Founded in 2007, Rromnjako Ilo (Roma Women’s Center) empowers and encourage Roma women and multi- marginalized women of different sexual orientation to freely make their own choices in life.
Founded in 2007, Rromnjako Ilo (Roma Women’s Center) empowers and encourage Roma women and multi- marginalized women of different sexual orientation to freely make their own choices in life. Using the framework of ‘bodily integrity,’ Rromnjako Ilo opens up dialogue on gender and sexuality in Roma communities in Serbia. Their work empowers LBTI Roma women from within the community to demand their rights to live free from domestic violence in the form of forced marriages. It advances Roma civil society acceptance of LGBTQ issues and increases engagement from state institutions responsible for protecting the rights of marginalized populations in Serbia. Rromnjako Ilo also works to have the LGBTQ movement recognize the lives and voices of Roma lesbians.
Power Inside is a human rights and harm reduction organization that serves women and girls who are survivors of gender-based violence and oppression and impacted by incarceration, street life and abuse.
Power Inside is a human rights and harm reduction organization that serves women and girls who are survivors of gender-based violence and oppression and impacted by incarceration, street life and abuse. Through a prison abolition framework, they fight for social change via direct services, advocacy and activism, radical harm reduction, street outreach, leadership development and public education. Recently, Power Inside advocated for the inclusion of incarceration, survival sex, gendered violence, and LGBTQ hate-motivated violence in the city-wide screening tool used to evaluate homeless vulnerability, and successfully pushed for the Healthy Births for Incarcerated Women Act in Maryland.
Pidgeon Pagonis is an intersex artist and activist who has worked for almost a decade researching, advocating and educating a wide range of audiences about intersex issues and rights, and the movement for bodily autonomy and justice.
Pidgeon Pagonis is an intersex artist and activist who has worked for almost a decade researching, advocating and educating a wide range of audiences about intersex issues and rights, and the movement for bodily autonomy and justice. In 2013, they began work on their documentary, The Son I Never Had, which gives an inside look at one intersex person’s experience. The film weaves narration, recorded conversations, and medical records with photos, video and animation, in the hopes of compelling viewers to take action against the human rights violations incurred by intersex people.
Oii-Chinese was established in 2008 to provide Chinese-speaking intersex people information created by intersex people and to bring intersex people together for peer support.
Oii–Chinese was established in 2008 to provide Chinese–speaking intersex people information created by intersex people and to bring intersex people together for peer support. They provide support for Chinese–speaking intersex people through an online group, especially with the pandemic and its impact on mental health. They also wrote an article as part of the calling on “advocate, protect and ensure the LGBTI rights to be respected” from the UN human rights experts for the CEAW review invited to Taiwan. They produced a 20,000 words document about intersex human rights issues that was then included in the curriculum for civil servants in Taiwan. They then gave a lecture on the topic to civil servants at a national level as well as high school teachers. Check out a video interview with Oii-Chinese’s Founder Hiker Chiu: Hiker was also featured in our 2016 Intersex Awareness Day video:
OII Europe was founded in 2012, during the Second International Intersex Forum in Stockholm, to ensure the further adoption of Human Rights for intersex people all over Europe.
OII Europe was founded in 2012, during the Second International Intersex Forum in Stockholm, to ensure the further adoption of Human Rights for intersex people all over Europe. They are building a sustainable organization with an increase in staff hours, which allowed them to organize the 3rd European Intersex Community Event & Conference in September 2019 in Zagreb, with 68 participants -the largest human rights based gathering of intersex people globally to this date. The event was also an opportunity for a 2-day study visit to Ljubljana, Slovenia, where OII Europe Steering Board Members and Staff met with law and policy makers, students and NGOs and gave TV interviews. This visit was a big step towards increasing the visibility of intersex issues in the Balkan region. In 2019 they also published an illustrated testimonial book #MyIntersexStory –Personal accounts by intersex people living in Europe. In 2020 they started a project on Intersex Refugees and Asylum Seekers. They are using social media and infographics to communicate on surveys and findings, and they continue their work of translating their brochures into many European languages. During covid-19 they organize a number of online community events to help keeping up the morale of the European intersex community -such as weekly virtual campfire, where with talks, games, and movies; or daily check-ins on the main community chat and other forms of outreach.
