Story Type: Events and Action

Join us for an evening of art, conversation, and community-building in NYC

Astraea, Ford Foundation and WORD*ROCK*&SWORD invite you to…

BEYOND THE HASHTAG: Using Art and Technology to Combat the Criminalization of our Communities

Join us in Manhattan on Tuesday, September 15, beginning at 6:00pm, for a dynamic evening of performance, conversation and community building featuring artist-activists whose work powerfully calls for the safety, well-being and self-determination of LGBTQI and communities of color worldwide. Hear from LGBTQI activists utilizing art and technology to further the movement. This event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Reserve your ticket now.

Facilitated by Art of Change Ford Fellow, renown musician, producer, and Word*Rock*&Sword founder Toshi Reagon; including a live performance by acclaimed Cuban hip-hop group Las Krudas Cubensi; also featuring Ashley Yates (Black Lives Matter), Chris Bilal (Streetwise and Safe) and J. Bob Alotta (Astraea’s Executive Director) in a discussion on mobilizing resources to build a transnational network of activists and technologists advancing human rights.

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Time: Cocktails at 6:00 pm; Panel and Performances to follow at 7:00 pm

Venue: Ford Foundation Auditorium, 320 East 43rd Street New York, NY 10017

We are continually impressed by people who are using technology and art to resist and respond to the policing and criminalization of LGBTQI individuals. Join us for an engaging and inspiring evening – RSVP now! To stay up to date on the latest event details, including performers, panelists, and more, be sure to check ou.t #BeyondTheHashtag on Facebook.

PRESENTED BY:

Word*Rock*&Sword, a week-long festival celebrating women’s lives, creativity and activism;

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the only U.S. based foundation solely funding LGBTI grassroots activism around the world and unapologetically supporting movement building at the intersections of race, gender and economic justice. We believe art and technology are powerful tools for resistance, inspiration and transforming culture: all critical components of lasting justice movements; and,

Ford Foundation, an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization working with visionary people on the frontlines of social change worldwide.

2015 Fueling the Frontlines Awards

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Honoring Elyse D. Cherry and Daunasia Yancey
and celebrating the life and legacy of Jean Hardisty.

With special musical guests, Climbing PoeTree

Tickets and sponsorship opportunities available online here!

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The Fueling the Frontlines Awards celebrate local leaders whose commitment, passion and work inspire others and meaningfully advance LGBTQI justice in our communities.

Performing on the night will be award-winning, genre-bending musical artists Climbing PoeTree, whose work has been described by Professor Angela Davis as “urgent, powerful, and beautiful.”

Fueling the Frontlines is the Astraea Foundation’s 3-year, $20 million campaign to provide critical resources and support to grassroots LGBTQI activists and organizations across the globe. The Campaign supports activism and action in areas where the need for resources is greatest, with Astraea’s support often representing the first major infusion of funding for a vast majority of our grantee partners. Campaign supporters are individuals, institutions, government agencies, donor alliances and for-profit companies committed to achieving justice, respect and equality for everyone. We invite you to join us in this work.

Astraea & FRIDA Reception for LGBTQI and Young Feminist Activism

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Join the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund in celebrating LGBTQI and young feminist activism around the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)!

Come to the Astraea office on Tuesday, March 10th to meet and connect with Astraea and FRIDA’s grantee partners, allies and communities.

Join us from 6:30 – 8:30 for an informal reception, with a short program at 7:30 pm.

Astraea Grantee Partners at Creating Change in Denver 2015

Their work against the criminalization and militarization of LGBTQI people of color communities and queer and trans migrants in the U.S is timely, urgent and courageous.

 

Astraea at Creating Change 2015!

Below is a list of what Astraea grantee partners* are up to at Creating Change! Check out the many opportunities to see and learn from them throughout the conference. Astraea is proud to support the work of our U.S. grantee partners. Their work against the criminalization and militarization of LGBTQI people of color communities and queer and trans migrants in the U.S is timely, urgent and courageous.

We also want to congratulate Carlos Padilla from the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project from United We Dream for being awarded the “Leadership on Immigration Reform” award.

