The EPF has been tracking the rise of what they call the “anti-gender” movement across Europe, and found that hundreds of groups targeting so-called gender ideology — including think tanks, church-run advocacy groups, political parties and media — had raised $1.18 billion between 2019 and 2023, up from $81 million between 2009 and 2018.
The groups cover a range of policies from abortion to sex education, with transgender rights making up a large part of the lobbying.
LGBTQ+ groups argue the mainstream politicization of such debates is part of a rolling back of fundamental rights, while gender-critical groups believe that recognizing transgender people’s identities undermines women.
“It’s one of those subjects that is easy politically to attack because we’re talking about a small community of people that are widely misunderstood,” said Cianán Russell, senior policy officer at ILGA-Europe, the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.
“It absolutely is our perception that there are more anti-trans actors getting access to spaces in Brussels and that the types of spaces that they are able to access are more institutionalized,” said Russell, adding that at least five events have taken place in the European Parliament in the past year.
One of those included the “Seventh Transatlantic Summit,” a two-day event at the Parliament earlier this month that saw speakers “mock transgender people,” according to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a U.S.-based NGO.