Analysing the UK-Based NGO Landscape Engaged in Transnational LGBT Activism

Abstract

Farmer offers a detailed examination of the main UK-based NGOs engaged in transnational LGBT activism, noting the broad range of strategies used across the space. The chapter opens by introducing the main UK-based NGOs examined in the book, including Kaleidoscope Trust, Human Dignity Trust, Peter Tatchell Foundation, Stonewall and UKLGIG. Following this, a comparison of funding concerns provides context for how the material resources available to NGOs affect their capacity to engage in particular transnational activism strategies. The chapter interrogates a common declaration that NGOs ‘work with local actors’ in developing and implementing their transnational activism, as well as tensions between accessible and effective strategies. Using NGO responses to the introduction of sharia law in Brunei as a case study, Farmer suggests that a shared commitment to solidarity has not always been enacted in practice and that there remains scope for UK-based NGOs to frame their activism strategies in more nuanced, intersectional and decolonial ways.