40.730610, -73.935242
Join us on December 14th for a fun and festive evening with Astraea board, staff, supporters and grantee partners. Catch up with old friends and connect with new ones!
We are pleased to announce that Aimée Thorne-Thomsen has joined Astraea as Interim Executive Director. Aimée is a seasoned social justice leader who brings extensive experience running community-based agencies, managing philanthropy programs, and assisting individuals in their charitable objectives. Most recently, Aimée was the Executive Director of Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP), a reproductive rights organization focused on developing the leadership of young women, especially young women of color. Her political analysis and vision is in direct alignment with Astraea’s and her experience will provide critical support to our Leadership Team during the transition process as we hire our next Executive Director.
We are delighted that Aimée is assuming this interim role to ensure that Astraea’s direction and momentum continues as a leading advocate for LGBTI people around the world.
If you are in New York on December 14th, join us as to meet Aimée and raise a glass to Katherine at our fun and festive holiday party. RSVP here.
Executive Director Search Underway
Astraeas search committee, under the leadership of Transition Committee Chair and Board Member, Surina Khan, continues its work with Gumbs + Partners in Astraea’s Executive Director search. The process is on track and we hope to make an announcement of the hire of a new permanent Executive Director in the early part of the New Year. Thank you to those that have spoken with our search firm and nominated potential candidates. For questions about the search please contact Lauren Gumbs at Gumbs + Partners. You may view the job announcement here.
Katherine Acey is a beloved, exceptional leader. A key visionary in both fundraising and grantmaking, she is regarded as an expert in the social-justice-feminist funding movement. During her 23 years as Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Katherine has left an indelible mark on philanthropy and the LGBTI movement in the U.S. and around the world. On December 15th, Katherine will be stepping down as Executive Director.
Winter 2010 eThreads just released! Read about LGBTI youth working for safe, affirming and even liberating societies for all people worldwide. Learn how to apply human rights principles in the U.S., meet two donor partners and a new staff member, and more!
Read eThreads here: www.ethreads.org
Astraea Director of Programs, Mai Kiang, is being honored by the Stonewall Community Foundation for her contributions to the LGBTI community. A visionary leader and cultural activist, Mai joins 19 other extraordinary women, including Pooja Gehi of Astraea grantee partner Sylvia Rivera Law Project, who will accept their awards on Thursday, December 2, 2010.
For more about the Stonewall Honorees and the December 2nd event, click here.
Mai Kiang is a cultural activist, born and raised under martial-law in Taiwan. Prior to serving as Director of Programs, Mai joined Astraea’s staff as the Associate Director of Grantmaking and is a past member of Astraea’s U.S. Community Funding Panel, a two-term board member and a former board chair. Throughout her career, Mai has worked extensively with grassroots queer, feminist of color, and progressive media groups. She most enjoys bringing communities together to provide a space for sharing and dialogue across disciplines, focuses and strategies. Mai arrived in New York in 1991 to join the staff of Women Make Movies, an independent feminist film distributor, and helped bring about feminist film exhibitions and productions locally and internationally. Later she joined Impact Visuals, a leftist photo cooperative where she was elected to multiple terms as the chief steward to the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers’ Union. Mai was also a part of the management team that administered an archive of a million social-issue photographs by over nine hundred photojournalists worldwide. Before joining Astraea’s staff in late 2007, she was the Special Events Manager at New York University. Mai is the co-founder and co-chair of the Institute for Tongzhi Studies, a New York-based group that supports queer artists and scholars in Chinese communities worldwide. She is also the co-convener of the 2007 Lala Institute, the first multi-region Mandarin-speaking LBT leadership camp held in mainland China.
As a staff attorney at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Pooja Gehi is among the leading legal advocates for social justice for transgender people in NYC. She represents low-income, transgender and intersex people of color in the areas of discrimination, immigration, access to government benefits, proper identification and healthcare. Pooja recently co-authored an article, Unraveling Injustice: Race and Class Impact of Medicaid Exclusions of Transition-Related Health Care for Transgender People with her fabulous co-worker, Gabriel Arkles. http://srlp.org/
Astraea grantee partner FIERCE succeeded in their campaign to name October LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month in New York City when Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed an official proclamation after nearly 100 LGBTQ youth, elected officials, and allies rallied at City Hall on October 21st to address LGBTQ youth suicides and anti-LGBTQ attacks in New York City.
FIERCE released a statement declaring, LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month is dedicated to honoring LGBTQ youth leadership and supporting the work LGBTQ youth are doing to transform their communities and their lives. In light of the tragic events that have taken place this month and since Coming Out Day is October 11, we want this October and all future Octobers to be a time we lift up and support LGBTQ youth leaders. Empowerment means being seen, heard and having the power to make the changes we need immediately.
Elected officials, community members, and allied organizations, including Astraea, endorsed FIERCEs campaign for LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month.
