Location: New York

New Infographic on LBQ Strategies for Liberation

As oppressive forces become ever-emboldened around the world, it is critical now more than ever that we support the organizing of LBQ women and non-binary people. A new infographic report from Astraea and Mama Cash highlights Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer (LBQ) women and non-binary people’s brilliant visions of liberation and their persistent need for resourcing.

Today, in partnership with Mama Cash, we’re excited to share an infographic report highlighting Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer (LBQ)-identified women and non-binary people’s brilliant visions of liberation and their persistent need for resourcing. As oppressive forces become ever-emboldened around the world, it is critical now more than ever that we support the organizing of LBQ-identified women and non-binary people. These communities are among the first to feel the effects of repression, and also have the vision and strategies we need to fight back.

Astraea has always been committed to bolstering the sustainability, resilience and resistance of LBQ communities. This graphic report lifts up the principles of feminist LBQ organizing, which we believe must be prioritized in order to produce long-term structural change.

“LBQ women and non-binary folks have long been at the frontlines of movements such as women’s rights, LGBTQI rights, environmental justice and racial justice, among others,” said Mariam Gagoshashvili, Senior Program Officer at Astraea. “Their work is deeply intersectional, and often brings to the table overlooked but transformational strategies like alliance-building and cultural change. The time has come for this community to allocate attention and resources to addressing its own needs and lived experiences, while continuing to fight for all these causes.”

Read more about LBQ  activists’ radically inclusive visions and key priorities for their movements.

“Why this focus now? We are witnessing a global pull-back on protection and liberation for all people, and an increase in violence, exploitation and oppression,” said Happy Mwende Kinyili, Director of Programmes at Mama Cash. “Women and those people who reject or transgress accepted gender and sexuality roles are the most vulnerable. From our experience, we know that LBQ women and non-binary people are also one of the most under resourced communities. We must increase support in this moment when they are most at risk.”

“There are so many possibilities if you have LGBT projects, if you have women’s rights projects that have a wider scope,” said Maya Tabidze, a Georgian activist with Astraea grantee partner Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG). “But when it comes to LBQ women, it’s always limited.”

Over the next year, Astraea and Mama Cash will be producing critical research on the state of philanthropic support for LBQ-identified women and non-binary people’s organizing, so we can advocate for more and better resources for their liberatory work. Stay tuned and join us!

  • Read the report
  • Make a donation to support Astraea’s LBQ-identified women and non-binary grantee partners across the world
  • Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter at #FundLBQ

*We understand language is limited and gender exists on a continuum; after year-long consultations with activists, we use the term “LBQ” to refer to the focus on sexual identity; it includes women (cis and trans) and all non-binary people on the gender spectrum who relate to a lesbian, bisexual, and/or queer identity.

LBQ communities face unique, structural health and economic disparities, misogyny and violence, yet there is a persistent lack of attention and resource paid to their needs and priorities, both within LGBTQI, human rights and women’s rights spaces. This report aims to celebrate unique LBQ movement highlights, call attention to the movement’s specific challenges, and break down the funding silos.

This initiative is informed by our deep commitment to supporting the most underfunded and marginalized movements, including trans and intersex movements whose unique resourcing challenges are addressed in the following two reports: The State of Trans Funding and The State of Intersex Funding.

Forging coalitions and leading the resistance

Today, Astraea is among the top five funders supporting organizations fighting criminalization—and we could not have reached that point without your support.

Image credit: Mijente, 2017

Dear Friend,

Can a body ever be free if it is being policed or if its movement is restricted by borders and discriminatory social norms? In the U.S. these bodies are overwhelmingly black and brown—60% of the 2.2 million people currently incarcerated are people of color.

While the totalitarian Right are determined to criminalize our bodies, keeping us divided and pitted against each other, Astraea’s grantee partners are coming together, forging coalitions that resist oppression. They’re building movements across borders and issues, working on community-based strategies to increase safety and end multiple forms of violence affecting LGBTQ people of color.

In the words of early Astraea grantee partner and juror, Audre Lorde, “Militancy…means actively working for change, sometimes in the absence of any surety that change is coming. It means doing the unromantic and tedious work necessary to forge meaningful coalitions, and it means recognizing which coalitions are possible and which coalitions are not. It means knowing that coalition, like unity, means the coming together of whole, self-actualized human beings, focused and believing, not fragmented automatons marching to a prescribed step. It means fighting despair.”

