targeted resources, we can make meaningful progress in preventing and ending homelessness nationwide.”
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With the new year comes an array of new laws slated to take effect across the country throughout 2025 on issues like artificial intelligence, legacy college admissions and surgical care for transgender youth.
More than half a dozen states will have new data privacy and consumer protections, while federal regulations will require air travelers to present compliant licenses or identification cards to fly domestically.
After a busy election cycle, state legislatures are ready to tackle yet another year of hot-button political issues, soon under a Trump administration. Here are some of the laws that will ring in 2025:
Guardrails against AI
Two states will begin to regulate uses of AI with the aim of mitigating the potential harms of the rapidly growing technology.
In Illinois, it will become illegal to knowingly distribute audio- or visual-based digital replicas of individuals created through generative AI without their consent. The act also applies a 50-year prohibition on the use of a digital replica of an individual after their death if they did not previously consent to such use.
There are still certain instances to which the act does not apply, such as parody, or when there is a political, public interest, educational or newsworthy value to the digital replica — as long as it is not falsely presented as authentic.
The Recording Academy was a vocal proponent of the law since its introduction in February, championing its passage as a victory in protecting artists and creators against AI. Illinois state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, who introduced the bill, said the motivation for the legislation came from cases of the unauthorized use of artists’ identities in AI-generated music.
“I have seen increasing concern from lawmakers, really spurred by concern by our constituents, about the dangers posed by AI, the availability of AI as a tool, both in positive ways, but also in ways that can infringe on somebody’s right to privacy, or in fact, to really steal their identity,” Gong-Gershowitz said.
Another law in Illinois addresses AI-generated child pornography, prohibiting the use of the technology to create obscene material of a real or purported child. The law also separately forbids the nonconsensual dissemination of sexually explicit digitized depictions, which is a Class 4 felony.
“What we wanted to do was to ensure that law enforcement could prosecute cases of child pornography without the necessity of proving that the image is of an actual child,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “The goal here is to ensure that we don’t normalize violence against children.”
Meanwhile, California is tackling the use of AI in Hollywood. One law will require informed consent by performers in the entertainment industry to replicate their voice or likeness with AI, while a second law will extend the protection to digital replicas produced within 70 years of a personality’s death, with a few exceptions.
States are taking the lead in filling gaps from the lack of federal legislation on AI, Gong-Gershowitz said. She emphasized the need for balance between supporting innovation in the United States and ensuring “new technologies like next-generation AI continue to serve humanity’s interest.”
Data privacy and consumer protections
Eight states will have privacy laws take effect this year: Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee.
The laws impose stricter obligations on businesses handling personal data and grant consumers the right to more transparency on how their data is collected, used and shared, according to Michelle Hon Donovan, a partner at the law firm Duane Morris LLP. Not all companies will be required to comply, as each state has its own requirements and thresholds, such as Nebraska, which exempts small businesses.
Maryland’s is the most restrictive of the new laws, including a clause that limits businesses to collecting personal data only when it is “reasonably necessary” to perform a service or provide a good. The law also outright prohibits the sale of sensitive data.
Donovan — who specializes in privacy and data security — said that before 2020, there were few laws across the country addressing privacy except for online privacy laws in a handful of states. Federal laws mostly focus on certain industries, she added, like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
But now, the eight states with laws taking effect in 2025 join a growing list of 19 total states that have passed comprehensive privacy laws.
“We expect more laws to be passed next year, so this is probably only the beginning,” Donovan said.
California to bar legacy admissions
Legacy applicants in California will no longer get a leg up in the college admissions process after September 2025.
A law in the state will ban legacy and donor preferences at private, nonprofit institutions, eliminating favoritism given to applicants with familial or monetary connections to the schools. The University of California system eliminated legacy admissions in 1998.
Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, the law requires all private colleges and universities in California to submit an annual report to disclose compliance. Its passage came after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative actionadmissions policies in 2023 and an FBI investigation uncovered a college entrance exam cheating scheme in 2019 involving dozens of wealthy parents, including Hollywood actors.
