It participates in a multitude of agendas within the United Nations, such as creating visibility for LGBTQ+ issues by conducting advocacy and outreach at the Human Rights Council, working with members to help their government improve LGBTI rights, ensuring LGBTI members are not forgotten in international law, and advocating for LBTI women's issues at the Commission on the Status of Women.

ILGA's NGO status was suspended in September 1994 due to the group's perceived ties with pro-pedophilia organizations such as the North American Man/Boy Love Association.

[9] Later applications for ECOSOC consulatative status were declined in 2002 and 2006, with ILGA alleging external influence from Egypt and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the latter instance.

ILGA has grown to include over 2,600 organizations from over 170 countries and territories to fight for equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people.

[13][non-primary source needed] On 29 October 2024, the ILGA cancelled a bid from Israeli member organization Aguda, due to be voted on at the 2024 World Conference in Cape Town, to hold an upcoming Conference in 2026 or 2027 in Tel Aviv, following protests from South African delegates and member organizations over human rights and apartheid concerns.

[17] ILGA had previously made a statement on 22 October regarding concern over Aguda's bid in which it stated that it did not formally endorse any host proposals until they were voted on by membership, and reaffirming its opposition to the Israel–Hamas war and to human rights violations.

[citation needed] In 2011, ILGA released its State-Sponsored Homophobia Report[31] and map that brings to light 75 countries that still criminalize same-sex relationships between two consenting adults.

[32][33] Historian Samuel Clowes Huneke criticized ILGA maps for showing most Western and non-Western countries in different colors, stating that while "This division probably make sense to the casual observer... queer scholars and activists have noted that it also has colonial overtones".

Additionally, the report delves into a wide range of techniques historically and currently employed in an attempt to modify the sexual orientation of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, impede transgender youth from transitioning, induce detransitioning in transgender individuals, or enforce adherence to societal stereotypes of masculinity and femininity regarding gender expression and roles.

[36] Our Identities under Arrest is the first publication specifically focusing on the enforcement of laws that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual acts and diverse gender expressions at a global level.

The first edition was published in December 2021 and it reviewed over 900 instances in which law enforcement authorities have subjected LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse individuals to fines, arbitrary arrests, prosecutions, corporal punishments, imprisonments, and potentially even the death penalty.

It highlights the notable gap between official records on enforcement published by certain governments (such as Morocco, Uzbekistan, Cameroon, and Sri Lanka) and the number of instances documented through alternative sources collected by ILGA World for this report.