Creating Change 2015 Schedule Highlights

Thursday, February 5, 9-6pm

Long day Institutes:

From Stonewall to Stop and Frisk: Policing and criminalization of LGBTQ communities

This Institute will explore the current moment and historical legacy of policing and criminalization of LGBTQ communities. “Policing” comes in many different forms. Policing appears as a larger systemic structure of control and violence against the self determination we seek over our bodies. Participants will discuss patterns of policing, police violence and criminalization of LGBTQ communities across the country. The Institute will highlight various campaigns and organizing models across the country to provide resource sharing and tools for participants to organize against policing and criminalization in their communities.

Organized by: BreakOUT!*, Lambda Legal, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Native Youth Sexual Health Network, PrYSM*, and Streetwise and Safe*

Transgender Self-Empowerment: Building Communities for Resilience, Safety, Health, and Life

In this Day Long Institute, we will explore community building across race, class, and cultural barriers to assist both individuals and the community at large in being resilient in the face of systematic oppressions and violence. We will unpack different community building models traditionally used outside the LGBT community and others. The hope and intent is to be practical as well as about sharing analysis and ideas so that there are “take aways” for everyone to improve community building.

Organized by: Kylar Broadus, Senior Public Policy Counsel, Trans Civil Rights Project, National LGBTQ Task Force. Presenters: Cecilia Chung, Transgender Law Center; Milan Alexander, BreakOUT*; Bamby Salcedo, Trans Latina Coalition; Elliot Fukui, Audre Lorde Project*; Danny Kirchoff, Transgender Law Center; Arianna Lint, SunServe; Andrea Jenkins, Senior Policy Aide for Minneapolis City Councilmember Elizabeth Glidden and Trans People of Color Coalition; Mara Keisling, National Center for Transgender Equality; Kris Hayashi, Transgender Law Center; Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, National Center for Transgender Equality; Tiq Milan, GLAAD; and Gabriel Foster, Trans Justice Project.

Workshops:

Friday, February 6, 10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

POC & Indigenous Traditions of Giving

Surviving and Thriving • Intermediate

What are our experiences and relationships to giving and fundraising as people of color and indigenous communities within the conditions of white supremacy? How can we engage our own communities and build effective alliances with allies to resource our collective survival and liberation? This workshop, co-designed by FIERCE and the Audre Lorde Project, will include storytelling, and games as we map our traditions of giving, share current strategies, and lessons learned within our communities and movements. Presenters: Cara Page, Organizer, Audre Lorde Project*, New York, NY; Alok Vaid-Menon Communications and Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator, Audre Lorde Project, New York, NY; Krystal Portalatin, Co-Director, FIERCE, New York, NY

Friday, February 6, 3PM – 4:30PM

Challenging Institutional Power

Community Organizing • All Audiences

This workshop will tell the stories of how presenters have confronted institutions of power in order to win progress and will explore how workshop participants can do the same thing in their own communities and do so with limited resources. Participants should expect to analyze the barriers to progress in their home communities and to create a rubric for how to interrupt and redirect those systems of power. Presenters: Angela Peoples, Co-Director, GetEQUAL Washington, DC; Gregory Cendana, Director, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Washington, DC; Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, Deputy Managing Director, United We Dream*, Washington, DC; Charlene Carruthers, Director, Black Youth Project, Chicago, IL

The Queer Left: Strategies Going Forward

Fundraising • Fundamentals

We will share lessons, and critical strategies that are working to resource the Queer Left. We will explore questions of how do we resource our longevity? What are the roles of allies and the roles of people of color in giving and fundraising for our collective survival and liberation? What are fundraising strategies that build effective alliances? We will explore the larger fractures within our movements caused by competition, co-optation and liberal frame. Presenters: Caitlin Breedlove, Co-Director, Southerners on New Ground*, Atlanta, GA; Alok Vaid-Menon Communications and Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator, The Audre Lorde Project*, New York, NY; Cara Page, Executive Director, The Audre Lorde Project, New York, NY