“It’s all about fairness,” then-Assembly member Phil Ting previously told NBC News. “You want people to work hard and achieve access to education because they’ve worked hard and they’re really the most qualified students, not because they have wealthy parents or wealthy families who are donors. This is about making sure we’re leveling the playing field.”
The law will not be reflected in incoming classes until fall 2026.
New Hampshire’s ban ongender-transition surgeries for minors
A new law in New Hampshire will prevent transgender minors from receiving transition-related surgery and prohibit physicians from referring patients for out-of-state procedures.
The law does not affect other forms of gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed the health care measure in July alongside a separate bill barring some transgender students from competing on school sports teams, although a federal judge partially blocked its enforcement.
Sununu said in a statement that the law will protect the health and safety of children in the state by ensuring they do not undergo “life altering, irreversible surgeries.” Chris Erchull, a senior staff attorney at the New England-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, said decisions surrounding medical treatments are “very heavy and serious” but belong between doctors, patients and, in the case of minors, parents.
“The legislature is opening a door into regulating medical care for transgender people, singling them out for a different standard than for other people to target a procedure that doesn’t even happen in New Hampshire that, of course, is very, very rare,” Erchull said.
Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has suggestedthat gender-affirming surgeries are rarely performed on transgender youth. Erchull raised particular concern about the law forbidding referrals, which he said “deprives families of the opportunities to even consult with other people to get information that they need to make the appropriate decisions for their families.”
New Hampshire is one of 26 states limiting or banning surgical care for transgender youth, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank. Erchull said New Hampshire, a state in which Republicans control the governorship and both houses of the legislature, in the past five years had mostly resisted legislative efforts targeting LGBTQ+ people until now.
“It does mark a significant shift in what’s happening on the ground in New Hampshire,” Erchull said. “I’m hearing from families who are talking about leaving the state. I’m hearing from families who are scared about sending their kids to school because a lot of people are questioning whether transgender people are safe any longer in the state of New Hampshire.”
The Supreme Court is currently considering a challenge to a Tennessee law that restricts gender transition treatments for minors, although the surgical ban is not an issue before the justices. The conservative-majority court seems poised to uphold the law, which will have sweeping implications for youth access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy across the country.
National ID regulations
Beginning May 7, 2025, anyone age 18 or older will need to carry a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or identification card to fly domestically and access certain federal facilities.
Air travelers will be turned away at airport security checkpoints if they fail to present either identification that meets the Real ID Act’s enhanced standards or another acceptable alternative, such as a passport.
The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the deadline for Real ID enforcement multiple times due to a lack of full state compliance and the Covid-19 pandemic, which made it more difficult for people to get the new IDs at their state motor vehicle departments.
Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005 based on a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission. Under the act, state-issued licenses or identification cards must also feature anti-counterfeiting technology and require record checks for issuance.
All Real ID-compliant cards will have a star marking on the upper portion of the ID.
Like the residents of Munchkinland celebrating Elphaba’s watery demise in Wicked‘s opening number, anti-‘woke’ pundits are delightedly banging the drum that diversity, equality and inclusion policies (DEI) – aimed at reducing discrimination in the workplace – are dead, dunzo and pushing up daises.
“The death of DEI is finally here,” Michael Deacon proclaimed, “the DEI cult is now imploding,” Sam Ashworth-Hayes declared – citing car manufacturer Jaguaras the first fatality – “the DEI game is up,” Matthew Lynn insisted.
You get the picture.
Whilst you could argue these statements are just the overzealous sells of attention grabbing headlines, it is undeniable the right’s self-imposed ‘War on Woke’ – which this year turned its Eye of Sauron-esque gaze on DEI – has forced US multi-billion dollar businesses to abandon commitments to fostering fair and equitable workplaces.
Robby Starbuck is leading campaigns against companies he deems ‘woke’. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Leading the charge throughout 2024 has been former music video director turned MAGA pundit and anti-woke campaigner Robby Starbuck, whose mission to bring “sanity back to corporate America” via public pressure campaigns and boycotts has seen big name US brands like Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel’s, Ford, Stanley Black & Decker and John Deere – just to name a few – all roll back DEI policies.
