Making Things Better in LatAm: It Gets Better at ILGA LAC’s Regional Conference in Bolivia!

By Alex Orué, Global Programming Assistant Manager, It Gets Better Project.

Last year we were the lucky co-host of ILGA World’s 2022 Global Conference in Long Beach, CA. After more than two years of planning, we finally were able to receive more than 700 LGBTQ+ activists from each continent for a week-long gathering with social activities and community-building sessions to advance our Human Rights agenda worldwide. Check out this blog if you want to learn more about that amazing experience.

ILGA World’s 2022 Conference documentary, where we at the It Gets Better Project were the proud local co-hosts.

ILGA World is a nonprofit organization that gathers a membership of over 1.5k LGBTQ+ organizations from around the globe with the mandate of advocating for LGBTQ+ human rights at the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, and the It Gets Better Project is a proud member of this network. Every two years they host their World Conference and in between the Regional Conferences (for Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, North America & the Caribbean, and LAC) occur, so this year –because of our extensive Global Affiliate Network in Latin America– we decided to participate at ILGA LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) 2023 Regional Conference in La Paz, Bolivia.

Official poster for the IX Regional Conference of LGA LAC in La Paz, Bolivia.

From April 24th to the 28th, hundreds of latin american queer activists gathered in the economic capital of this landlocked plurinational country in South America. Since our membership is for North America, our participation was of an observer but got to participate in different activities like the Youth Caucus, where queer youth from the region had the chance to connect and share their experiences of creating safe spaces in their communities for artistic expression, working on educational resources and supporting each other’s mental health, all the while going through the COVID19 pandemic.

The rel-elected Regional Council of ILGA LAC for the term 2023-2025.

Another highlight was being part of the rich discussions on how to amplify and support the non-binary community while making powerful connections with many local and regional organizations that work for queer youth and gender non-conforming communities. One of them is DARIA Comunidad, a grassroots community organization of trans and gender non-confirming youth that offer safe spaces for artistic expression and educational opportunities that recover ancestral queer aspects of their indigenous cultures.

With our friends and partners at DARIA Comunidad and Fundación COMPA.

As the membership of ILGA LAC voted to host the next 2025 Regional Conference in San Salvador, El Salvador, we are reminded that in spite of the challenges we see globally with the rise of anti-trans hate, attacks on LGBTQ+ youth and the criminalization of our community in African countries, our movement is more alive than ever, especially because of the transformational advocacy and community building efforts that our queer youth is leading in the frontlines in Latin America and worldwide.