In 2013, Dr. Klaus Mueller founded the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum, creating a global platform for LGBT equality through convenings in Salzburg, Berlin, Chiang Rai, Kathmandu, and online. By 2023, the Forum had grown to encompass leaders from 76 countries across the human rights, legal, artistic, religious, and other sectors. Although formal convenings ended in 2025 due to funding constraints, Fellows continue to collaborate across borders and continents. The Forum’s publications, resources, statements, and Fellow profiles remain accessible through its online archive: HERE.
- 2013: The Forum began with participants from 34 countries and a global statement on LGBT and human rights that continued to guide our intersectional approach and themes. Report: LGBT and Human Rights: New Challenges, Next Steps.
- 2014: The German Foreign Office invited the Forum to Berlin to advise on cooperation between embassies and LGBT human rights organizations. Report: Creating Long-Term Global Networks to Sustain LGBT Human Rights Organizations
- 2015: The Forum returned to Salzburg and launched the “Family is…?” project, collecting testimonies about families of birth, of choice, and those we raise. Over the next two years, the project produced nearly 50 video interviews and the film Family is…? A Global Conversation. Report: Strengthening Communities: LGBT Rights & Social Cohesion
- 2016: The Forum partnered with UNDP Asia for its first Asian convening in Chiang Rai, Thailand, focusing on learning from a new generation of Asian LGBT leaders. Report: The Many Faces of LGBT Inclusion
- 2017: We published our Five-Year-Report, 200 pages strong.
- 2018: Fellows gathered in Salzburg to address themes of home, displacement, and refugee experiences, inviting LGBT refugees. Report: Home: Safety, Wellness, and Belonging
- 2019: The Forum met in Kathmandu, Nepal, to engage emerging LGBT leaders in South Asia and strengthen Asia’s underrepresented role in global LGBT dialogues. Report: Advancing Legal And Social Equality In South Asia
- 2020-2022: The Forum’s LGBT and Faith initiative brought together faith and LGBT leaders from 17 countries through online sessions, public debates, and a series of published essays. We organized online convenings on the effects of Covid and racism on LGBT communities globally.
- 2022-2023: The Forum partnered with ILGA Asia to jointly produce a podcast series on LGBT and Faith, while Asian Forum Fellows met at a ILGA Asia conference in Vietnam to prepare a next-generation leadership program.
- INTERVIEWS: We conducted nearly 50 interviews with LGBT human rights defenders on their lives and on FAMILY in a global world today.
- OVERVIEW on Outcomes & Impact
- Interviews with Klaus Mueller
- 2013 on Now is the time to create a Global LGBT Forum
- 2015 on Family
- 2015 on cultivating global voices for global conversations
- 2016 on space for LGBT people in their family
- 2016 on first Forum in Asia, in Chiang Rai
- 2017 on the power of storytelling, family and home
- 2017 on growth of Salzburg Global LGBT Forum
- 2019 on second Forum gathering in Asia, in Kathmandu
* LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is widely recognized in many parts of the world, but we would not wish it to be read as in any way exclusive of other cultures, groups or terms, either historical or contemporary.