Starbuck’s ire is with American firms supporting minority causes and communities, such as sponsoring LGBTQ+ Pride events, running inclusivity training for staff and taking part in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. That being said, business participation in the HRC’s Index reached record levels in 2024, despite Starbuck’s best efforts.
Further to this, corporations abandoning their DEI commitments has certainly not happened without criticism, with disdainful LGBTQ+ folks voting with their feet and making it clear that they’re more than willing to take their cash elsewhere.
The 2024 LGBTQ+ Climate Survey found that 80 per cent of LGBTQ+ adults in the US would boycott a company that rolled back equality programmes, whilst more than 75 per cent said that they would have a less-favourable opinion of a company that cut its DEI policies. The survey found 52 per cent of people said they would urge others to boycott the company, including by posting negative reviews on social media.
As the year draws to a close, here are some of the biggest and most well-known businesses that have backed down on supporting diversity this year.
Walmart
(Getty Images/Bob Riha, Jr.)
Not the most recent company to fold on its DEI commitments, but no doubt the biggest.
Walmart is the America’s largest private employer and has 1.6 million associates working across nearly 5,000 locations in the US, with a total of 2.1 million staff on the books worldwide.
According to revenue data published by Forbes for its Fortune 500 list, Walmart generated revenue worth $645.15 billion in 2023.
Walmart’s decision to step back on its DEI policies came as Starbuck threatened to galvanise a boycott in conjunction with the Black Friday sales, a post-Thanksgiving shopping event which generated a total of $9.8 billion across the US economy in 2023.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Starbuck said he warned Walmart executives he was “doing a story on wokeness there” and had “productive conversations to find solutions.”
The business will now no longer take part in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index – it earned a perfect score of 100 in 2023 – stop selling “inappropriate sexual and/or transgender products” marketed at children, review Pride funding and no longer provide staff with racial-equity training.
Walmart will also stop using the term Latinx, discontinue the use of DEI as a term and “will evaluate supplier diversity programmes and ensure they do not provide preferential treatment and benefits to suppliers based on diversity.”
Starbuck said the decision would “send shockwaves throughout corporate America.”
Ford
(Carl Court/Getty Images)
Iconic car manufacturer Ford is known not only for producing vehicles but for entirely revolutionising the means of mass production through assembly lines. But despite its industry-leading history, it seems it flinches at the risk of conservative upset.
According to the Fortune 500 list, the brand generated revenue of $176,191,000,000 ($171.19 billion) in 2023 and employs around 130,000 staff members in the United States.
In August, the company announced it would be ending its participation in the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, with CEO Jim Farley saying in a memo: “We are mindful that our employees and customers hold a wide range of beliefs, and the external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve.”
Farley added Ford would focus on taking care of employees and customers “versus publicly commenting on the polarising issues of the day.”
The HRC slammed the decision, writing on a social media post that Ford was “cowering to MAGA weirdo Robby Starbuck.”
Starbuck, unsurprisingly, celebrated the move: “This isn’t everything we want but it’s a great start. We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organisations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose.”
Lowe’s
(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Another large retail chain, Lowe’s might be smaller than Walmart but still has more than 2,000 stores and employs 300,000 people. It generated $86 billion in 2023.
The home improvement chain announced its DEI rollback via an internal memo where the firm announced it would stop taking part in surveys for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), combine employee groups into one umbrella organisation and end support for “festivals, parades and fairs” – arguably meaning Pride events.
Starbuck claimed he contacted executives at the chain last week “to let them know I planned to expose their woke policies” and subsequently “woke up to an email where they pre-emptively made big changes”.
However, a spokesman for Lowe’s told CNN they had heard from Starbuck after the company “already announced changes that had long been in process.”
Toyota
Toyota. ( Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)
After coming under fire from Starbuck, car-manufacturer Toyota announced their “refocus” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes means they won’t sponsor cultural events and parades such as LGBTQ+ Pride in the US.
In a memo sent to 50,000 US employees and more than 1,500 dealerships, the company said the decision follows a “highly politicised discussion” around business commitments to DEI.
“We will no longer sponsor cultural events such as festivals and parades that are not related to Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] education and workforce readiness,” the memo read.
