Astraea has always supported activists and organizations working to create joy for their communities. Our grantee partners break down barriers, and work to build up strong cross-border, intergenerational, multi-gendered, and multi-racial movements.
This is critical as we continue to face a global moment of upheaval - a time of xenophobic, racist, homophobic, transphobic, neoliberal, and patriarchal policies and state practices; of the criminalization of dissent; of the violent policing of the lives and bodies of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, im/migrant, trans, and queer folks; of tighter borders and boundaries.
Over the last year, we have deepened our commitment to supporting cross-regional organizing and collective action led by lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women, and trans, intersex and and non-binary communities. We have amplified the brilliant visions and collaborative resistance of activists in 69 countries. In the U.S., we have fueled some of the most transformative organizing led by queer, trans and gender non-conforming People of Color, building resilient movements.
Astraea’s Why We Fund Intersex Activism event featuring Pidgeon Pagonis in New York City, May 2018. Credit: Astraea archives
In our recent The State of Intersex Organizing report, intersex groups reported an ongoing need for convening spaces to build community within regions to strengthen the movement. Over the last year, Astraea supported the first region-based intersex convenings in the world led by and for intersex activists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These convenings offered skills-building and strategy sessions for activists and resulted in three powerful public statements and the founding of two regional networks in Asia and Latin America and an informal network in Africa. Activists have formed new organizations out of these convenings, with some becoming Astraea grantee partners.
In 2018, grantee partners have continued to bring attention to the violations of intersex people’s human rights in their countries, across regional spaces, and international spaces like the UN. They continued advocating for the end to intersex infanticide and to non-consensual ‘normalizing’ surgeries and treatments, while supporting intersex people and their families.
Members of grantee partner Trans Queer Pueblo at a 2018 protest. Credit: Lerman Montoya
In the last year, the groups we support within the U.S. Fund have continued to resist violence and white supremacy, increase the visibility of healing justice strategies, find intersections between racial, economic, reproductive, and migrant justice movements and fight against discriminatory practices, as well as dismantling the criminal justice system.
Pushing back against this administration’s attempts to isolate our communities and rollback wins for LGBTQI communities, Astraea hosted a ‘Freedom From Violence and Criminalization’ convening in January 2018, bringing together 20 U.S. Fund grantee partners from across LGBTQ, racial, migrant, and reproductive justice movements. Grantee partners gathered for a day of lively, fruitful dialogue on strategies for resisting criminalization, creating space for exchanging strategies, building power, and cultivating of new relationships, thought partnerships, and alliances. The convening gave groups the space to consider the state of their movements, explore different ways of thinking about criminalization and gender justice, and engage in strategy sharing and brainstorming about possibilities for collaboration.
Facilitators during Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project’s workshop at Creating Change 2019 in Detroit. Credit: Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project
Supported by Astraea since their formation in 2017
The Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project was formed in response to the invisibilization of Black LGBTQIA migrants’ experiences of being undocumented, queer, and Black within migrant narratives, immigration justice, and racial justice movements. At a time when separating families has become blatant government policy in the U.S., BLMP is working to connect people, build together, and create collective safety mechanisms. Working at the local, regional, and national level to address intensifying attacks on their communities, they organize community and movement building events around the country to reduce isolation, create support systems for trans and queer Black migrants, and build leadership and local power.
Members of Asociación OTD attend a 2017 LGBTI pride march in Chile; Credit: Armando Escoffier
Supported by Astraea since 2015
Asociación OTD is a community based organization that works for the human rights of trans people (transgender, transsexuals, travestis, and intersex people) through various political and cultural interventions. The group has been able to create major impact in the country through its organizing approaches, which include community and capacity building, as well as the mobilization of LGBTI and allied communities. For the last five years, OTD has led coalition efforts around an instrumental, comprehensive national gender identity law, which reached its final approval in the Chilean Senate. The bill defines the right for trans people to obtain legal gender recognition, legal name change, and protect trans autonomy and gender expression.
International Day Against Homophobia event, May 2008, Kyrgyzstan. Credit: LGBT Organization Labrys Kyrgyzstan
Supported by Astraea since 2006
Labrys’ work represents a balance between community mobilization and empowerment, cross-border partnerships, public education, and national and international policy advocacy. The group has been instrumental to movement building across Central Asia. They actively collaborate with LGBTQ, feminist, and human rights organizations across the region, and provide capacity building and fiscal sponsorship support to lesbian and trans initiatives in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Labrys has also organized across issues to advocate for anti-discrimination legislation and equal protections for LGBTQI and other marginalized communities under the law. They have developed a manual and guidelines for affirming trans healthcare, which were signed by Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Health in January 2017. In 2018, they focused their advocacy efforts on integrating the manual into a training program for medical universities in Kyrgyzstan and training endocrinologists on the topic of hormonal therapy. Their advocacy for the comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation continues, as does their central role in building queer and trans movements across Central Asia.
Gender Dynamix’s Trans Health & Advocacy Conference in November 2011 in South Africa. Credit: Zanele Muholi
Supported by Astraea since 2007
Through their resilience and commitment to achieving legal and personal self-determination for trans and intersex people in and across the Southern Africa region, Gender Dynamix continues to set the tone for envisioning trans and intersex rights across South Africa and the continent at large. The organization is currently focused on redrafting South Africa’s gender recognition law to fully incorporate fundamental rights for diverse trans people, a win which could serve as inspiration for groups across the African content. Gender Dynamix is galvanizing, coordinating, and consolidating support across human rights movements, ensuring that protecting trans and intersex folks should be a priority for all human rights activists.
© 2019 Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice
