Five LGBTQ+ Equality Champions Honoured at International Pride Awards 2026
Five LGBTQ+ equality champions from South Africa, the Netherlands, Chile, Uganda and India have been recognised at the 2026 International Pride Awards.
Five LGBTQ+ equality champions from around the world have been recognised at the 2026 International Pride Awards, celebrating work across politics, community organising, healthcare, disability rights, faith and movement building.
The awards were presented during WorldPride Amsterdam and are organised by the United Nations Development Programme and ILGA World. This year’s recipients came from South Africa, the Netherlands, Chile, Uganda and India, with each receiving a different award reflecting their area of impact.
Mmapaseka Steve Letsike: Emerging Leader
South African activist and politician Mmapaseka Steve Letsike received the Emerging Leader award. Letsike entered South Africa’s Parliament in 2024 and serves as Deputy Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. Her career has combined LGBTQ+ advocacy, gender equality and public policy, with work spanning civil society and government.
Her recognition reflects the importance of LGBTQ+ representation within national institutions as well as campaigning from outside them.
COC Nederland: Movement Building in the Face of Hostility
COC Nederland received the Movement Building in the Face of Hostility award. Founded in 1946, the organisation is described by the International Pride Awards as the oldest existing LGBT rights organisation in the world. It now works with more than 200 organisations across over 35 countries, combining domestic advocacy in the Netherlands with international support for LGBTQ+ movements.
Its recognition during WorldPride Amsterdam gave the host country’s own LGBTQ+ movement a prominent place in the ceremony.
Marcela Dimonty: Lifelong Pursuit of Equality
Chilean activist Marcela Dimonty received the Lifelong Pursuit of Equality award. Dimonty took part in Chile’s first known LGBT protest in 1973. She later survived detention and torture during the country’s military dictatorship and has spent decades campaigning around memory, truth and reparations.
Her award recognises a lifetime of activism shaped by both personal experience and long-term commitment to LGBTQ+ rights in Chile.
Aggie Dennett Harmon: Celebrating Diverse Lives
Ugandan activist and pastor Aggie Dennett Harmon received the Celebrating Diverse Lives award. She co-founded Talented Youth Community Fellowship Uganda, which provides psychosocial support, trauma-informed care and peer networks. She also founded the Nange Healing and Harm Reduction Center, creating support for people facing exclusion and stigma.
Her work brings together faith, healing and LGBTQ+ community support, offering a positive example of religion and LGBTQ+ inclusion working side by side.
Dr Satendra Singh: Extraordinary Ally
Indian doctor and disability rights advocate Dr Satendra Singh received the Extraordinary Ally award. His work focuses on disability rights, medical education and challenging the pathologisation of intersex and LGBTQ+ people in healthcare. He has also campaigned for more inclusive medical training and greater recognition of the barriers faced by people whose identities sit across multiple marginalised groups.
The award highlights the role healthcare professionals can play in improving dignity, inclusion and access to care.
Five very different paths to progress
What makes this year’s International Pride Awards especially strong is the range of work being recognised. These are not five people following the same route. One is working inside government, another through a long-established international organisation, while others are focused on grassroots organising, faith, healthcare, disability rights and historical justice.
Together, they show how LGBTQ+ progress can come through many different forms of leadership and community work. The awards also give international visibility to people whose impact may be well known in their own countries but less familiar to audiences elsewhere.
For WorldPride Amsterdam, the ceremony was more than a celebration. It was also a reminder that progress is often driven by individuals and organisations doing practical, long-term work in very different parts of the world.
For more positive LGBTQ+ community, culture and progress stories from the UK and around the world, keep checking SoapLandTV.
Sources: United Nations Development Programme, ILGA World, International Pride Awards and Parliament of South Africa.
Image credits: International Pride Awards, go follow for more details