According to Bloomberg, Toyota will also no longer participate in cultural surveys, and will end their participation in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) annual Corporate Equality Index, which once gave them a perfect score for their DEI efforts.
The car-makers will refocus employee resource groups for professional development, networking and mentoring with a “clear alignment to driving the company’s business”.
John Deere
Tractor manufacturing John Deere was targeted by the ‘anti-woke’ brigade. (Getty)
In a post on social media in July following a Starbuck campaign, agricultural manufacturer John Deere confirmed it was rolling back its corporate inclusion efforts.
The statement read: “We will no longer participate or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals or events. Business resource groups will exclusively be focused on professional development, networking, mentoring and supporting talent recruitment efforts.”
All company-mandated training materials and policies would be audited to ensure the absence of socially motivated messages while being in compliance with federal, state and local laws, the company promised while reaffirming that “the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy”.
However, the statement also noted that the company “fundamentally believe a diverse workforce enables us to best meet our customers’ needs, and because of that, we will continue to track the advancement of the diversity of our organisations”, adding: “Your trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance to everyone at John Deere, and we fully intend to earn it every day and in every way we can.”
Stanley Black & Decker
Stanley Black & Decker became the focus of another right-wing campaign group. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Toolmakers Stanley Black & Decker have been accused of “scrubbing” all mentions of DEI from its corporate website.
This time though, the backlash came from Consumers’ Research, a right-wing campaign group that prides itself on targeting “wokeness” in business.
The pressure group’s executive director, Will Hild, believed Stanley Black & Decker might continue to undertake DEI activities “albeit more surreptitiously than before they were caught”.
Molson Coors
Despite a history of supporting LGBTQ+ causes, Molson Coors scrapped progressive policies. (Getty Images)
Molson Coors Brewing Company reportedly began restructuring its corporate training programmes in March, according to an internal memo.
Despite once being “refreshingly proud”, the brewer added that it will do away with DEI programmes and diversity quota because of the “complicated” rise of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
Human rights groups struck back, with GLAAD shaming the company for deciding to “walk away” from supporting marginalised groups “when it gets noisy and hard”.
Ford
Ford will focus on employees and customers rather than “polarising issues of the day”. (Getty Images)
The car manufacturer announced in August an intention to leave the HRC’s CEI. Chief executive Jim Farley wrote in a memo that the company would focus on taking care of employees and customers “versus publicly commenting on polarising issues of the day”.
Farley also sits on the corporate board at Harley-Davidson.
While Starbuck publicly celebrated another win, the HRC condemned the move, saying: “Today, Ford abandoned its values and commitments to an inclusive workplace, cowering to MAGA weirdo Robby Starbuck.”
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson was another big name to bow to the anti-woke brigade. (Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images)
The motorcycle maker succumbed to the anti-woke brigade after Starbuck accused the company of taking on DEI initiatives. “I don’t think the values at corporate reflect the values of nearly any Harley-Davidson bikers,” he wrote on X.
“Do Harley riders want the money they spend to be used later by corporate to push an ideology that’s diametrically opposed to their own values?”
Despite a long history of supporting LGBTQ+ causes, Harley-Davidson said they hadn’t had a DEI function since April and “no longer have supplier diversity spend goals”.
In addition, all employee training would only be business-related and “absent of socially motivated content.”
Jack Daniel’s
The parent company of Jack Daniel’s axed initiatives because the “world has changed since 2019”. (Getty Images)
Another well-known brand, Jack Daniel’s, announced the scrapping of all DEI initiatives because “the world has evolved” since 2019 when the business, owned by Brown-Forman, first introduced the policies.
Starbuck considered this a big win, writing on X that he received the news before he could expose the company and bragging: “We are winning… one by one we will bring sanity back to corporate America”.
Despite the new “strategic framework”, including leaving the HRC’s CEI index, the company will still foster an inclusive culture where “everyone is welcomed, respected and able to bring their best self to work”.
Tractor Supply Co
Rural farm supply store Tractor Supply was one of the first companies to scrape DEI policies. (Getty Images)
The rural America retail chain specialising in agricultural wares was the first domino to fall under Starbucks’ scrutiny. In a lengthy tweet exposing Tractor Supply for having “woke priorities”, including donations to charities that support LGBTQ+ youngsters, the company faced an intense backlash on social media.