For 40 years we have been doing just that, by funding at the intersections of LGBTQI rights and the fight for freedom from violence and criminalization: one of our very first grants went to a project supporting incarcerated lesbians of color in prison. Our recent round of U.S. grants supports 33 LGBTQI organizations with over $1 million working to resist criminalization and demand fair immigration policies.

For example, Mijente and Black Youth Project 100 are leading a campaign to expand the conversations around keeping our cities safe by ensuring they are Sanctuary Cities and elevated beyond immigration-specific protections which are limited to municipalities. Together they’re finding creative ways to reduce current enforcement policies and challenge detention, deportation, criminalization and policing of immigrant, refugee, Black, and trans communities. Due to the collaborative’s work, they recently passed a local ordinance eliminating the use of ICE holds by police. They’re also working to end the use of the Chicago Gang Database, an unconstitutional tool that targets US-born immigrant communities of color.

Similarly, grantee partners Enlace, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and Ella Baker Center are working together to build #FreedomCities, a multifaceted campaign that strives to generate tangible and lasting policy change, like the protection of LGBT communities, equal pay, fair housing, and policing reform. Together they are fighting for safe, healthy and thriving neighborhoods and local communities.

Today, Astraea is among the top five funders supporting organizations fighting criminalization—and we could not have reached that point without your support.

Join us in continuing to fuel the movements on the frontlines of the fight for LGBTQI justice, by contributing to the Uprising of Love Fund.

J. Bob Alotta

Happy Valentine’s Day from Astraea!

This Valentine’s Day, we’re building an uprising of love!

This Valentine’s Day, we’re building an uprising of love! In the above video, Astraea staff members share why they love Astraea and the strong community of staff and board, grantee partners, donors, and supporters who make Astraea what it is today.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Meet Astraea donor, Robin Rosenbluth

Astraea donor and former board member Robin Rosenbluth shares an anecdote about how her daughter and a personal note from Astraea’s former executive director, Katherine Acey, sparked her long-time support for Astraea.

“I always knew that I wanted to change the world. I wanted to be part of a social movement. And when I found Astraea, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty right. This is like the best thing since sliced bread.'”

Fundraiser Robin Rosenbluth served on Astraea’s board in the 90’s and has been an Astraea supporter for over 25 years.

In this video, Robin shares an anecdote about how her daughter and a personal note from Astraea’s former executive director, Katherine Acey, sparked her long-time support for Astraea.

At Astraea, every dollar makes a difference, whether it’s a one-time $5 donation or 25 years of monthly support. Join us.

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Video transcript:

I always knew that I wanted to change the world somehow. I wanted to be a part of a social movement. And when I found Astraea, I thought, “Wow. That’s pretty right. This is the best thing since sliced bread.”

One of the reasons I started to sustain Astraea by giving on a monthly basis happened 25 years ago. It really mattered to me that my daughter…I really wanted to inspire her to think about being philanthropic. And so she saved a part of her allowance every week. In December, we all sat around, I made hot chocolate and we looked at a lot of the direct mail pieces that came. And I would read some of them and say, “Do you want your money to go here? Do you want your money to go there?”

And when I read the letter from Astraea, right away she said, “Mom, I want the money to go there, because this is an organization that is helping my moms.” And so she wrote a little letter, and she put her $5 in an envelope and said, “Dear Astraea, I’m giving this money from my allowance to support my moms.”

Katherine Acey, whom at the time I hadn’t met personally, wrote a personal letter back. I know because I’m a fundraiser, how important it is to put a personal handwritten note on a letter or a thank you note. But this moved her, and that moved me. That changed my giving to to Astraea, it really did. It became my number one place where I would make a contribution, and for many years, I was a major donor.

I loved being a board member of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation [for Justice]. It gave me an opportunity to be involved in movement building. We were anti-racist, cross-class. It’s a gift to be able to build relationships with people who care about the same values that you care about.

Astraea has an unbelievable way of finding people who are barely even an organization, but an idea, and seeding them with some dollars that will help them to grow. Their attitude is, “We’re giving to the people who are leading their own fights, and we’re gonna sustain those fights.” The participation at Astraea and who they support is the way you would want society to be.

The battle is not gonna be won when I die, and it will go on. And I want my money to continue to make an impact which is why I give now because I feel like Astraea uses my money well, and I want the organization to survive.