For more, read the FIERCE press release about the event:
LGBTQ Youth, Elected Officials and Allies Speak Out about Youth Suicides and Anti-Gay Violence
Mayor Bloomberg Releases Official Proclamation Naming October LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month in New York City
(New York, NY) Today, nearly one hundred youth, advocates, allies and elected officials gathered on the steps of City Hall as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) youth spoke out about the recent suicides and anti-gay attacks impacting their community. Youth member leaders of FIERCE, an LGBTQ youth of color-led organization, were joined by the Mayors Office and other elected officials, to release an official proclamation declaring October LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month in New York City, this year and for all coming years.
We are thrilled to have the Mayor, Speaker Quinn and other elected officials support of LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month, stated John Blasco, Organizer at FIERCE. It is crucial that we continue working together to create even more spaces for LGBTQ youth to take leadership in their communities and in their fight for justice.
FIERCE was joined at the rally by NY City Council members Daniel Dromm and Lew Fidler, and Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Youth and Community Development Susan Haskell, who presented an official Proclamation from the Mayor.
“In the many years that I and my colleagues in government and the community have been working with FIERCE, we have made great strides for New York City’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth, stated NY State Senator Tom Duane, an endorser of FIERCEs call to make October LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month. But there is much more to be done, and the recent violent homophobic attacks and suicides of LGBTQ youth only underscore the magnitude of our challenge.”
“I’m so pleased that our youth are taking control of their lives and declaring October as LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month, stated Daniel Dromm, New York City Council Member (D-Jackson Heights). We need to send a strong message that gay is good, that gay is great and that we wouldn’t want to be any other way.”
Over the past several weeks, FIERCE has been working with city and state officials and other LGBTQ organizations to build support for LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month. In light of the tragic events that have take place this month and since Coming Out Day is October 11, FIERCE released a call to action to lift up the voices and work of LGBTQ youth in New York City and across the county. To date, over 20 organizations and a number of elected officials have endorsed the call to action.
We chose empowerment because to us, empowerment means being seen, heard, and having the power to make the changes we need immediately, stated Veronica Tirado, FIERCE Youth Member. Today, FIERCE calls on our elected officials for their support. We need policy changes that ensure safe spaces in our schools and jobs. We need funding for LGBTQ youth programs and services. And we need your support in creating more safe spaces for us to be who we are without the threat of violence.
“LGBTQ Youth from New York City, like other youth across the country are reeling from the recent string of bullying, hate crimes and suicides in the news. I congratulate FIERCE for pulling together all of the participants and endorsers at today’s press conference. I join with them in declaring October LGBTQ empowerment month,” said NYC Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “In recognition of these difficulties facing our city’s youth, my office and other members of the City Council – including Council Members Danny Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer, Rosie Mendez and Lew Fidler – are calling together all LGBTQ youth groups and advocates for a roundtable meeting,” added Speaker Quinn.
“LGBTQ youth will have the opportunity to share their experiences and express their ideas for promoting greater safety and respect in our city. We will discuss ways for all parties, including government and community groups, to work together collaboratively to ensure that our youth remain proud and productive members of our city,” concluded Speaker Quinn. FIERCE will continue to build support to meet the dire needs of LGBTQ youth and ensure that LGBTQ youth are leading these change efforts.
“For us, as LGBTQ youth, the time to act is now. We know that these issues are not new. Our community faces challenges like bullying, harassment, homelessness, and lack of safe spaces and services on a daily basis,” stated Michelle Riddle, FIERCE Youth Member. “Today, we show our power as LGBTQ youth and take a stand for what we want and need—not only for our generation but for generations to come.”
##
A complete list of endorsers available online at http://www.fiercenyc.org/index.php?s=158.
FIERCE’s Statement & Call to Action available online at http://www.fiercenyc.org/index.php?s=88&op=10.
Founded in 2000, FIERCE is a membership-based organization building the leadership and power of lesbian,gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth of color in New York City. We develop politically conscious leaders who are invested in improving ourselves and our communities through youth-led campaigns, leadership development programs, and cultural expression through arts and media. FIERCE
We at Astraea are deeply saddened by the recent LGBTI youth suicides and condemn the current wave of homophobic motivated violence. Amid the outpouring of public support that is desperately needed, we know these events are symptoms of much larger problems that reverberate far beyond these individual tragedies. From the recent bombing of the Pride parade in Serbia, to a U.S. election cycle that is increasingly marred by anti-gay rhetoric, this culture of hate is inexcusable and reprehensible. But, there is a groundswell of people who are working for something different. Youth teetering on the edge need immediate support and we have young leaders speaking out and taking bold actions. Together, youth and adults can make the systemic changes in society and in our institutions that can make suicide and violence unthinkable.
Every day, Astraea grantee partners around the world are working for safe, affirming and even liberating societies for all people. Youth-led LGBTI organizations from New York to Nigeria are taking real risks to challenge the status quo and push forward for solutions that address all facets of their lives. We want to share with you two examples that we hope will inspire you to speak out and take action as well.
Astraea Grantee Partners have been speaking out:
FIERCE (New York, NY) is dedicated to building power through leadership development, artistic and cultural activism, political education and campaign development for transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, queer and questioning (TLGBTSQQ) youth of color in New York City. Astraea has endorsed FIERCEs campaign to officially designate October as LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month in New York City. Sign the petition here.
Excerpt from the FIERCE statement, which can be viewed here.
These recent incidents highlight serious issues that countless LGBTQ youth face everyday. We know that for every one story heard on the news, there are dozens more that go unreported to police, unnoticed by school officials, and ignored by the media. At the same time over these past few weeks, we’ve also experienced the resiliency and strength of our community as we’ve organized and turned out to vigils and community actions and mourned our losses together. We’ve created and received messages of hope from LGBTQ community members, allies, public officials and even celebrities. Together, we’ve raised the nation’s awareness to issues that impact us, but we must keep pushing–now is the time to take action and demand changes that address the full scope of issues impacting LGBTQ youth. We need solutions that go beyond messages of hope. We need concrete changes that positively impact the daily lives of LGBTQ youth, particularly youth of color whose voices and needs go unheard far too often. We need our government officials to pass policy changes that ensure safes spaces in our schools and jobs, increase funding for LGBTQ youth services and prioritize creating more safe spaces for LGBTQ youth to congregate and organize together in order to take leadership in our efforts for safety and respect.
Gender JUST (Chicago, IL) is a multiracial and multigenerational youth-led organization working to support all LGBT youth in Chicago.
Excerpt from the Gender JUST statement, which can be viewed here.
While youth violence is a very serious issue in our schools, the real bullies we face in our schools take the form of systemic violence perpetrated by the school system itself: a sex education that ignores queer youth and a curriculum that denies our history, a militarized school district with cops in our schools, a process of privatization which displaces us, increasing class sizes which undermine our education and safety. The national calls to end the violence against queer youth completely ignore the most violent nature of our educational experience. Our greatest concern is that there is a resounding demand for increased violence as a reaction, in the form of Hate Crime penalties which bolster the Prison-Industrial-Complex and Anti-bullying measures which open the door to zero-tolerance polices and reinforce the school-to-prison pipeline. At Gender JUST, we call for a transformative and restorative response that seeks solutions to the underlying issues, takes into account the circumstances surrounding violence, and works to change the very culture of our schools and communities. Gender JUST had a momentous victory towards this end in early 2010: through grassroots youth-led organizing, Gender JUST developed a Grievance Procedure based on the principles of Restorative Justice for Chicago Public Schools. ”
After being ejected by security from a North Carolina mall for a mild display of affection, Caitlin Breedlove, co-director of Astraea grantee partner Southerners on New Ground, and her girlfriend took the story public. Caitlin appeared on multiple news outlets, and that weekend, hundreds rallied at the mall to protest homophobia.
“A lot of people have joked that they messed with the wrong gays, and while we appreciate that, we want to live in a country where ALL marginalized people LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, people of color, immigrants, poor peopleare ALL the wrong people to mess with because we understand and harness the power of coming together to demand our dignity,” said Caitlin Breedlove in her speech at the rally.
The speech reaffirmed the right to free expression and announced a victory: the security force agreed to hold trainings for their staff to address all kinds of discrimination including on the basis of race, gender presentation, sexual orientation, class and ability.
CNN coverage of the protest:
CNN Headline News Joy Beher Show interview
CNN
Additional Press:
Channel 14 News
Security guard suspended over same-sex discrimination
QNotes
Cameron Village mall regrets alleged discrimination toward lesbian couple
ABC News
Lesbians told to leave shopping center
CBS News
Lesbian couple say they were forced to leave Cameron Village
Feministing
Queer couple forced to leave Raleigh NC shopping center after kiss
EXTENDED DUE DATE: The Astraea Visual Arts Fund, which promotes the work of contemporary lesbian visual artists who show artistic merit and share Astraea’s commitment to LGBTI visibility and social justice, is accepting applications now through October 15th. The fund will make three grants of $2,500 to artists working in an array of media including sculpture, painting, prints, mixed media and works on paper.
Two grants are supported by an endowed gift from founding mother and artist Joan Watts. A third grant to an artist west of the Mississippi is made possible by Skip’s Sappho Fund, established at Astraea by a bequest from Skip Neal, a lesbian artist who enjoyed a successful career in museum exhibition. The awards are determined by a distinguished panel of artists and art professionals.
This year, Astraea is introducing an online application for the Astraea Visual Arts Fund.
Want to meet and rub elbows with 400+ women in one night?
Friday, September 17th, 2010 
6:00 – 9:00PM
7:00PM and 7:30PM
Leo Bar at Asia Society
725 Park Avenue
(at 70th Street)
New York, NY
Leo Bar is a cash bar with no cover charge.
Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool
September 9, 2010January 2, 2011
