Yale LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative / YSPH-SBS: Democratic Backsliding and LGBTI Acceptance: Why Anti-LGBTI Attacks Matter for Democracy

By some measures, democracy is under threat worldwide. At the same time, authoritarian leaders increasingly employ rhetoric and policies that directly target lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI)persons—from an anti-LGBTI "moral panic” in Indonesia, to the creation of“LGBT-free zones” in Poland, to a record-setting number of anti-LGBTI bills in U.S. state legislatures. This talk will discuss the findings from a new report by the Williams Institue at UCLA School of Law examining the relationship between democratic backsliding and changes in attitudes towards LGBTI people and their rights.

About the Speaker
Ari Shaw is Director of International Programs at the Williams Institute, specializing in international human rights, LGBTI politics, and U.S. foreign policy. He was previously on the senior staff at Columbia World Projects, a startup initiative that leveraged academic research at Columbia University to develop concrete solutions to fundamental global challenges.