Queering Healthcare in the Southwest

Health • All Audiences

This workshop will provide participants with strategies led by Queer and Trans* people of color to increase access LGBTQ people have to a full range of healthcare including: reproductive/sexual health, birth, parenting and nursing support, and midwifery models of care. Participants will identify resources and barriers to healthcare in their own communities, and envision the inclusive spaces they want to see. Participants will also come away with concrete community advocacy tools, provider education strategies, and community health care assessment models they can utilize to shift policy and culture to build culturally safe access to healthcare. Presenters: Denicia Cadena, Communications and Cultural Strategy Director, Young Women United, Albuquerque, NM; Cecilia Kluding-Rodriguez, Branching Seedz of Resistance*, Denver CO

Queering Immigration

Immigration • All Audiences

From local campaigns to stop the criminalization of immigrant people of color, to advocating for federal reforms on immigration and deportations, Queer folks have been central to advancing migrant and immigrant rights, as well as unprecedented intersectional movement wins. As more and more LGBTQ organizations are building campaigns to intervene on Police-Immigration [ICE] collaborations, racial profiling, and fight to expand immediate relief measures like DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), it’s imperative we come together to strengthen our shared strategies. Join us to learn more about key lessons from the ways we’re helping to advance sexual liberation, migrant / immigrant rights and racial justice unity struggles, and find ways to connect! Presenters: Pabitra Benjamin, Director of Organizing, NQAPIA, Washington, DC; Salem Acuña, Virginia organizer, Southerners On New Ground / SONG*, Atlanta, GA

Friday, February 6, 4:45 PM – 6:15 PM

Film Screening: Out in the Night

Plaza Ballroom Section A

Out in the Night is a documentary that tells the story of a group of young friends, African American lesbians who are out one hot August night in 2006 in the gay friendly neighborhood of New York City. They are all in their late teens and early twenties and come from a low-income neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. Two of the women are the focus: gender non-conforming Renata Hill, a single mother with a soft heart and keen sense of humor, and petite femme Patreese Johnson, a shy and tender poet. As they and their friends walk under the hot neon lights in the West Village, an older man sexually and violently confronts them. The women defend themselves as a fight begins, captured by security cameras nearby. The man yanks out hair from one woman’s head and chokes Renata. Patreese pulls a knife from her purse and swings at him. Strangers jump in to defend the women and the fight escalates. As the fight comes to an end, all get up and walk away. But 911 has been called and the man involved has been stabbed. Police swarm to the scene as their radios blast out warning of a gang attack. The women are rounded up and charged with gang assault, assault and attempted murder. Three of the women plead guilty. But Renata, Patreese, and two others claim their innocence. They are called a “Gang of Killer Lesbians” by the media. In activist circles they become known as The New Jersey 4. Following the screening, a discussion will be led by director Blair Dorosh-Walther, Renata Hill of the New Jersey 4, and Krystal Portalatin of FIERCE. Written/directed by Blair Dorosh-Walther. 58 minutes. (USA/2014)

Movement Strategies Healing Justice

Surviving and Thriving • All Audiences

This conversation will ground us in the historical context of healing justice both inside of social movements (eg. prison abolition movement, environmental and disability justice) and responding to the systemic violence of the medical industrial complex as a means of controlling the bodies of people of color and our communities, specifically queer and trans bodies. We will then explore the concepts of “self care” and “collective wellness” practices as transformational and necessary for our organizing strategies and survival. As well, we will share examples of practice within our movement building that have included or centered a healing justice lens in our organizing strategies. Presenters: Susan Raffo, Minneapolis, MN; Cara Page, Executive Director, Audre Lorde Project*, New York, NY; Anjali Taneja, Co-Founder, CureThis.org

Saturday, February 7, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM

Queers In Detention-Stopping Deportations

Immigration • All Audiences

QUIP, a program of United We Dream, addresses the issue of criminalization and incarceration of UndocuQueers and offer a movement building and liberation strategy that Dreamers have used to create a united front in resisting this deportation machine. Presenters: Carlos Padilla, QUIP* Coordinator, United We Dream, Washington, DC; Carolina Canizalez, END Coordinator, United We Dream, San Antonio, TX; Daniela Hernandez, QUIP END National Lead, NC QUIP, Charlotte, NC; Cynthia Domenzain, QUIP END National Lead, AZ QUIP*, Phoenix, AZ