The firm quickly relented, promising to eliminate their DEI programmes and climate change goals, saying: “We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”
In addition, the company will no longer provide data to the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a bench-marking tool that rates American businesses on policies and practises that affect their LGBTQ+ employees.
The Ohio Senate and House have now both passed a bill that would forcibly out LGBTQ+ students to their parents and also allow parents to opt their child out of “sexuality content” at school.
House Bill 8 defines sexuality content as “any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting,” with exceptions granted for STI and abuse discussion, as well as “incidental references” to sexual concepts or “gender ideology.”
There is also a total ban on “sexuality content” in grades three and below, with all other grades facing a requirement for parental review of the content. It additionally requires notification of “any substantial change” in student services, defined as including changes to one’s gender identity in the school system.
The bill was introduced by State Reps. D.J. Swearingen (R) and Sara Carruthers (R).
“If people are out and they don’t have supportive parents — there is an epidemic of LGBTQ youth homelessness,” Dara Atkinson, an activist with TransOhio, told News 5 Cleveland. “[There are] parents who don’t affirm their children and then decide that they would like them to not be their children.”
“For students that have queer families, it is then not OK in early childhood curriculum to discuss queer families as part of the community,” they added.
Carruthers claims, however, that “there is no hidden agenda” and that this is about advocating for parental rights. She claims it is not “anti-LGBTQ” and that “nothing can be done these days without offending others.”
The bill is now on its way to the desk of Republican Governor Mike DeWine as advocacy groups call for him to veto it.
“We are deeply disappointed that the legislature decided once again to attack LGBTQIA+ youth by passing yet another bill that will make schools less safe and inclusive for queer and transgender people,” said a statement from Kaleidoscope Youth Center, an LGBTQ+ youth center.
Equality Ohio Executive Director Dwayne Steward added, “Overnight when most school-age children are asleep, the legislature rushed through another shameful attack on LGBTQ+ youth.”
It had been an important 12 months for LGBTQ+ rights around the world – in bad ways as well as good.
While steps in the right direction have been made in some countries, including Estonia legalising same-sex marriage, there’s been a drop in LGBTQ+ equality in other nations, such as Georgia, Kazakhstan, and even the US.
Russia, meanwhile, has continued to be one the most dangerous places for LGBTQ+ people.
Here are some of the countries that regressed on LGBTQ+ rights in 2024.
Georgia
Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili vetoed an anti-LGBTQ+ bill but it still passed into law. (Getty)
Georgia is one of the nations causing particular concern.
The country implemented a bill – despite president Salome Zourabichvili’s attempt to block it – banning changes to gender on official documents, outlawing gender-affirming care, and placing major restrictions on LGBTQ+ freedom of expression.
The legislation prompted various not-for-profit organisations, including Rainbow Migration, to demand that the UK take Georgia off of its list of safe countries.
Minesh Parekh, policy and public affairs manager at the nonprofit Rainbow Migration, said of Georgia: “There’s widespread evidence of the danger that LGBTQI+ people face in Georgia and the situation has only worsened in recent months.
“It is imperative that the UK government stops using ‘safe states’ designations and ensures people are not returned to unsafe conditions. We are currently supporting LGBTQI+ Georgians who are terrified at the prospect of being sent back to the danger they’ve fled.”
Parekh noted the non-profit’s efforts in supporting Noah, a gay man from Georgia whose family subjected him to abuse over his sexuality, including forcing him to take medication because they believed he “had a demon inside him.”
“Noah was luckily granted refugee status, but many other Georgians could face being sent back to life threatening situations – and we therefore urge the Government to repeal the cruel Illegal Migration Act introduced by the previous government, and guarantee LGBTQI+ people’s safety.”
USA
President Joe Biden has been fighting a losing battle. (Getty)
Despite efforts by the present administration to promote LGBTQ+ rights, including hosting one of the biggest Pride events in the White House, and Joe Biden becoming the first sitting president to be interviewed by an LGBTQ+ news publication, the continued onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ bills tells a different story.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), at least 574 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in US legislatures across various states since the beginning of the year – 64 more than the reported number for 2023.
