Feminist International Radio Endeavor Interviews Astraea and Aswat-Palestinian Gay Women
At the AWID forum in Cape Town, South Africa, FIRE (Feminist
International Radio Endeavor) interviewed Astraea Executive Director
Katherine Acey and Samira, of Aswat—Palestinian Gay Women, an Astraea
grantee partner. [more]
Letter from a Grantee: Esperanza for Free Speech
The
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center (San Antonio, TX) is one of
Astraea’s Movement Building Initiative grantee partners. Amanda Haas
sent us the following update on the important work of the San Antonio
Free Speech Coalition, of which Esperanza is a leading member. [more]
• Astraea Welcomes New Staff
• Leveraging Our Collective Power
• Recent Press—Grantees in the News
|
|
Lala Camps Launch a Movement
 In
a country where formal organizations are a relatively new idea and
public demonstrations are illegal, the Chinese lala (lesbian, bi, and
trans) leadership trainings—the Lala Camps—are setting off a seismic
shift. In 2007, the first Lala Camp moved lalas from isolation to
connection. Then in October 2008 a series of five regional Lala Camps
empowered 1,000 lalas from 35 cities with support, strategies, and
vision. From Anshan, a rural area where organizers sell blood sausage
to raise money for their activities, to metropolitan Beijing, home of
the country’s only lesbian print magazine and largest lala group, the
landscape of lala activism in China was fundamentally changed. [more]
The Power of Movements
in Cape Town
 An Astraea grantee partner from Meem (Lebanon), stood at the podium at the opening plenary of the 11th AWID conference, The Power of Movements,
held in Cape Town, South Africa. In a speech deftly weaving humor
with gravity, she asserted to nearly 2,000 feminist activists from 144
countries that the feminist movement cannot call itself feminist
without lesbians and transgender people. With over 160 sessions, she
urged participants to engage with something they knew nothing about.
The four days of plenary speeches, interactive sessions, workshops and
debates that followed brought home the conference theme that “When
people struggle together, what was once unimaginable suddenly becomes
possible.” [more]
Felicia Miller on Discovering Astraea
 “The
world is getting smaller,” says Felicia Miller, “If you don’t pay
attention to what’s outside your world today, tomorrow it will be right
in your own backyard.” Felicia gives because Astraea “assists LGBTI
individuals worldwide. “Astraea is the lifeline for women and trans people literally fighting to exist.” [more]
Faces of Astraea (l to r): Kaushalya Perera, Women’s Support Group, Sri Lanka; Brenda Funches, Astraea donor partner; Kris Hyashi, Audre Lorde Project, New York |