Check out our 2016 Intersex Awareness Day video, featuring OII Europe Co-Chair Miriam van der Have:
Formed in 2011, Limpopo LGBTI Proudly Out (LLPO) was the first formal LGBTI organization to exist in Limpopo, South Africa’s poorest province.
Formed in 2011, Limpopo LGBTI Proudly Out (LLPO) was the first formal LGBTI organization to exist in Limpopo, South Africa’s poorest province. It organized the first LGBTI Pride event in the province in 2012. LLPO’s work centers on three strategies: empowering LGBTI communities in the province to exercise their rights, building public support for LGBTI issues, and supporting the inclusion of LGBTI rights in government services and civil society programs. Heteronormativity prevails in Limpopo and is enforced by government officials, traditional authorities and communities at large. LGBTI communities experience high levels of hatred and violence, including “corrective rape” and murder.
Iranti-Org formed in 2012 to help local and regional lesbian, trans, intersex and gender non-conforming (LTIGNC) movements in South Africa and across the continent use media as a platform for mobilization and shifting public dialogue.
Iranti-Org formed in 2012 to help local and regional lesbian, trans, intersex and gender non-conforming (LTIGNC) movements in South Africa and across the continent use media as a platform for mobilization and shifting public dialogue. They support organizations to document human rights violations and produce evidence-based materials, and they also support cultural production to change attitudes about sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Iranti-Org does this work to address the poor media capacity of LTIGNC groups, most of which don’t have media and documentation equipment or training in how to work with media; digital security is also a pressing need. In an exciting development, they recently launched an LBTIGNC Media Makers Network that supports activists across Southern Africa to produce their own media. In South Africa, Iranti-Org’s own media production and reporting plays a key role in strengthening the national LGBTQ movement. In collaboration with LGBTQ community groups across the country, they investigate hate crimes, use their reporting to hold the state accountable for addressing violence, and document LGBTQ mobilization.
“Aireana” means an attitude towards life: take out our desires, thoughts, identities, feelings. It comes from “AIREA,” the imperative of the verb aerate.
Aireana is a feminist group founded in 2003 (with legal status since 2005) that works for the rights of lesbians and promotes sexual dissidence for all people to live in freedom and without violence. Aireana means an attitude towards life: take out our desires, thoughts, identities, feelings. It comes from “AIREA,” the imperative of the verb aerate. Aireana exists to transform society to work for the rights of lesbians and LGTBI and non-discrimination from a feminist perspective. Through culture, advocacy and empowerment. Aireana aims to:
- To contribute to cultural change in Paraguayan society through the generation of educational and artistic spaces.
- To build empowerment and affirmation through training, psychological legal assistance, strengthening of other groups, self-care.
- To influence legislation, public policies at the national and international levels.
Aireana has a space called “La Serafina” featuring cultural activities, all free and open to the public on Fridays. It also organizes an international film festival themed LGTBI in Asuncion since 2005. It also has a batucada called “Tatucada”. Aireana publishes annual reports on the human rights situation for Paraguay’s LGTBI community. It has a hotline to LGTBI called “Rohendu” (“I hear you” in Guarani) with legal and psychological assistance. Aireana makes appearances in the Paraguayan state and international areas such as Mercosur, OAS, and UN.