The bills, several of which have passed into law, include curriculum censorship, redefining gender to exclude trans people, and the banning of gender-affirming care for those under the age of 18.
Forty-six of bills have passed into law, while 67 have yet to be debated, and 62 are advancing through congress.
To make matters worse, Donald Trump’s re-election for a second term as president doesn’t bode well for LGBTQ+ people, and one of his top advisors, Elon Musk, has vowed to eradicate what he calls the woke mind virus – and reportedly even wants the ACLU to be “defunded”.
Bulgaria
President Rumen Radev followed in Russia’s footsteps. (Getty)
Bulgaria’s track record of LGBTQ+ rights over the past few years has been poor, and the government is continuing its efforts to make things harder for the community.
President Rumen Radev followed in Russia’s footsteps by signing into law a bill prohibiting so-called LGBT propaganda in schools. The legislation was approved by 135 votes to 57 in parliament and took effect in August.
Same-sex marriage, gender-affirming care and the right to legally change gender are all illegal.
Ghana
President Nana Akufo-Addo is stepping down. (Getty)
In February, the Ghanaian government approved a sweeping law that outlawed identifying as LGBTQ+ and campaigning for queer rights.
Dubbed the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, the lawimposed a prison sentence of up to three years for those convicted, while anyone found guilty of LGBTQ+ advocacy campaigns aimed at under-18s could face 10 years in jail.
President Nana Akufo-Addo is due to step down following elections last week, having served his permitted two terms. He is set to be replaced by former president John Mahama, after rival, and vice-president,Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat.
The outlook for members of the LGBTQ+ community is unlikely to improve much, given that Mahama recently told clergymen that gay marriage and being transgender were against his religious beliefs.
“The faith I have will not allow me to accept a man marrying a man, and a woman marrying a woman,” he said, according to Reuters.
“I don’t believe anybody can get up and say I feel like a man although I was born a woman and so I will change and become a man,” he added.
However, he did not say whether he would sign the bill that would criminalise same-sex relations, being transgender and advocating for LGBTQ rights.
Kazakhstan
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a bill effectively preventing queer couple adopting. (Getty)
While same-sex sexual activity is legal in the central Asian country, LGBTQ+ people can donate blood, and there is an equal age of consent, gay marriages are not permitted and a large majority of the population don’t see homosexuality as justifiable.
And, in February, Kazakhstan president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed into lawa ban on adoption for anyone who does not adhere to a “non-traditional” sexual orientation, effectively making it impossible for queer couples to take in a child.
Iraq
President Abdul Latif Rashid oversaw a tightening of laws against LGBTQ+ people. (Getty)
Iraq has long been considered one of the worst countries for LGBTQ+ people. But things became worse this year when homosexuality was codified as illegal.
The law, ratified by president Abdul Latif Rashid in June, specifically criminalised any practice of homosexuality and transsexuality, with a maximum of 15 years in prison for those convicted. The government also made it illegal to change gender markers on documents and banned gender-affirming care.
Human Rights Watch researcher Sarah Sanbar described the law was a “horrific development [and an] attack on human rights”.
United Kingdom
Keir Starmer hasn’t made life any easier for trans people in the UK. (Getty)
Despite the removal of the transphobic Conservative government in July, LGBTQ+ rights in the UK have not improved.
This was nowhere better represented than in ILGA-Europe’s annual Rainbow Map, which showed that Britain had plummeted the best place in Europe for LGBTQ+ rights in 2015, to sixteenth place today.
That fall wasn’t helped by the new government’s continued animosity towards transgender people. This year, health secretary Wes Streeting, who has said he does not believe trans women are women, extended a ban on puberty blockers for transgender under-18s, despite there being no definitive evidence that they are harmful.
And prime minister Keir Starmer’s record on LGBTQ+ rights is somewhat chequered. Soon after entering Downing Street, he told The Times that women who have not undergone gender confirmation surgery should not be allowed in female-only spaces, including toilets.
“They don’t have that right. They shouldn’t. That’s why I’ve always said biological women’s spaces need to be protected,” he said.