 

Between the Ages: A Conversation With Aaryn Lang and Katherine Acey

Two women with more than six decades of activism between them discuss our current political climate, organizing across generations, how movements shift over time, and how imperative all of our efforts, both young and old, are to create a sustainable new world.

Please join us February 15, 2017 from 5:30-7:00pm for Between the Ages: A Conversation with Aaryn Lang and Katherine Acey, part of our series of “Why We Fund” events about who, where and why we fund. In this session, two women with more than six decades of activism between them discuss our current political climate, organizing across generations, how movements shift over time, and how imperative all of our efforts, both young and old, are to create a sustainable new world.

Location:
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice offices
116 East 16th Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10003

RSVP here!

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Thanks to everyone who attended the event! We were grateful to have everyone in the room.

View event photos

A year of resistance and unity

Astraea executive director J. Bob Alotta reflects on the 1-year anniversary of the presidential inauguration and Women’s March.

Images (L to R): Grantee partners Mijente and Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM) take action against surveillance and policing.

Dear Friend,

One year into this administration, there’s a lot to be concerned about. But let’s be clear—there’s plenty to celebrate, too. On this first anniversary of the Women’s Marches around the country, we find ourselves at a moment teeming with opportunity to continue carrying out the Uprising of Love I described one year ago in Washington, D.C.

We see the powers we’re up against and the lengths to which they go to keep us down: anti-trans “bathroom bills,” the Muslim ban, rescinding DACA, a tax bill that rewards the wealthy and punishes the rest of us, and sympathizing with white supremacists, just to name a few.

There’s no sign this administration will ease its hostility against our communities. Yet we are compelled toward freedom. Just as our foremothers resisted, so too are we. The rise of action, both spontaneous and planned, is strengthened by our interdependence as people. A future free of tyranny is not only imperative, but within reach now more than ever, precisely because we are creating ecosystems of resistance that are smart, effective, and unique. We are answering the call of this moment. We will win. And we will do so because of your support.

Over the last year, we fueled 33 groups in the United States with nearly $1 million in grants supporting anti-criminalization and migrant justice work. Groups like ten-year Astraea grantee partner PrYSM, who deftly organized across communities and secured the passing of the Community Safety Act, ensuring more transparency and less racial profiling by local law enforcement.

In response to the White House’s executive orders on immigration and policing, grantee group Mijente, in collaboration with Black Youth Project and Transgender Law Center, have successfully led a multifaceted campaign to expand the sanctuary conversation and pass local ordinances, including eliminating the use of ICE holds by local police.

Through sustained pressure on Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and city officials, Familia: TQLM and Immigrant Youth Coalition have worked to free more than 20 trans women held in Santa Ana City Jail detention centers via the #EndTransDetention campaign.

Our grantee partnerships with groups like these underscore why we are meeting this moment with a renewed sense of urgency—and hope.

We’ve always viewed loving radically as a political act. Now, spontaneity coupled with organizing is allowing us to jump across borders and binaries that can so often conscript us and isolate us. The spontaneity of #MeToo and #SayHerName and #FreeMaria, paired with transnational organizing, access to new technologies, and a real sense of urgency, are opening opportunities that we’d be remiss to ignore.

All of this is why I have hope for the future—and why, even after a year under siege from a hostile administration, where every day may seem like not just an uphill battle but a struggle for survival, I still believe that our Uprising of Love is neither hampered nor ineffective. Rather, it is as strong and fierce and beautiful as the day when millions of us showed up in the streets to march and proclaim our commitment to love in the most radically honest way possible.

A year later, our fight continues. We couldn’t be happier you’re in it with us.

Onward!

J. Bob Alotta

P.S.—You can help us fund this global Uprising of Love with a donation today. Every dollar helps! 

Celebrating a successful end to 2017!

Astraea is unrelenting in our commitment to gender, racial and economic justice. Here are a few of Astraea’s highlights from the final months of 2017.


