GATE - Strengthening Global Advocacy for Trans Rights with a United Voice
GATE receives core, flexible and long-term funding from the Robert Carr Fund since 2022 and since that time this global community-led network demonstrates remarkable developments:from enhancing global advocacy to digital tools for community members.
Two milestones exemplify this progress: the launch of GATE’s new membership structure (2025 cohort) and the Global Trans Conference held in 2024.
These achievements show how flexible core support has enabled GATE to build infrastructure, technology, and strategic planning that drive tangible change.
A More Connected Movement
GATE’s 2025 membership cohort includes 112 organizations from across the globe. Under the new model, 100% of financial and non-financial opportunities flow through membership. Organizations gain direct access to mentorship, capacity building, and sub-grants.
A members-only app serves as a hub where organizations can connect with one another. Future versions will allow members to book one-to-one mentorship on finance, communications, program development, and leadership.
Additionally, GATE coordinates targeted grants, reducing administrative burden and fostering partnerships. A second membership cycle in 2026 will welcome more organizations, further strengthening cross-movement cooperation. The membership model enhances GATE’s advocacy by aligning priorities and streamlining communication. Members access the GATE Learning Hub featuring evidence-based toolkits and mentorship that translates global best practices into local campaigns.
This equips trans-led organizations to engage policymakers, draft position papers, and lead dialogues that center trans voices. When crises emerge, such as sudden legal rollbacks, GATE can rapidly mobilize members to coordinate joint responses.
Membership input shaping GATE’s five-year Strategic Plan also ensures that GATE’s strategy is co-created and accountable to members, ensuring advocacy remains grounded in lived experiences.
Global Trans Conference 2024
The Global Trans Conference 2024—the first since 2010—brought 200 activists from 67 countries to Munich in July 2024 in parallel with the AIDS Conference. Core funding provided by RCF allowed staff time to form a 12-organization trans-led Organizing Committee.
Over nine months, this committee shaped session content, participant lists, and goals covering HIV healthcare, legal reform, and cultural visibility. 70% of delegates received full or partial scholarships, ensuring participation from the low-resourced regions.
The conference concluded with the Global Trans Declaration—presented at AIDS 2024—calling for integrated healthcare models and legal recognition worldwide. RCF’s support ensured that diverse voices shaped the global trans and gender diverse people’s movement.
“The Conference was not a one-off event, but a strategic milestone within a broader movement-building agenda. Its outcomes are now informing GATE’s organizational direction and helping shape trans advocacy priorities worldwide. Without RCF’s flexible core support, we would not have been able to meaningfully include those most often sidelined due to financial, linguistic, or structural barriers and whose leadership is central to building a truly global trans movement.” – Erika Castellanos, GATE
GATE also invests in the financial sustainability of the global trans movement by launching the Innovation Lab – an initiative to support alternative funding strategies rooted in solidarity and collective autonomy.
Here, organizations are supported to mobilize and manage their own resources, strengthening the autonomy and ability of trans organizations to respond flexibly to their communities’ priorities. By building financial independence, these organizations can adapt strategies to local realities and reinvest in community programs, strengthening long-term resilience.
Looking into the Future
These achievements—membership growth, enhanced advocacy, economic innovation, and the Global Trans Conference—demonstrate how sustained core funding builds movement infrastructure, empowers trans leadership, and generates lasting change.
As GATE prepares for its next membership cycle and future convenings, RCF’s support ensures that trans and gender diverse communities remain at the center of a global movement.