Rainbow Warriors: Lifting Up Queer and Trans Youth Leaders

Youth • All Audiences Learn about a national queer and trans youth of color-led culture shift campaign on queer and trans youth resiliency. Members of the Strong Families’ RAD (Revolutionizing a Dream) Youth Movement share how their base of queer and trans youth leaders and allies have launched a campaign to counter the narrative surrounding queer and trans youth of color as victims, at-risk or powerless and lift up stories of creativity and resilience. Presenters: Quita Tinsley, Youth Organizer, SPARK Reproductive Justice Now, Atlanta, GA; Eleanor Dewey, Co- Executive Director, COAVP: Branching Seedz of Resistance*, Denver, CO; Denicia Cadena, Communications and Cultural Strategy Director, Young Women Unitied, Albequerque, NM; Nathaniel Faulk, Leadership Development/ Healing Justice, BreakOUT!*

Movement Fam Across Colleges & Communities

College Campus Issues and Organizing for Students • All Audiences

Working to create change on college campuses and within communities can often be an isolating experience. Not only do queer activists face institutions and community members hostile or apathetic to their survival needs, we often find ourselves lacking tangible movement family to lift us up and catch us when we fall. This workshop targets that need for movement building among young activists by examining strategies for cross-campus, cross-regional, and cross-issue solidarity among young people. Presenters: Jon Hoadley, President, Badlands Strategies, Kalamazoo, MI; Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, Deputy Managing Director, United We Dream*, Tampa, FL; Erik Lampmann, Klagsburn Outreach Fellow, Alliance for Justice, Washington, DC; Marion Humphrey, Fellowship Program Manager, People For the American Way Foundation, Washington, DC

Criminal Justice System: Organizing & Engaging the LGBT Community

Community Organizing • All Audiences

Have your communities been overly policed/harassed by law enforcement or treated unfairly in detention facilities? Join us for a panel discussion and advocacy planning on how to mobilize against unfair treatment of LGBT people interacting with the criminal justice system. Presenters: Joey Hernandez, Community Engagement and Policy Advocate, ACLU of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA; Chip Charles, Skadden Fellow, ACLU LGBT Project, New York, NY; Jorge Gutierrez, National Coordinator, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement*, Los Angeles, CA; Christopher Argyros, Project Manager, Anti-Violence Project, Los Angeles LGBT Center, Los Angeles, CA

Saturday, February 7, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM

Trans and Queer Immigrant Rights Direct Action Organizing: A Case Study

Immigration • All Audiences

This workshop will highlight the current momentum and importance of intersectional organizing between LGBTQ and immigrants rights across the country. Attendees will be trained on direct action organizing as a tool/tactic to push for pro-LGBTQ and immigrant rights policies and legislation. The workshop will look at a trans and queer civil disobedience action that took place in May 2014 in Santa Ana, CA as a case study. Currently, the Santa Ana city jail includes an LGBTQ pod where LGBTQ undocumented immigrants are held. Attendees will engage in skill-sharing and learn about the process of organizing an effective direct action in order to advance a message and demands. Also, the workshop will present attendees with a model to ensure that communities most affected by issues take front center and are part of the strategy and organizing process from beginning to end. Presenters: Marco Castro-Bojorquez, Community Educator, Lambda Legal, Los Angeles, CA; Jorge Gutierrez, Director, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement*, Los Angeles, CA; Isa Noyola, Community Advocate, El/La Para TransLatinas*, San Francisco, CA

Saturday, February 7, 4:45 PM – 6:15 PM

Our Community Is Our Campaign

People of Color • All Audiences

In this workshop participants will get a better understanding of how queer justice looks like through media justice. Participants will be lead through the process of creating a queer people of color campaign through the usage of in-person surveying, photography, and videography. Participants will get an insight on how to build and maintain cross racial and intergenerational organizing, through lessons learned and best practices on how to create culturally specific spaces and making sure those who are most impacted lead. Presenters: Zon Moua, Community Organizer, Freedom Inc*, Madison, WI; Monica Adams, Community Organizer, Freedom Inc, Madison, WI; Kayleb Her, Freedom Inc, Madison, WI; True Yee Thao, Freedom Inc, Madison, WI