Astraea is unrelenting in our commitment to gender, racial and economic justice. As the first philanthropic organization working exclusively to advance LGBTQI rights around the world—we know we are called to build, sustain, resource and celebrate our people and movements. Here are a few of Astraea’s highlights from the final months of 2017:

 

Photo (L to R): Katherine Acey (former Executive Director), Achebe Powell (Founding Mother), and J. Bob Alotta (Executive Director) at our 40th Anniversary Gala on November 13, 2017. Photographer: Elias Gurrola

Celebrated 40 years of activism

This November we celebrated our 40th Anniversary Gala in New York City with an evening of art, music, food and righteous community. Together, we honored leaders from across the four decades whose commitment, passion and work inspire others and meaningfully advance LGBTQI justice in our communities and around the world. We were proud to honor Ise Bosch, Kobi Conaway & Andrew Owen, Naomi Sobel, Katherine Acey, Indyra Mendoza, Joo-Hyun Kang and Nona Hendryx. Get inspired by the evening’s festivities here!

Photo: Grantee partner No Tengo Miedo from Peru. Translation: Diversity is Revolution

Granted over $36 million in four decades

As we celebrated our 40th Anniversary, we looked back at our grantmaking history. We’re proud to say that in our first 40 years, we’ve made over 4,500 grants to over 1,700 grantee partners in 99 countries and 48 U.S. states—that’s $36 million in grants that no one else would have granted in that way. With your help, we’ll be sure to reach $40 million in our 40th year!

Photo: Journalist activist Jeanne Córdova

Supported radical lesbian and queer feminist organizing across Latin America and Southern Africa through the Jeanne Córdova Fund

Astraea is honored to have made our first round of 14 grants to radical lesbian and queer feminist organizations across Latin America and Southern Africa through the Jeanne Córdova Fund. Through this fund we are able to anchor lesbian organizations in both regions, as well as emerging feminist, queer and gender nonconforming youth-led organizations. This all became possible after journalist activist Jeanne Córdova left an unprecedented $2 million bequest to Astraea in 2016 after vowing to leave half her earnings to her community.

Photo: Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference 2017 participants in St. Lucia. Credit: OutRight International

Deepened partnerships in Middle East, Caribbean, India

In recent months, members of our program team went on site visits to Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey and India, and also attended the Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference in St. Lucia. The site visits gave Astraea program officers the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the geopolitical context, funding landscape and the state of LGBTQI and queer feminist organizing in each region, as well as to deepen relationships with grantee partners, advisors and peer donors.

Photo: Intersex Human Rights Fund grantee partner Oii-Chinese. Photographer: Yeh Hsiao Chi

Reported on the state of trans and intersex funding

Together with Global Action for Trans Equality and American Jewish World Service, this October we released the findings of global surveys of intersex and trans organizations in 107 countries in two new reports, The State of Intersex Organizing and The State of Trans Organizing. Despite exponential growth in LGBTQI funding in recent years, intersex and trans groups continue to be deeply under-resourced, with more than half of trans groups and more than three-quarters of intersex groups reporting budgets of less than US $10,000. The release of these reports is just the beginning—we are now advocating with major government and foundation donors to step it up for intersex and trans communities in a big way!

 

Photo: Intersex activists at the 4th International Intersex Forum, April 2017

Made our largest cycle of grants supporting intersex organizations

On Intersex Awareness Day (26th October), we were proud to announce our third and largest cycle of grants for the Intersex Human Rights Fund, after receiving an unprecedented number of eligible new intersex-led applicants to date. The Fund’s third cycle of grantmaking totaled nearly $300,000 USD in grants to 37 intersex-led groups in 28 countries. Read more about our third cycle of Intersex Fund grantee partners here.

Photo: Participants attending the first African Intersex Meeting in South Africa in November 2017

Convened the first African Intersex Meeting in South Africa

This November, we funded and helped host the first ever regional meeting of intersex rights activists from across Southern, East and West Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting provided a rare and crucial space for discussion and network building for 22 intersex activists from different African countries. Participants released a public statement asserting their rights and autonomy as intersex people.

Photo: Our new website’s homepage at astraeafoundation.org

Unveiled our new website

In October, we officially launched our new website! Featuring an interactive globe and stories about grantee partners and donors, the new website makes it even easier to learn about our impact, get to know our grantee partners, learn more about our history and our people, and stay up-to-date on Astraea news. Take it for a spin.

