Jessica Stern

Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International, specializes in gender, sexuality and human rights globally. At OutRight, she has supported the legal registration of LGBTIQ organizations globally, helped secure the mandate of the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and advanced the UN LGBTI Core Group. She has provided expert opinions to governments globally, regional human rights institutions, and UN mechanisms, including UNWomen where she serves as a member of the LGBTI Reference Group. Her writing has been cited by the Indian Supreme Court in its seminal judgement decriminalizing homosexuality and featured in The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security (2019). She is frequently quoted by the media, including by The New York Times and The Guardian. She is an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs.

Education

• London School of Economics

Jessica Stern is a scholar-practitioner with more than two decades of leadership across government, civil society, multilateral institutions, philanthropy, and academia.

Stern serves as an inaugural Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights, where she is pioneering new fellowships on global LGBTQI+ equality and inclusive foreign policy. She is the first LGBTQI+ rights expert to hold a senior fellowship at the Kennedy School.  In 2025, she co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, a coalition of former Ambassadors, Special Representatives, and Special Envoys advancing human rights and justice in U.S. foreign policy while reimagining American diplomacy. 

From 2021 to 2024, Stern served as the U.S. Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons, leading U.S. foreign policy to combat discrimination and violence worldwide and representing the United States in bilateral and multilateral fora. She was the first human rights expert and last to hold the mandate. Previously, as Executive Director of Outright International, she expanded the organization into the world’s largest global LGBTQI+ rights NGO and co-founded the United Nations LGBTI Core Group, a historic coalition of Member States advancing equality at the UN.

At Columbia, Stern teaches SIPA’s first and only course on LGBTQI+ rights and public policy, equipping future leaders with the analytical and practical tools to address inequality in global governance. She also lectures at Leiden University’s Summer School on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in International Law, the premier academic intensive for students and practitioners in the field.

Her writing bridges international law, diplomacy, feminist and queer theory, and human rights. She is the author of articles and chapters in leading journals and volumes, including the NYU Journal of International Law & Politics and the Oxford Handbook on Women, Peace and Security, as well as commentary in Foreign Policy, Newsweek, and the World Economic Forum. Her work has been cited in landmark human rights decisions, including Johar v. Union of India (the 2018 ruling decriminalizing homosexuality) and Karen Atala Riffo v. Chile before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, underscoring her influence on the development of international human rights law.

Stern’s contributions have been recognized by civil society, governments, and multilateral institutions worldwide, including awards from the U.S. Departments of Treasury and State (2025), Rainbow Railroad’s Freedom Award (2023), and designation as a Baltic Pride Hero (2022). Her expertise is sought by governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society around the world, and her work continues to shape scholarly and policy debates on the future of human rights and diplomacy.