Know Your Rights, Get Your Rights

Youth • All Audiences

In this workshop participants will learn about a growing national network of LGBTQ youth-serving organizations, Get Yr Rights, who are doing “know your rights” work around youth interactions with law enforcement. We will focus on three projects Get Yr Rights has developed over the last year, including a website, policy toolkit and curriculum. Participants will learn how to navigate the online database of KYR tools and tactics, as well as how to use the policy toolkit, which highlights the strategies of organizers in achieving effective change. The final project discussed in this workshop will include interactive role-plays in which participants will have the opportunity to act out portions of the KYR curriculum, as well as ask questions and share experiences from their own work. Presenters: Mitchyll Mora, Researcher and Campaign Staff, Streetwise and Safe (SAS)*, Brooklyn, NY; Andrea Ritchie, Coordinator, Streetwise and Safe (SAS), New York, NY; Wes Ware, Director, BreakOUT!*, New Orleans, LA

Astraea Denver House Party

Join us Tuesday, February 3, 2015 from 6-8 pm at the home of Fran and Anna Simon for an evening of great conversation, wine, and dessert with Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice’s Executive Director, J. Bob Alotta. Learn about Astraea’s unique history, core values, and vision for fueling a global campaign for LGBTQI rights.

The address is: 1705 17th Street, Suite 200 Denver, CO 80202.

February 3rd promises to be a wonderful evening. We hope to see you there.

Warmly,

The Denver house party host committee
(In formation as of 1/6/15)

Cynthia Beard, Sarah Burgamy, Judy Calhoun & Cheryl Weil, Courtney Cuff, Jennifer Eyl & Maggie Martin-Eyl, Kirk Fordham & Mike Cevarre, State Representative Alec Garnett & Emily Garnett, Leslie Herod, Katherine Pease, Morris Price, Leah & Rachel Pryor-Lease, Jean Saul & Carla Ficke, Pamela Scharf & Mona Lundy, Debbie Scheer, Tea Schook & Amy Berk, Alex Sheldon, Fran Simon & Anna Simon, State Senator Pat Steadman, Kyle Velte, Nancy Wadsworth, Hope Wisneski

Meet the Activist: Trans, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project

Please join us at Astraea on Friday, January 6 from 12:00-1:00pm for a discussion with San Francisco based grantee partner Trans, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP.) We will hear updates from Wazi Maret, Development and Administration Coordinator at TGIJP about their prison abolition organizing strategies, and some reflections about what it means for TGI movements to organize in the current political moment.

TGI Justice Project is a group of transgender, gender variant and intersex people—inside and outside of prisons, jails and detention centers—organizing for liberation from systemic violence and oppression, for prison abolition, and for racial and economic justice.

Friday, January 6th, 12:00-1:00pm
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
116 East 16th Street, 7th Floor, NY, NY 10003
Event is wheelchair accessible. Lunch will be provided.

RSVP by email: rsvp@astraeafoundation.org

Click here to read more about TGIJP.

Held as intimate gatherings at our office, Astraea’s Meet the Activist series provides a unique opportunity to learn about the work of LGBTQI activists and movements around the world.

Celebrate Pride with Astraea

Celebrating Pride in New York City? We’ve got just the party for you. Have a cocktail with us and then hit the dance floor at LAID BK Pride Party!

The Last Ever: LAID DECADE BK PRIDE 2014

Saturday, June 14th 2014
The Bell House | 149 7th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215

6:30-8:30pm Pre-party cocktail reception
8:30pm-4am LAID BK PRide Party

TICKETS!
$50 | Click here for tkts to Astraea cocktail reception + LAID party
$10 | Click here for tkts to LAID party only

DJs Nasty ESQ, ROZE ROYZE, NOA D, DESIGNER IMPOSTER,
& WHITNEY DAY!
Performance by: PEOPLE AT PARTIES!

LAID BK Pride Party is LAID’s very last party of a decade benefiting Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, YES Drop-In Center, and the Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation.

Meet the Activist: Vikalp

Join Astraea Tuesday for a conversation on community building and organizing in the LBTI community in Gujarat, India, with Maya Sharma and Indira Pathak of Vikalp.

