Jean Hardisty, Author & Commentator

Jean Hardisty and Alejandra Sardá opened the Retreat with a provocative analysis of how to mobilize our communities and counter tactics launched by the religious and political right. A well funded and highly organized machine, the right's success at framing and shaping national and international policy continues to consume valuable time and resources from the LGBTI community.

Jean Hardisty, founder of Political Research Associates, in Boston, Massachusetts, has studied the religious and political right in the United States for thirty years. She shared a four prong strategy designed to keep activists educated and buoyant during a time she described as the worst political climate since the Vietnam War. "Do your homework," she urged. "If we don't understand why there is a resurgence of the right wing in this country, and we don't have a complex analysis of that resurgence, we will fight with simplistic slogans and apply pressure in the wrong places."

She also counseled against caricaturing the right using demonizing language -- a tactic often used against the LGBTI community and one which ultimately precludes all possibility of dialogue. "The right are not uneducated rednecks and fools," Hardisty reiterated. "They are middleclass believers who often feel they are looked down upon and shut out in society. And we share many of their concerns about materialism, consumerism, TV culture and violence."

"To me, power is the ability to transform oneself and to transform the world we all live in." Alejandra Sardá, Mulabi - Latin American Space for Sexualities and Rights

Hardisty advised activists to resist compromising in order to make political headway. "Racism, torture, the distribution of wealth, religious intolerance, victimization of those who are marginalized -- we know where we stand on these issues," she declared. "There is no room for compromise here."

Alejandra Sardá, Coordinator of Mulabi - Latin American Space for Sexualities and Rights, in Buenos Aires, Argentina noted the insidious and prominent role fear plays in the Argentinean religious and political right. "Fear," she warned, "immobilizes us. And unless we overcome that, we will always be at a disadvantage."

Slowly but surely, many citizens are bravely transcending that very real fear. Sardá spoke of women marching in the streets and demanding safe and legal access to abortion; this, despite the certainty that their President, fearing reprisals from the powerful Church, is set to block any such legislation. She shared stories of citizens accessing power in new ways: workers occupying vacated factories and transforming them into successful cooperatives; and citizens, without becoming a formal part of government, participating in municipal decision making.

Sardá also imparted a message of hope, solidarity and resistance to progressives living in the United States. "Having grown up under a dictatorship," she said, "I know how it is to live in a country where your civil liberties are restricted, where your government is torturing people and killing people, and there is nothing you can do. The best thing you can do for yourselves and if you want to make a contribution to the world at large, is to work locally to confront your government. It is very hard on the outside of the U.S. to hear the resistance, to see the resistance. I know that everybody in this room is part of that, but we don't hear you enough...Be more vocal. Keep resisting."

Plenary 2

Spanning the Globe: Cutting Edge Lesbian, Transgender and Queer Organizing

This panel featured six activists whose work and commitment to LGBTI justice have transformed the way that people live in their communities and regions. Each shared political conditions and key trends that inform their work, and highlighted pivotal success stories and strategies. The following is a mere glimpse of the session, which provided an in-depth and detailed account of global activism.

WANG Ping, Gender/Sexuality Rights Association of Taiwan (G/SRAT)

TAIPEI, TAIWAN Secretary General of Gender/Sexuality Rights Association of Taiwan (G/SRAT), WANG Ping, knows a good news story when she sees it. So, last year when the mayor refused an invitation to attend a rainbow flag-raising ceremony, G/SRAT alerted the media to his pattern of hypocritical behavior toward the tongzhi (LGBT) community. While publicly professing support for tongzhi, he would rescind it amidst any hint of controversy. Taiwan remains beleaguered by the prevalent belief that tongzhi are a family shame. G/SRAT works to dismantle discrimination resulting from such prejudice, challenging government hypocrisy and insuring that tongzhi are visible and embraced. "We must always persevere until we get what we want," declared WANG. And in this instance, they did. Not only did the Mayor attend the event, but he presented the rainbow flag.

HAIFA, ISRAEL Amidst a climate of violence, homophobia and occupation, many members of Aswat - Palestinian Gay Women consider the organization a lifeline. Begun in 2002 as an online discussion board, Aswat ("voices" in Arabic) has since launched a state-of-the-art website, an array of support groups and several educational projects. They work strategically, networking with other organizations in the region to discard a mantle of invisibility and combat the prevalent and multi-layered discrimination that Palestinian gay women face on a daily basis. "Our power," their representative declared, "is not in choosing one identity over another, but insisting that there is a way to create space for all."

In BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, travestis (loosely: trans people) suffer from widespread harassment and oppression. Cut off from conventional family, some 80% work as sex workers. In 2001, after learning that a program created as a result of a national food shortage was available only to those with children, Lohana Berkins* took action. Founder and director of ALITT (Asociacion Lucha por la Identidad Travesti y Transexual), she and 100 activists successfully challenged the unjust city policy. "This is our family," they said. "We live 20 or 30 of us together, and we need food." The new policy provided access to not only the travesti community, but to all kinship groups in Buenos Aires -- a small but critical step recognizing all families.
*Alejandra Sarda spoke on behalf of Lohana Berkins, who was unable to attend.

Graciela S‡nchez, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center

SAN ANTONIO, UNITED STATES Graciela Sanchez works to build bridges -- one person, and one campaign at a time. As the Executive Director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, she believes that, "All of our work aims to cross borders and tear down walls." San Antonio, she explained, is home to Clear Channel, NAFTA's North American Development Bank and five military bases. Seventy percent people of color, the city boasts the highest number of gated communities per capita. "Our organizing," she continued, "must address multiple issues, for multiple systems and conditions divide us." Organizing around the Texas constitutional marriage amendment in 2005, the Esperanza convened over 100 diverse, progressive activists and formed roaming think tanks. They didn't succeed in defeating the amendment, but they overwhelmingly succeeded in serving as a catalyst for an unprecedented movement-building effort.

"As a member of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, we had several meetings with the Minister of Youth, Gender, and Employment to discuss how possible it would be to include same-sex relations within the domestic violence bill." Fadzai Muparutsa, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe

HARARE, ZIMBABWE In 1995, Zimbabwe's president declared that, "Gays and lesbians are worse than dogs and pigs and don't deserve any human rights." In the years that followed, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press were harshly curtailed, forcing most progressive organizing underground. Instead of succumbing to fear and pressure to disband, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) grew their mission and membership, attracting more young, black, working-class activists - and creating a new Gender Department. Under the leadership of Fadzai Muparutsa, the department's Program Manager, the membership of lesbians has rapidly increased. In order to further counter the government espoused notion that lesbians do not exist in African cultures, GALZ helped launch the Coalition of African Lesbians. A body that today represents organizations from twelve countries, the Coalition works to increase lesbian and bisexual women's visibility throughout the African continent.

Svetlana Durkovic, Organization Q

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA In 2006, Sarajevo streets were bursting with colorful rainbow ribbons. Made from swaths of t-shirts and sheets, the ribbons were the vehicle for Arts for Rights -- a monthly event sponsored by the LGBTI group, Organization Q. In a region still scarred by the ravages of war, Organization Q champions the rights of all. It was the first LGBTI group in the region to actively incorporate trans and intersex issues into its work. Executive Director Svetlana Durkovic reported that while homosexuality is decriminalized in most of Eastern Europe, LGBTI activists still face continual "social discrimination, social exclusion, invisibility, violence, nationalism, racism and fascism." Organization Q is working to change that. After posting the rainbow ribbon photos online, they were flooded with anonymous requests. "We want to do the same thing," people wrote. "Just tell us how to make them."

Plenary 3

Living and Working on the Intersections

Suzanne Pharr, Organizer, Strategist & Author

For many activists around the world doing the brave and nuanced work of social change, the term intersections characterizes their lives, their constituents, and their mission for a just future. The four activists on this panel work extensively across the boundaries of race, class, gender, sexual orientation and the many other obstacles that divide us from one another. Suzanne Pharr, the renowned and accomplished organizer and author, moderated the session and recalled her early introduction to intersectional work. Pharr acknowledged the women of the Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press -- Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, Cherrie Moraga, and Gloria Anzaldua -- citing their groundbreaking books about "living on the margins, on the edge and speaking truth from a place never spoken or published before." Vigorously rejecting the isolation of single issue politics, Pharr pointed to working across the intersections as the only strategy that will sustain and strengthen not just the LGBTI movement, but all change we seek.

"I cannot emphasize how important healthcare is...If you want to grow a trans community, start a health program." Alex Lee, Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex (TGI) Justice Project

According to Alex Lee, more than half of the transgender and gender variant community of the San Francisco area have been imprisoned at some point in their lives. Lee is an attorney and the Executive Director of the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex (TGI) Justice Project, the only organization in the country dedicated to challenging and ending human rights abuses committed against transgender, gender variant/genderqueer and intersex people in California prisons and beyond. Utilizing a trickle-up theory of social change, TGIJP provides direct services and organizing support to those most marginalized -- often low income trans women of color incarcerated in male prisons. They also build alliances outside of the LGBTI arena with women's coalitions and prisoners' rights groups. "People don't lead segmented lives," Lee explained. "And for an organization like ours that puts a lot of emphasis on organizing mass movements, we have to be able to engage mass numbers of people."

