Sonali Khan, a trans rights activist from India and Founder of GLAD Foundation, joined Trans Advocacy Week 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Representing trans communities from India on the global stage, she entered spaces where decisions are shaped — engaging with UN agencies and country missions to challenge the gap between legal recognition and lived reality for trans people, and to demand that community voices be central in shaping policy and funding priorities.
Sonali joined critical meetings during Human Rights Council sessions including the meeting with permanent missions of Norway, Spain, Malta, Denmark, and the European Union, as well as UN institutions, such as UNAIDS, OHCHR, The Global Fund, and WHO.
She used these spaces to speak about the realities of trans life in India — from systemic healthcare barriers to exclusion of trans youth in funding allocations — and to push for funding models rooted in care, sustainability, and community-led leadership.
During her time in Geneva, Sonali discussed:
- Exposed the systemic exclusion and sidelining of youth led and independent trans organisation in transnational and domestic funding allocation
- Called out the gap between legal recognition as “third gender” and continued discrimination in healthcare, housing, and employment.
- Raised the emotional and financial toll of activist burnout as a political issue requiring dedicated funding.
- Urged cross-border solidarity to resist rising anti-trans narratives and shrinking civic spaces.
- Stressed the need for meaningful Global South participation in decision-making at the UN and donor levels.
“I carried the stories of those who couldn’t be in the room, and I made sure they echoed through every corridor of power.
Sonali Khan, GLAD Foundation
Coming from India, where trans people still face legal erasure, social stigma, and systemic exclusion, walking into the UN Human Rights Council was both personal and political. From the corridors lined with UN flags to the tables where policy drafts take shape, I spoke about our lives not as statistics but as lived truths — the barriers we face, the burnout we endure, and the urgency of change.
This space was a reminder that our presence is not symbolic; it is a demand for justice. We are not alone. We are not powerless. And we are not done.”
APTN is proud to be able to support Sonali in representing her home country of India on the global stage in the United Nations in Geneva alongside other TAW organising partners, GATE, ILGA World, EATHAN, RFSL and TGEU.
Legal and systemic erasure, social stigma, and discrimination against trans people, especially in the global south region, are important issues that need to be brought to the forefront, and Sonali’s messages came at a time of utmost importance.
Resources
News