Photo: An illustration from our upcoming LBQ movement highlights report 

Launched the lesbian, bi, queer and gender non-conforming activisms research project

Astraea and Mama Cash are partnering on phase one of the Philanthropic Advocacy for LBQ-Identified Women and Non-binary People Activisms project, which aims to create space for the articulation of a funding agenda for LBQ-identified women and non-binary people, to grow both the amount and quality of funding available for LBQ communities. In the coming year, we’ll be releasing a report highlighting some of the brilliant visions of freedom that LBQ activists are creating and will be engaging in formal research to track funding trends and gaps. Stay tuned!

 

Join us as we continue to support LGBTQI people and social justice in the coming year and beyond!

Astraea’s 40th Anniversary Gala

In November 2017, we honored seven leaders from across the four decades whose commitment, passion, and work inspire others and meaningfully advance LGBTQI justice in our communities around the globe at our 40th Anniversary Gala. Listen to their acceptance speeches!

On November 13, 2017, we celebrated Astraea’s 40-year history of lesbian feminist activism at our 40th Anniversary Gala in New York City. We had a great time, and relished the opportunity to honor leaders from across the four decades whose commitment, passion, and work inspire others and meaningfully advance LGBTQI justice in our communities around the globe. As each honoree accepted their award, they gave a short speech. Catch up on the speeches below!

J. Bob Alotta, Astraea’s Executive Director

The Ise Bosch Transformative Philanthropy Award

 Ise Bosch

Kobi Conaway & Andrew Owen

Naomi Sobel

The Visionary Activist Award

Katherine Acey

Indyra Mendoza

Joo-Hyun Kang

The Transformative Artist Award

Nona Hendryx

Acey Social Justice Feminist Award

Reverend Gale Jones

Astraea’s 2017 Holiday Party!

Join us on December 7th from 7:30pm-9:30pm for Astraea’s Holiday Party, as we continue celebrating our 40th Anniversary and prepare to wrap up 2017.

Join us on December 7th from 7:30pm-9:30pm for Astraea’s Holiday Party, as we continue celebrating our 40th Anniversary and prepare to wrap up 2017.

Bring your dancing shoes, as we will have on ours—DJ Sakir will be spinning music.

Please RSVP if you plan to attend!

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Thanks to everyone who attended the event! We were grateful to have everyone in the room.

View event photos

Astraea Congratulates Trans Candidates Andrea Jenkins and Dancia Roem on Election Results

Both women are openly transgender and their victories symbolize major victories on behalf of queer representation in U.S. politics.

New York, New York— The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the exclusive funder of LGBTQI organizations and individuals in the U.S. and around the globe, issued the following statement congratulating Andrea Jenkins and Danica Roem on their respective election victories to lead in Minneapolis and the state of Virginia respectively. Both women are openly transgender and their victories symbolize major victories on behalf of queer representation in U.S. politics.

“The results of Tuesday’s elections remind us that the people have a voice and they will continue to exercise it. The victories of Danica Roem and Andrea Jenkins symbolize an electoral response to the divisive rhetoric that has surrounded nearly every electoral race of the past year,” said J. Bob Alotta, Executive Director of the Astraea Foundation.

“Andrea Jenkins is the first transgender person of color elected to a major city’s governing body and Danica Roem will be first openly transgender person elected official in Virginia. Both of these women are ‘firsts’ ushering a much-needed social agenda that focuses much more on ability – in this case to lead effectively – than labels. While no one should worry that their sexuality or gender identity impacts their ability to contribute to our society politics must be actively inclusive. Queer individuals, and other underrepresented groups have particularly poignant views to offer; our voices must be heard. I am so proud of these women and look forward to many more LGBTQI victories in 2018 and beyond as others are inspired to take up the mantel and lead the next generation of activists. This election is a reminder that we should never run from our values of inclusion and justice, but rather use them as our foundation and strategy to win,” concluded Alotta.

Want to learn more about the work Astraea’s done to support trans and intersex people around the world? Check out our recent reports on The State of Trans Organizing and The State of Intersex Organizing.

#### About Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice The Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice is the only philanthropic organization working exclusively to advance LGBTQI human rights around the globe. For 40 years, we have been the only philanthropic organization working exclusively to advance LGBTQI human rights around the globe. We support brilliant and brave grantee partners in the U.S. and internationally who challenge oppression and seed change. We work for racial, economic, social, and gender justice, because everyone deserves to live their lives freely, without fear, and with dignity. Earlier this year, Astraea launched a new fund to help respond to the critical needs within the LGBTQI community in the United States, the Uprising of Love Fund.