Jin Wu, representing Common Language

In 2001 state security police infiltrated and violently disbanded a Beijing lala (lesbian and bi women) cultural festival. Jin Wu reported that activists were detained, some fled the country, and many of those who remained communicated extensively online. Wu is a supporter of Common Language, the organization which in 2005 revitalized a lala community eager to mobilize and become visible. They issue the only lesbian print magazine in China, operate a 20 hour per week phone hotline, and have co-sponsored the 2nd Beijing Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Working with and on behalf of the entire LGBTI population -- not just lalas -- they've flown Rainbow kites over the Great Wall and organized a same-sex marriage street action featured in the Beijing News. "We hope," said Wu, "that our efforts will inspire support and participation from all around us; thus propelling the entire society towards a direction of equality, tolerance, and openness."

Bran Ali Fenner, FIERCE! (Fabulous, Independent, Educated Radicals for Community Empoerment)

"Public space in New York City," declared Bran Ali Fenner, "is increasingly becoming an added luxury, only for those who can afford it, criminalizing those who have nowhere else to go." Fenner is co-founder and co-director of FIERCE! (Fabulous, Independent, Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment), the organization that gives voice and visibility to the lives, struggles and accomplishments of trans and queer youth of color in New York City. In recent years, many have been denied access to public spaces, former safe havens where they once accessed critical resources and created community. Forced to gather in unsafe areas and in smaller numbers, they have since endured an increase in harassment and physical violence. FIERCE! conducts outreach and organizing on the streets, in the shelters and in transitional programs to build community power. Their education programs, media advocacy work and meetings with city officials provide members with firsthand experience of activism and change in the making. In turn, youth become empowered, experiencing their struggle as inseparable from a larger historical and social movement.

Plenary 4

Philanthropy: Giving that Sustains Social Change

Many human rights activists around the world derive core funding from progressive foundations -- which are also operating in a heightened conservative political climate. Faced with an increase in funding restrictions and regulations, these progressive funders are observing change, but not necessarily transformation; and progress, but not always inclusion. In order to ensure that fundraising dollars reach the types of activists who so electrified the Retreat, many funding leaders are shifting course.

Each of the five leading feminist funders on this panel have created new grantmaking strategies, formed new networks, and helped reframe the business of social change philanthropy as we know it. They are thinking broadly, building relationships with new allies, and moving resources to those living in the margins of society. In a dynamic session, each shared how she is supporting the work of women of color, trans people and lesbians by using a social justice feminism framework and movement-building strategies.

Katherine Acey, Astraea Foundation

Katherine Acey, Astraea's Executive Director noted the importance of naming these strategies: "We've always used the terms feminist, social justice, intersections and connections. Finding the language and being able to articulate these strategies more clearly, has been an evolution." The strategies, as recounted by the panelists, are working.

Monique Mehta, Third Wave Foundation

Monique Mehta, Executive Director of the Third Wave Foundation, referenced a grantmaking strategy which in one instance connected a group of unrelated activists around a core issue of reproductive rights. Immigrant rights and prison reform activists who had previously worked in isolation from one another, gained a unique opportunity to work across issues and communities.

Sara Gould, Ms. Foundation for Women

Sara Gould, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, cited a strategy connecting movements and issues. The New Women's Movement, a groundbreaking initiative begun by the Ford Foundation included Astraea, Third Wave, the Ms. Foundation and the Center for the Advancement of Women as founding members. Over the course of two years, this multi-racial/generational think tank convened 60 women leaders from U.S. national organizations. Together, they created new conversations, new alliances and new strategies to better connect the U.S. and global women's movements. The Ms. Foundation has embarked upon a strategic grantmaking initiative based on the outcomes of the New Women's Movement. Astraea is serving on the advisory board.

Ana Criquillion, International Network of Women's Funds and Central American Women's Foundation

Building and sustaining such critical connections between U.S. and international funders were recurring themes throughout the Retreat, particularly with the funders on this panel. The founding representative of the German foundation, filia.die frauenstiftung, highlighted its support for women outside Germany. And Ana Criquillion, chair of the International Network of Women's Funds and Executive Director of the Central American Women's Foundation, announced that the twenty women's funds that comprise the Network last year issued $15 million to grassroots organizations around the world. Most of the grants, she reported, fund highly charged issues: "In Africa or in India, or in Latin America...even to say that you are working towards the right to get an abortion, or for lesbian groups is a risk for your life."

As the only foundation in the world that funds LGBTI organizations operating both in the U.S. and internationally, Astraea acknowledged the high stakes for those activists and funders working on the front lines. "In order to create tangible and safe social change," urged Acey, "we must aggressively and strategically fund activists living in the margins and working at the intersections."