The year 2023 was marked by a severe global assault on LGBTQ rights and unexpected challenges and progress. Despite the hard shove backward, LGBTQ communities stood up and fought back against hate for themselves and communities across the globe. Some anti-LGBTQ political leaders and conservative forces in Russia, Uganda, and Italy led the way to queer oppression. India delivered the biggest disappointment of the year in October when the Supreme Court declined to legalize same-sex marriage in the world’s largest democracy. Mpox continued to pose a public health threat to men who have sex with men and their sexual partners as the virus surged in China, reported the Guardian, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.