On Wednesday, Uruguay will officially announce that it will begin contributing to the Global Equality Fund, a State Department initiative and partner organization of Out Leadership. The announcement will take place at the Uruguayan Embassy in Washington D.C. and will be attended by Randy Berry, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons.
The Global Equality Fund is a public-private partnership managed by the State Department which has received contributions from, among others, Germany, France, and Chile. The Fund has donated more than $17 million to LGBT advocacy groups since it was started in 2011.
The Uruguayan government has been at the forefront of the LGBT equality movement. Same-sex marriage is legal in the country, and transgender people can legally change their gender without surgery. An Embassy statement to the Washington Blade explained, “it is within this context that Uruguay has decided to join the Global Equality Fund, recognizing it as a valuable tool in the promotion and protection of LGBTI rights around the world.”