Selected Projects 2025
In 2025, we awarded five grants of €10,000 each to five of our Member Organisations based in EU Member States for the implementation of projects on three streams:
- Anti-Racism (for projects including and led by BIPOC)
- Policy, Advocacy and Research
- LGBTQI Inclusion in Sports.
On top of financial assistance, IGLYO also provided technical support by working closely with the selected organisations in the implementation of their projects.
The five projects selected as part of our IGLYO Grants Programme 2025 were:
- REST (Resilience, Empowerment, Solidarity, Transformation) by Queerstion Media, Sweden
- TRANSforming the Narrative: Countering Anti-Gender Rhetoric in Estonia by Estonian Trans Alliance, Estonia
- Social Transition and Youth: Our realities by kolekTIRV, Croatia
- Access & Asylum: A Toolkit for LGBTIQ+ Protection in the Czech Republic by Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organisation, Czechia
- Queer Heroes Outdoors by Pink Summits, Germany
Read on below to learn more about each of the selected projects' stories!
REST (Resilience, Empowerment, Sustainability and Transformation) by Queerstion Media, Sweden
Queerstion’s IGLYO Grants project titled “REST(Resilience, Empowerment, Sustainability and Transformation)” strengthened the skills and resilience of BIPOC LGBTQI+ refugees in Sweden. Through this project, they created dedicated spaces for anti-racism empowerment, collective healing, and intersectional advocacy.
Queerstion’s aim was to equip activists with practical tools to sustain their wellbeing and activism, while building stronger alliances across movements. The project included four core activities:
- They hosted a workshop on anti-racism, trauma, and minority stress. Participants shared personal experiences of discrimination and learned strategies to navigate systemic oppression.
- They conducted training for staff and volunteers on trauma, burnout, and sustainable wellbeing, strengthening our internal capacity to support vulnerable communities.
- They hosted the webinar “Threading Our Collective Liberation” in partnership with the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), which brought together trans refugee activists and allies to discuss lived experiences, solidarity strategies, and cross-movement challenges.
- They also organised a wellbeing excursion for BIPOC refugees, centring resilience, transformative healing, and collective care.
The impact of these activities was significant, with participants reporting increased confidence in using personal stories for advocacy, stronger bonds of solidarity, and practical tools for self-care.
Partnerships with local and regional organisations were strengthened, laying the foundation for continued collaboration on refugee rights, youth, trans, and racial justice. The depth of engagement was transformative, with participants continuing to support one another beyond the events.
Overall, the project achieved its aim of empowering BIPOC LGBTQI+ refugees to organise sustainably and advocate for their rights. It also reinforced Queerstion’s role as a connector across movements, building bridges of solidarity and care.
“This project gave me strength and confidence to lead, connect, and grow. I thank IGLYO for supporting this project, and I hope there will be more collaborations and support in the future,” said Lissa Janet (She/her), Queerstion’s Project Coordinator
TRANSforming the Narrative: Countering Anti-Gender Rhetoric in Estonia by The Estonian Trans Alliance
The Estonian Trans Alliance (ETA)’s project TRANSforming the Narrative: Countering Anti-Gender Rhetoric in Estonia combatted anti-gender narratives in Estonia by educating the trans community and allies through social media content in Estonian.
Their project included:
- A report on the spread of anti-gender narratives in Estonian mainstream media
- A policy brief of suggestions for opposing those narratives
- A social media awareness campaign to educate trans people and allies on anti-gender rhetoric
- An info sharing event where they presented the findings of the report and shared strategies for countering these narratives in media
- A podcast episode focused on talking about anti-gender narratives and the results of their project.
This project also made it possible for them to hire a trans social media coordinator, whose contributions to this project and to their social media overall have largely increased their visibility and interactions with their online audience.
While their research and media monitoring revealed that anti-gender rhetoric is actually minimal in mainstream Estonian media channels, mainly spread by specific authors, a majority of the articles use lies, misinformation or demagogy to spread incorrect information about trans people, feminism and gender research.
For this reason, ETA found it critical to introduce the harmful ideas and methods that these people use to our audience, to educate them about what to look out for in Estonian and international media.
"This was the first project I contributed to in a major capacity in ETÜ. It taught me a lot that I can take into account in future work. I'm excited to continue working with volunteers in our community to create something bigger than ourselves and make trans people a part of public life" said Karu (They/them), ETA’s Community Coordinator and Volunteer Manager
Social Transition and Youth: Our realities by kolekTIRV, Croatia
With the support of the IGLYO Grants Programme, kolekTIRV was able to take a meaningful next step in their long-standing work with families of trans, intersex and gender-diverse young people. For many years, these families have been turning to them when navigating school systems, healthcare services and daily life with very limited institutional support. This project gave them the space to take what we had been hearing informally for so long and transform it into a structured process that could meaningfully contribute to national advocacy.
