As global dignitaries prepare to attend the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Canada next week, advocates are calling on top government officials to meaningfully advance LGBTQ2S+ rights.
Pride7 is an affinity group made up of independent, non-governmental individuals that work to create policy recommendations that promote and protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people among G7 member states.
Last month, the group partnered with two Canadian civil rights organizations – Egale Canada and the Dignity Network Canada – to host its own summit in Ottawa. The event brought together more than 100 global LGBTQ+ leaders and advocates to the nation’s capital, where they strategized and developed policy recommendations for G7 officials.
“Participants underscored the urgent need for intersectional approaches to address global challenges and called on G7 governments to lead by example in protecting the human rights and dignity of LGBTQIA+ people,” representatives from Pride7 said in a press release.
“G7 commitments to democracy, human rights, and sustainable development cannot be fulfilled without addressing the systemic barriers and violence faced by LGBTQIA+ communities,” the group added.
The policy recommendations – referred to as the Pride7 2025 Communiqué – focuses on four core themes, such as upholding democracy, strengthening legal frameworks and advancing human rights protections.
Advocates are also pushing for economic sustainability, humanitarian action, climate resilience, gender justice and health equity.
“Even in the world’s most advanced economies, 2SLGBTQI rights are under threat,” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada. “Rising hate, disinformation, and policy rollbacks show that progress is not guaranteed. G7 leaders must take this seriously – by listening to LGBTQIA+ voices, adopting the Pride7 Communiqué, and recognizing Pride7 as an official part of the G7 process.”
Pride7 was launched in Japan as an affinity group at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in 2023. Since then, organizers have been calling on world leaders to recognize them as an official civil society engagement group.
“Recognizing Pride7 as an official engagement group is not symbolic — it is a necessary step toward ensuring that the perspectives, expertise, and lived realities of LGBTQIA+ people inform global decision-making at the highest level,” the group said. “Just as Women7, Civil7, and Youth7 are consulted and included in G7 processes, so too must LGBTQIA+ voices be heard and meaningfully engaged.”
When world leaders gather in Kananaskis, Alberta next week, it will mark 50 years since the first G7 summit, which took place in Rambouillet, France in 1975. June is also officially recognized as Pride Month across Canada.
Pride7 is currently collecting endorsements of its 2025 communiqué, which it intends to present to the Government of Canada and other G7 leaders at next week’s summit.
“As we mark the 50th anniversary of the first G7 Summit, Pride7 reminds G7 leaders that millions of people around the world — in G7 countries and beyond — continue to face persecution for who they are,” the group said.
