As Fiji and the wider Pacific prepare to mark the International Day Against LGBTQIA+ Discrimination (IDAHOBIT) today, the Pacific Sexual and Gender Diversity Network is calling on regional leaders to move beyond symbolic support and take concrete action to protect the rights and safety of LGBTQIA+ communities.
This year’s global IDAHOBIT theme, “At the heart of democracy”, highlights the importance of inclusion, equality and justice in democratic societies.
Interim chief executive officer Loata Tucika said democracy could not exist selectively while discrimination, violence and exclusion against people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics continued.
“A society cannot claim to uphold freedom, equality, and justice while allowing discrimination, exclusion, violence, and silence against sections of its own people,” Ms Tucika said.
She said leadership should be judged not by political rhetoric but by how governments treated vulnerable communities.
“Across the Pacific, we continue to hear leaders speak proudly about democracy, human rights, equality, and inclusion. But too often, LGBTQIA+ Pacific Islanders remain excluded from those promises,” she said.
Ms Tucika warned that fragmented leadership and inconsistent policies created unsafe environments for LGBTQIA+ individuals and communities.
“When governments fail to protect all citizens equally, they legitimise fear, stigma, discrimination, and violence,” she said.
“The consequences are not abstract — they are lived every day by young people who are bullied, families who are rejected, workers who are discriminated against, and communities who are told they do not belong.”
She also raised concerns about the growing rise of anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric globally, warning Pacific leaders against allowing similar narratives to influence political discourse in the region.
“The Pacific must not repeat the mistakes we are witnessing elsewhere in the world, where political leaders are weaponising identity, fear, and misinformation for power,” Ms Tucika said.
“Democracy cannot survive when leaders pick and choose whose humanity deserves protection.”
The organisation is calling on Pacific governments, faith leaders, institutions and communities to commit to stronger anti-discrimination protections, safer schools and workplaces, improved access to healthcare, legal safeguards and greater representation for LGBTQIA+ people in decision-making spaces.
“Leadership requires courage,” Ms Tucika said.
“We challenge every leader across Fiji and the Pacific to ask themselves: what action will you take to protect your own people — regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics? Human rights are not conditional. Democracy must belong to all of us.”