Through carefully designed qualitative interviews with eleven families, kolekTIRV collected and analysed experiences that are rarely acknowledged in institutional settings. Parents spoke about trying to protect their children in environments that are often unprepared or misinformed; young people shared moments of affirmation, but also the heavy toll of misunderstanding and bureaucratic barriers. These insights were brought together into an accessible publication that centres the real-life experiences of TIGD youth and the people who support them.
The recommendations from this project were presented at the National Symposium on Trans Health in Zagreb, where more than 100 psychologists, social workers, teachers, physicians, medical students and community members engaged with the findings. The response was deeply encouraging: professionals expressed strong interest, requested additional copies, and shared that the publication helped them better understand what TIGD young people face in everyday institutional contexts. The digital version was shared with all participants and continues to support conversations and learning within their teams.
For kolekTIRV, this project marked an important shift. By systematising years of community knowledge into a clear and practical resource, we created a foundation for long-term advocacy with ministries, youth services and schools. The publication now serves as a bridge between families’ lived realities and the institutions responsible for their wellbeing, and as a tool for building safer, more supportive environments for TIGD youth across Croatia.
Psychologist, psychotherapist and researcher Mateo Popov (he/him) said: “Being part of this project was deeply inspiring. Families shared very personal and sometimes painful stories, driven by the hope that their experiences would help future generations. We are grateful for the trust they placed in us and for the opportunity to amplify their voices to the institutions that need to hear them. This project allowed us, for the first time, to systematically document the experiences of families with transgender and gender-diverse children in Croatia. Their stories clearly reveal where systems fall short, but also where meaningful improvements are possible. As professionals and as a community, it is our responsibility to turn these insights into concrete measures that will improve the lives of children and young people.”
Access & Asylum: A Toolkit for LGBTIQ+ Protection in the Czech Republic by Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organisation, Czechia
The Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organisation (ALO) used their IGLYO Grant to address a significant gap in rights-based information for LGBTQI asylum seekers in the Czech Republic, as well as a lack of guidance for authorities and service providers on delivering inclusive and non-discriminatory support.
Through a participatory and community-centred process, ALO produced Inclusive Protection: Toolkit on the Rights of LGBTIQ+ Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Czech Republic, a bilingual toolkit (English and Czech) that provides clear, practical guidance for LGBTQI refugees at every stage of the asylum process and offers actionable recommendations for institutions responsible for their protection and integration.
In the frame of their project, they notably engaged in extensive community consultations, one-on-one interviews with LGBTQI refugees and asylum seekers, and collaboration with lawyers and human rights experts to ensure legal accuracy. Two validation sessions were organised to review the draft toolkit and integrate feedback directly from community members. The final toolkit was launched on 30 October 2025 during a public webinar and subsequently disseminated to more than 200 organisations, including NGOs, legal service providers, shelters, and relevant state institutions.
The project has made a significant impact: LGBTQI refugees reported that the toolkit provides them, for the first time, with accessible and reliable information about their rights, how to navigate the asylum process, and how to address discrimination, racism, or SOGIESC-based harm. Some of the stakeholders and service providers expressed strong interest in the toolkit and requested additional copies, follow-up training, and guidance on implementing the recommendations in their procedures.
“This toolkit was shaped by the voices of LGBTIQ+ refugees themselves. For many participants, it was the first time they felt their experiences were truly heard and turned into something that can change systems. Seeing authorities request the toolkit and ask for training gives me hope that real inclusion is possible” said Artemis Akbary (He/She/They), ALO’s Executive Director.
Queer Heroes Outdoors by Pink Summits, Germany
Our Member Pink Summits (Germany) used their IGLYO Grant 2025 to develop the initial stage of "Queer Heroes Outdoors", a non-profit campaign promoting greater visibility of queer people in outdoor sports through storytelling and fighting against prejudices about LGBTIQ+ communities.
Pink Summits conducted interviews to collect stories of interesting queer outdoor athletes: those who cycle across Europe, compete in the Olympic Games, sail across oceans, climb the world's highest peaks and descend by paraglider or ski, undertake months-long hikes, start their own queer group, or even organise a queer rock climbing festival!
Pink Summits published these stories on the brand new website queerheroes.org they developed with their grant, and they will run a social media campaign using #QueerHeroesOutdoors.
The “heroes” featured on the website are also invited to join Pink Summits’ community events as speakers. “Some of the heroes do not have a personal website and much social media exposure. The campaign helps them with sharing their story and bringing opportunities for their upcoming projects and getting connected with others” said Dastan Kasmamytov, Pink Summits’ Co-Director.
If you’re a queer person active in any outdoor sport — at any level — you’re invited to share your story, become part of the growing Queer Heroes Outdoors community, and help inspire the next generation of queer adventurers. Just drop a line to dastan@pinksummits.org!