Meet the Activist: Vikalp

Tuesday, May 27, 2014, 6:00-7:30pm

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
116 East 16th Street, 7th Floor, NY, NY 10003
Event is wheelchair accessible.

Held as intimate gatherings at our office, Astraea’s Meet the Activist series provides a unique opportunity to learn about the work of LGBTQI activists and movements around the world.

 

MORE ABOUT THE ACTIVISTS

Indira Pathak is an activist with a long history of grassroots work with marginalized communities, from forming a successful co-operative amongst the Dalit community in Dhandhuka, Ahmedabad, to taking up court battles in support of workers whose health conditions were deliberately misdiagnosed by the government. Vikalp emerged as a women’s group when Pathak and her colleagues came together to address the marginalization of women’s issues. Under her leadership, Vikalp has since become a critical space for LBTI people in Gujarat.

Maya Sharma identifies as a feminist grassroots activist. She has worked on labor and women’s rights issues. Her activism finds expression in her writings – on single women, labor rights and stories of women loving women. She also currently works with Vikalp.

Vikalp was established in 1996 and is based in Baroda. Vikalp’s programs prevent violence against women and the marginalization of women’s issues in the right wing state of Gujarat. Their programs include coordinating a community-run women’s court in Padra, where rural women serve as juries and independently settle cases of rape, widow compensation, domestic violence, property, child custody and other disputes. In 2003, they created Parma, a project that works to protect and promote the human rights of people with non-normative genders and sexualities, particularly working class queer women and trans men from urban, rural and tribal regions. Parma engages in base-building and organizing, provides crisis support and counseling to LBTI people leaving situations of family violence & forced marriage, and runs training and consultancy programs for the community and broader society. They are the only organization in the conservative state that takes up LBTI issues and one of the very few organizations in India that reaches queer women and trans men from rural & tribal communities.

2014 Fueling the Frontlines Awards

 

WE’RE SOLD OUT! This year’s Awards are sold out, but there are still opportunities to celebrate the honorees and support Astraea’s critical work. Please consider making a donation in honor or memory of one of the honorees, or sponsoring tickets for local activists. 

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The 2014 Fueling the Frontlines Awards will take place on Friday, May 16, 2014, at Mayne Stage (1328 W Morse Ave) in Chicago, IL.
[Get Directions]

Event Schedule
6:30pm – Sponsor Cocktail and Hors D’oeuvres Reception
7:15pm – All Ticket-Holder Cocktail and Hors D’oeuvres Reception
7:45pm – Awards Presentation & performance by Special Musical Guest Toshi Reagon

Honorees and Performers
This year’s awards celebrate the life and legacy of Vernita Gray, as well as honor longtime Chicago activists Tracy Baim and Julio Rodriguez. Special musical guest Toshi Reagon will also perform.

Event Committee (In formation)
Angela Barnes & Sofia Anastopoulos
Hope Barrett
Jim Bennett & Terry Vanden Hoek
Maia Lis Benson
Amy Bloom
Jennifer Brier & Kat Hindmand
Alderman James Cappleman
Evette Cardona & Mona Noriega
Kayron & C.C. Carter-Fortenberry
State Representative Kelly Cassidy & Kelley Quinn
Cathy Cohen & Beth Richie
Paul Fairchild
State Representative Sara Feigenholz
Mel Ferrand
Dalila Fridi & Elizabeth McKnight
Vivian Gonzalez
Kathy Guzman & Debbie Sciortino
Jessica Halem
State Representative Greg Harris
Alma Izquierdo & Michelle Figueroa
Michael A. Leppen
Lisa Martinez
Alderman Deb Mell & Christin Baker
Mary Morten & Willa Taylor
Jane M. Saks & Emma Ruby-Sachs
Dr.  Nan Schaffer & Karen Dixon
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
Alexandra Silets
The Reverend Stan J. Sloan
State Senator Heather Steans & Leo Smith
Modesto Tico Valle
Jackie Weinberg

 

 Honorees 

Tracy Baim Tracy Baim is publisher and executive editor at Windy City Media Group, which produces Windy City Times, Nightspots, and other gay media in Chicago. She co-founded Windy City Times in 1985 and Outlines newspaper in 1987. She has won numerous gay community and journalism honors, including the Community Media Workshop’s Studs Terkel Award in 2005. She started in Chicago gay journalism in 1984 at GayLife newspaper, one month after graduating with a news-editorial degree from Drake University.

