All around the world, LGBTQI+ people are experiencing the impacts of fundamentalist, conservative, fascist, nationalist, white supremacist, far-right, anti-gender, and anti-rights forces. Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is proud to announce our latest cycle of International Fund grantee partners with new groups from Kazakhstan, Guatemala, Honduras, and Ukraine. This year so far, we have awarded over $1.2 million to 64 groups in 38 countries. The International Fund supports grassroots groups led by LGBTQI+ communities working for progressive social change, addressing oppression based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression who are also simultaneously advancing the work of racial, economic, and gender justice.

The Astraea Foundation’s International Fund covers six regional portfolios: Africa, Asia & the Pacific, Caribbean, Europe, Caucasus & Central Asia, Latin America; and South West Asia with grantmaking spread across two cycles. Organizations to support in this cycle were selected across four of these regional portfolios: Africa; Europe, Caucasus & Central Asia; Asia & the Pacific; and Latin America.

The many incredible grantee partners in our current International Fund grant cycle include:

• Swaziland – Lesbian Bisexual Queer Rights Swaziland (LBQRS) was formed as a support group for lesbian women who are survivors of corrective rape and lesbian women who were forced into marriages. LBQRS engages with traditional and community leaders in rural areas to strengthen the voice of LBQ women in rural Swaziland, support survivors of corrective rape, and ensure that rural perspectives are included in the broader LGBTQI+ movement.

• Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative (Feminita) was established in 2014 as a grassroots collective of activists dedicated to women’s rights, with a particular focus on lesbian, bisexual, queer, and trans women and women with disabilities. Their efforts foster transformation across social, political, economic, and cultural areas. In 2024, Feminita will be hosting the 3rd European Lesbian* Conference (EL*C) in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

• Thailand – Thai Transgender Alliance (Thai TGA) was founded in 2010, and advocates for the quality of life and rights of transgender and gender-diverse people through public advocacy, research, education, network building, and media advocacy strategies. Recently, Thai TGA has focused on capacity building to develop leadership among younger activists from trans-masculine and non-binary communities.

• Guatemala – Mujeres con Capacidad de Soñar is a group of women and non-binary people with disabilities and allies founded in 2018. Mujeres is a space for self-support and self-help with a focus on supporting young indigenous women with disabilities. They work to increase access to sexual and reproductive rights and promote awareness of oppression in terms of sexuality and gender identity. Members value the space to explore their identities and some now openly introduce themselves as part of the LBT community.

With the aim of supporting LGBTQI+ rights across the globe, the International Fund selects grassroots LGBTQI+ movements focused on context-specific tactics, cultural change, and liberation. Through flexible, trust-based, and feminist funding principles, the International Fund continues to support lesbians, bisexual and queer women, non-binary and transgender people, intersex people, and allied communities to challenge oppression and claim their human rights.

2023 Cycle A International Fund Grantee Partners*

*Note: We do not publicize a number of our courageous grantee partners because of security threats they face in their local contexts, so organizations may be missing from this list.

Africa:

Artists for Recognition and Acceptance AfRA, Kenya 

Elles Cameroon, Carmeroon 

Empowered Ladies Initiative for Equality, Kenya 

Jinsiangu, Kenya 

Ladies’s Voice, Togo 

LBQ Education Health and Advocacy, LEHA, Kenya 

Lesbian Bisexual Queer Rights Swaziland, Swaziland 

Mothers Haven

Parents, Families & Friends of the South African Queers, South Africa 

QET Inclusion, Cote d’Ivoire 

West African Trans Forum, West Africa 

Asia & the Pacific:

Asia Feminist LBQ Network, Regional  

Point of View, India 

Thai Transgender Alliance (Thai TGA), Thailand 

Sompurna, Bangladesh 

Europe, Caucasus & Central Asia:

European Sex Worker Alliance, Regional

Feminita, Kazakhstan

Labris Belgrade, Serbia

LBQ Central Asian Network, Central Asia

Lesbian* Resistance, Georgia

LGBIQA Association Okvir, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ride Side NGO, Armenia

Trans-Fuzja Foundation, Poland

Latin America:

Brújula Intersexual, Mexico 

Cattrachas, Honduras 

Chola Contravisual, Peru 

Diversidades Trans Masculinas, Peru 

Mujeres con Capacidad de Soñar a Colores, Guatemala 

Taller de Comunicacion Mujer, Ecuador