Fund: U.S. Fund

Power Inside

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.

Out in the Open (formerly known as Green Mountain Crossroads)

Green Mountain Crossroads (GMC) connects rural LGBTQ people to build community, visibility, knowledge, and power through social events, support groups, political education workshops and study groups, and multi-media projects.

Out in the Open (formerly known as Green Mountain Crossroads) connects rural LGBTQ people to build community, visibility, knowledge, and power through social events, support groups, political education workshops and study groups, and multi-media projects. Our work is guided by these values: Rural can be Queer, Intersections, Celebrating Resistance, Connections, Anti-racism, and Joy. We envision a resilient community of communities that works toward the transformation of our economic, social, and political relationships. GMC lifts up and centers the voices and experiences of rural LGBTQ people at popular events like Played Out! LGBTQ Game Night, Trans Day of Remembrance & Resistance, Earth Gay, Out in the Open Summit for rural & small town LGBTQ folks, and Friday Night Group for LGBTQ youth. We deepen our understanding of the power of rural LGBTQ people through longer and broader projects like our rural LGBTQ racial justice study group and rural LGBTQ oral history project, currently documenting the story of Andrew’s Inn, a gay bar in nearby Bellows Falls Vermont from 1973-1985. We believe that collective liberation for all people is possible and that building the power of rural LGBTQ people across issues, identities, and generations, is critical in the movement toward justice.

Queer the Land

Queer the Land is a collaborative project based on a partnership between the Queer and Trans Pan-African Exchange (QTPAX) and Building Autonomy and Safety for Everyone (BASE), grounded in the self-determination of queer and trans people of color and the vision of collectively owning our land and labor.

Queer the Land is a collaborative project based on a partnership between the Queer and Trans Pan-African Exchange (QTPAX) and Building Autonomy and Safety for Everyone (BASE), grounded in the self-determination of queer and trans people of color and the vision of collectively owning our land and labor. Queer the Land is working to establish a cooperative network and build a solidarity economy that is anchored by a community space and transitional housing which prioritizes the needs of QTPOC in their communities. This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.

Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition

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.

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.

Black Trans Media

Black Trans Media is a community-driven black trans-led organization based out of Brooklyn, NY, existing to shift and reframe the value and worth of all black trans peoples by addressing the intersections of racism and transphobia.

Black Trans Media is a community-driven black trans-led organization based out of Brooklyn, NY, existing to shift and reframe the value and worth of all black trans peoples by addressing the intersections of racism and transphobia. Black Trans Media is centered in the power of media, arts and storytelling to support leadership, organizing and reflect narratives of resistance that are culturally black and trans. This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.

Black and Brown Workers Cooperative

The mission of the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative is to fight for the social and economic liberation of the black and brown LGBTQIA worker.

The mission of the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative is to fight for the social and economic liberation of the black and brown LGBTQIA worker. They were birthed out of the HIV/AIDS non-profit sector as a result of injustices such as hiring and firing practices, recruitment strategies, salary distribution, and professional investment happening within a vacuum, while simultaneously marginalizing those black and brown LGBTQIA people who they profess to serve.

This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.

The Knights and Orchids Society

The Knights and Orchids Society (TKO) is a southern centered grassroots startup founded and led by black, queer, transgender and gender non-conforming people fighting at the intersections of racial and gender justice.

The Knights and Orchids Society (TKO) is a southern centered grassroots startup founded and led by black, queer, transgender and gender non-conforming people fighting at the intersections of racial and gender justice. They are a direct support program that provides resources to rural and isolated areas of Alabama where folks are having difficulty achieving resources to reach transition goals. Their mission is to improve the quality of life within the LGBTQ+ community by creating safe spaces that empower, educate, and unite queer people of color in rural areas.

This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.

Peacock Rebellion

Peacock Rebellion uses comedy and storytelling to examine structural violence and to heal QTPOC communities from the trauma of experiencing multiple forms of oppression throughout their lives.

Photo: Lexi Adsit at Peacock Rebellion’s Brouhaha: Transgender People of Color Comedy Festival, June 2017

Peacock Rebellion uses comedy and storytelling to examine structural violence and to heal QTPOC communities from the trauma of experiencing multiple forms of oppression throughout their lives. They connect queer and trans communities of color across racial lines to build collective power for QTPOC liberation. This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.