And, according to The Independent, he has said: “I’m not in favour of ideology being taught in our schools on gender.”
This fall, security forces in Belarus — the former Soviet republic and staging ground for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — raided the home of a gay couple in the Belarusian capital of Minsk and brutally beat them, according to reporting by the Associated Press.
The university students said the officers were transparent that the assault was inspired by similar treatment of the LGBTQ+ community in Russia.
“They slammed our heads against the door frame, threatened to report us to the university, and said that this was just the beginning,” said Andrei, 20, who asked to be identified only by his first name.
Security forces demanded that Andrei and his partner Sasha unlock their smartphones and reveal the names of “gays in Minsk and Moscow.”
“They wanted to expose an ‘underground network’ of gay people in Belarus, following the example of Russia,” Andrei said of the raid. “They openly told us that if it is banned in Russia, then it should be banned in Belarus, too.”
The state-sanctioned attack comes as the country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, pushes copycat legislation outlawing “LGBTQ+ propaganda” based on similar laws passed in Russia at Putin’s urging.
Like the Russian version of the law, the bill in Belarus will likely bar any endorsement of LGBTQ+ activities and “nontraditional” sexual relations.
Andrei and Sasha said if the bill becomes law, they’ll leave Minsk rather than “wait for a prison term.”
While Belarus decriminalized homosexuality in 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the deeply conservative country is in the throes of a violent backlash against the LGBTQ+ community at Putin’s urging, rights activists say.
Lukashenko “uses repressions against the LGBTQ+ community in order to gain some kind of praise from Russian authorities and shore up support among conservative residents of Belarus,” said Alisa Sarmant, coordinator for LGBTQ+ rights group TG House Belarus.
“To a large extent, it’s a carbon copy of what is happening in Russia, but in Belarus, all these discriminatory practices take on uglier and harsher forms,” Sarmant said.
At least 32 people have been detained and beaten in seven Belarusian cities in the last three months, according to rights organizations, including 10 transgender or nonbinary individuals and activists. Several remain in custody facing charges of “disseminating pornography,” punishable by up to four years in prison. Others were forced to emigrate.
The Belarusian dictator and his allies have made their enmity for the LGBTQ+ community clear in both words and deeds.
“We will also need to take similar measures,” said Natalya Kochanova, Lukashenko’s closest adviser and speaker of the upper chamber of parliament, speaking of Russia’s repressive laws.
“We have family values, traditions we pass from generation to generation — traditions of family, Orthodox Christianity,” she said, parroting Putin’s line of attack on the LGBTQ+ community.
Lukashenko, after Germany’s openly gay foreign minister called him “the last dictator in Europe” in 2012, replied, “Better to be a dictator than gay.”
“Intimidation, arrests, and blackmail have been used in Belarus for years to create a so-called ‘LGBTQ+ database’ and declare an entire social group dangerous,” according to Pavel Sapelka of the Viasna Center, a prominent rights group in the country.
In April, the Culture Ministry expanded its definition of pornography to include “nontraditional relations”; anyone possessing it faces criminal prosecution and a four-year prison term.
The balloting will be “a sham,” said exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya of the upcoming election.
LGBTQ+ activist Sarmant says the effect of Belarus’ crackdown has been felt acutely by transgender people, who face “catastrophic shortages” of hormonal treatments, humiliating medical procedures, and prosecutions on political grounds.
In the last year, the government rejected over 80% of applications for trans people seeking official authorization for prescriptive and surgical healthcare or a change to their gender marker in official documents. Remarkably, both are still legal in Belarus. In 2022, 10% to 15% of applications were rejected.
Belarus is one of the most repressive regimes in the world, with about 1,300 political dissidents in prison. Lukashenko redoubled his efforts to quash dissent following his reelection in 2020, in what rights groups called a stolen victory. Over 65,000 Belarusians have been arrested based on their political activity over the last four years.
Stephen Fry has received a knighthood in the 2025 New Year Honours list.
The actor and author, who recently described Stonewall’s current LGBTQ+ campaigning as “nonsensical”, has received the New Year honour alongside the likes of the mayor of London Sadiq Khan and former England manager Gareth Southgate.
The 67-year-old was recognised for “devoting much time and effort in generating awareness of bipolar disorder, using his public platform to speak candidly about his own journey, undermining the taboo that has prevented many from seeking support”.
However, the news comes after Fry recently appeared to revoke his support of LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, which was established as a charity for lesbian, gay and bisexual people but expanded its remit to include trans people almost a decade ago.
British actor, broadcaster, writer and comedian Stephen Fry. (Getty)
He was challenged over his support of the charity by host Konstantin Kisin, who read out a letter from ex-Stonewall employee turned critic Levi Pay and asked him how he could support the LGBTQ+ charity “in all conscience.”
“Do I? I am not sure I do support them,” Fry responded. He said previously supported the charity’s efforts to equalise the age of consent and legalise same-sex marriage but has “no interest in supporting this current wave of nonsensical [policies].”
Fry went on to further disavow Stonewall, describing the organisation as “shameful and sad” and “stuck in a terrible, terrible quagmire.”
Members of the trans community have since expressed their disappointment and anger over Fry’s comments. However, his comments have not come as a surprise to some, given his prior refusal to criticise JK Rowling’s contentious views on trans people.
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Fry was also described in the honours list as “one of Britain’s most highly regarded public figures”. He was noted as being the president of the charity Mind, and his involvement with the Terrence Higgins Trust for “raising awareness and funds for people living with HIV and AIDS”.
The newly elected chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said a combination of factors led to electoral losses for the party in November’s election, not least of which was being “seen as preachy” and “disconnected.”
Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, 35, is replacing outgoing chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who is term-limited in the post. The Texas native and son of immigrants from Mexico was a labor organizer and Austin City Council member before winning a second term in the House last month.
Casar called Democrats’ losses in the election “avoidable.”
“The progressive movement needs to change,” he told NBC News in an interview on Wednesday before his election to chair the influential caucus. “We need to re-emphasize core economic issues every time some of these cultural war issues are brought up.”
“So when we hear Republicans attacking queer Americans again, I think the progressive response needs to be that a trans person didn’t deny your health insurance claim, a big corporation did — with Republican help,” Casar said. “We need to connect the dots for people that the Republican Party obsession with these culture war issues is driven by Republicans’ desire to distract voters and have them look away while Republicans pick their pocket.”
And he asserted Democrats can do it “without throwing vulnerable people under the bus.”
That response may have been in answer to his colleagues Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) laying blame for Democrats’ losses in part on Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on trans rights.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also recently backed away from his support of health care for trans inmates — mandated by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution barring cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners.
During the election, Republicans spent over $215 million on attack adshighlighting the Democrats’ and their standard bearer’s support of trans rights.
“It’s less of a left-right fight and more of a getting back to a Democratic Party that’s for everyday people, no longer being seen as preachy or disconnected,” Casar said.
“I think we should lead the country, but we should never be more than an arm’s length ahead,” Casar said. “If we get more than a couple arms lengths ahead of the country, then you’re vulnerable to attacks from the Republicans.”
Casar maintained part of his party’s strategy to reconnect with the working class would mean an effort to “shed off some of its more corporate elements” that have blurred the distinction between Democrats and Republicans.
“The core of the Republican Party is about helping Wall Street and billionaires. And I think we have to call out the game,” Casar said. “The Democratic Party, at its best, can hold people or can have inside of its tent people across geography, across race, and across ideology. Because we’re all in the same boat when it comes to making sure that you can retire with dignity, that your kids can go to school, that you can buy a house.”
Casar said Republican calls to extend President Trump’s massive tax cuts, set to expire in 2025, will be one of the first of many opportunities to distinguish between the two major parties.
In the week ending December 21, there was nearly three times as much Covid-19 circulating in the US than there was during the week ending December 7, CDC data shows.
This surge happened in all regions of the country, but there has been a particularly sharp uptick in the Midwest, where Covid-19 levels are nearly twice as high as they are in other parts of the country.
Some experts worry that the rapid rise after an unusually long lull could have left many people vulnerable to disease spread at the height of the holiday season.
