Academic literature and news reports illustrate a rise in violence against LGBTQI+ individuals in numerous countries, amid an atmosphere of fear and repression. However, a direct correlation between gender-restrictive movements and the increase in gender-based violence (GBV) against LGBTQI+ people has not been conclusively established. This report contributes evidence to this notion by combining literature on gender-restrictive movements with research on violence against LGBTQI+ individuals, supplemented by empirical data from interviews with 14 LGBTQI+ rights activists and policymakers from various regions worldwide. It explores potential links to violence and the strategies activists employ to resist it.

The report emphasizes a critical understanding that GBV against LGBTQI+ individuals serves to uphold patriarchal gender norms by disciplining gender and sexual identities that challenge these norms. Gender-restrictive rhetoric fosters hatred against LGBTQI+ people by portraying them as a threat to the nation and traditional family values. This narrative of threat and disruption creates an environment where violence is normalized and legitimized as a means to maintain the patriarchal status quo. Therefore, the issue extends beyond a simple disagreement over LGBTQI+ rights; it represents a fundamental struggle for control over the normative structure of societies, with violence sometimes being used as a means to achieve this control.