Today, brave activists on all continents stand up for the rights of LGBTI people. They point out that human rights are universal and indivisible. Thus, LGBTI rights are human rights. The Hirschfeld-Eddy-Foundation supports this campaign through direct aid, donation appeals, domestic and international conferences, as well as lobbying activities concerning foreign policy, international cooperation and human rights policy.

Direct Aid: We support LGBTI organizations in the Global South and Eastern Europe, organize human rights conferences, or initiate projects to increase acceptance and strengthen human rights protection of LGBTI people. The projects and events are made possible by donations and co-operations. The money that we receive from donations is transferred completely to our cooperation partners. That way f.e. projects in Nicaragua, Istanbul (Turkey), and Israel have been supported, as well as an Iranian exile organization.

International lobbying activities: Providing information, raising public awareness, fighting against prosecution – these are the main aspects of our international work. Together with partner organizations, foundations, and NGOs, we organize human rights conferences concerning LGBTI issues in East European states, f.e. in the Ukraine or in Latvia. Furthermore, we support LGBTI activists in lobbying for the decriminalization of homosexuality, for example in New York at the UN General Assembly in December 2008.

Information and Research: In Germany, the Hirschfeld-Eddy-Foundation initiates conferences or panel discussions, edits publications about human rights issues, provides lobbying activities, and cooperates with foundations, human rights organizations and universities. Thus, we were able to publish the German edition of the Yogyakarta Principles. Raising awareness for LGBTI rights in specific fields is of special importance to us. Sexual minorities have not been an issue in development policy and cooperation so far. Our goal is to change this by cooperating with party-affiliated foundations and federal departments. We also work on having the issue of sexual minorities covered in the central media reporting on development policy.