*** En Español***
Aireana es un grupo feminista fundado en 2003 (con personería jurídica desde 2005) que trabaja por los derechos de las lesbianas y promueve la disidencia sexual para que todas las personas vivan en libertad y sin violencia las sexualidades e identidades. AIREANA significa una postura ante la vida: sacar afuera nuestros deseos, pensamientos, identidades, sentimientos. Viene de “AIREA”: imperativo del verbo airear, ventilar, sacar al airey “NA”: sufijo guaraní que se traduce como “por favor”. Aireana existe para para transformar la sociedad trabajando por los derechos de las lesbianas y LGTBI y por la no discriminación desde una perspectiva feminista. A través de la cultura, la incidencia política y el empoderamiento. Aireana tiene como objetivos:
- Contribuir a un cambio cultural en la sociedad paraguaya a través de la generación de espacios educativos y artísticos.
- Trabajar el empoderamiento y la afirmación de las personas a través de la formación, la asistencia jurídica psicológica, el fortalecimiento de otros grupos, el autocuidado.
- Incidir en la legislación, en las políticas públicas, en el ámbito nacional e internacional.
Aireana, tiene un espacio cultural llamado “La Serafina” que ofrece actvidades culturales todos los viernes gratuitas y abiertas a todo público. Además organiza un festival internacional de cine de temática LGTBI en Asunción desde 2005. También tiene una batucada llamada “Tatucada”. Publica todos los años un informe sobre la situación de DDHH LGTBI en Paraguay. Tiene una línea de atención telefónica a LGTBi llamada “Rohendu” (“Te escucho” en guaraní) con asistencia jurídica y psicológica. Hace incidencia en el Estado Paraguayo y en ámbitos internacionales como Mercosur, OEA y ONU. Últimamente ha incidido con fuerza por el acceso a las visitas íntimas de las lesbianas privadas de libertad firmando un acuerdo con el Mecanismo Nacional de Prevención de la Tortura. Integra varias redes paraguayas e internacionales como la Coordinación de Mujeres del Paraguay, la Red contra todas forma de discriminación, la Coalición LGBTI del Paraguay, la Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos de Paraguay, la Coalicion LGTBI de incidencia en la OEA, el grupo de trabajo de incidencia en el Mercosur, entre otros.
The Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition, founded in 2008 by a group of queer and trans young people from across Mississippi, was formed in the wake of two cases of discrimination against LGBTQIQ young people.
The Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition, founded in 2008 by a group of queer and trans young people from across Mississippi, was formed in the wake of two cases of discrimination against LGBTQIQ young people. MSSC continues to be led by young folks and supports community efforts to reduce anti-LGBTQIQ bias in public schools and communities throughout Mississippi. They also recognize and actively work against harassment, violence and discrimination of all kinds.
This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.
LaGender, Inc., is a black and transgender women of color led organization dedicated to empowering the transgender community on the unique issues of HIV/AIDS, homelessness, wrongful incarceration, mental health and the fight against discrimination of any sort.
LaGender, Inc., is a black and transgender women of color led organization dedicated to empowering the transgender community on the unique issues of HIV/AIDS, homelessness, wrongful incarceration, mental health and the fight against discrimination of any sort. In 2001, Dee Dee Chamblee, a Black woman, transgender activist and organizer living with HIV for over thirty years founded LaGender Inc. to amplify the voices of Black transgender women who were experiencing high rates of HIV/AIDS in Atlanta. At that time, they were reluctant to access HIV prevention and treatment services due the discrimination they experienced from health care providers and the erasure of their transgender identities by local LGB organizations and other HIV/AIDS service organizations. In an effort to combat stereotypes, misconceptions, and misinformation, LaGender developed a training program specifically geared to educate and inform AIDS service organizations, academic institutions, and public health providers on transgender issue areas locally, nationally, and internationally. From there, LaGender has expanded to include an ongoing support group for transgender people, which centers transgender women of color; establishing a leadership development pipeline and coaching training programs; in the tenure of LaGender, they have built a coalition of transgender-led and progressive organizations, working on a shared advocacy platform that addresses criminalization, HIV, immigration and sex work in the transgender communities.
This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.