Baim is the editor and co-author of Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America (2012), a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and a Top 10 selection from the American Library Association GLBT Round Table.

She is the author of Obama and the Gays: A Political Marriage (2010, Prairie Avenue Productions). She is also the co-author and editor of Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City’s Gay Community (2008, Agate), the first comprehensive book on Chicago’s gay history (the companion website is ChicagoGayHistory.org); and author of Where the World Meets, a book about Gay Games VII in Chicago (2007, Lulu.com—). Baim served as co-vice chair of the Gay Games board). Her most recent books include a novel, The Half Life of Sgt. Jen Hunter, about lesbians in the military prior to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (it was the stage play Half Life in 2005), and the biographies Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow and Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria.

Baim was executive producer of the lesbian feature film Hannah Free, starring Sharon Gless (2008, Ripe Fruit Films) and Scrooge & Marley, a gay Christmas Carol, in 2012. She was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1994 and was named a Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 leader in 1995.

She is also creator of That’s So Gay!, a 2,400-question LGBT history trivia game.

 

Julio Rodriguez

Julio Rodriguez has been involved for over thirty years in a number of community projects and or organizations. He is one of the founders and current Board President of the one of the few Latino gay, Lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning non-for-profit organization in Chicago and the Midwest, The Association of Latinos/as Motivating Action (ALMA). ALMA has been around since 1989 and has been at the forefront of issues impacting the Latino gay, Lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community both locally and nationally. In 2000, ALMA was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame for its work in the Latino gay community. It was also of the first Latino, gay, non-AIDS-related organizations to receive HIV/AIDS funding from the CDC. In 2001, the group received funding for its Amigos Apoyanado Amigos, peer to peer lead gay, bisexual and questioning men’s support group.

Julio has also served on a number of other local, state and national boards such as the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the Mayor’s Advisory Council Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, The Illinois Latino Prevention Network, Illinois Anti-Violence Authority, the National AIDS Prevention Coalition and the National Latino Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGO) and the Color Triangle. In addition to serving on the Board of the Center on Halsted, the first LGBT community center in Chicago, for ten years, he was also recently appointed to the CORE center at Cook County Hospital, one largest community hospitals, serving people with HIV/AIDS. He also serves on the Board of La CASA Norte, the largest provider of homeless services to Latino families and youth in the City of Chicago.

Julio is a native of Chicago, Puerto Rican and has a degree in Business from DePaul University. In 2001 he was recognized in the International “Who’s Who” for Public Service, and again in 2012 in the Latino “Who’s Who” for Community Leadership. He also received the 2003 Community Leader Award for Philathropy from the Chicago Latinos in Philanthropy, and in 2004, was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

 

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Vernita Gray was one of Chicago’s longest and most prolific activists for LGBT rights. She and her wife Pat Ewert were the first same-sex couple married legally in Illinois, Nov. 27, 2013, after winning a court victory because of Gray’s critical health situation. That paved the way for additional court rulings that hastened marriage in Illinois ahead of the original June 1, 2014 implementation of full marriage equality in the state.

Gray was a ubiquitous activist. In the early 1970s, she was instrumental in starting the first gay and lesbian helpline in Chicago in her own apartment. Her one-bedroom place on 56th Street and Drexel Avenue also served as an overnight shelter for a number of teens who had been kicked out by their families because they were gay, lesbian or transgender. Gray gave them a place to go and was there to lend a hand when they needed someone. She was also an editor and wrote for the Lavender Woman newspaper in addition to working on her own writing and poetry and eventually releasing the chapbook Sweet Sixteen.

She worked in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for 18 years, including in the position of victim/witness assistant, where she helped LGBT crime survivors, and as an outreach worker on LGBT issues. Prior to that, she owned the popular Sol Sands restaurant in Uptown.

For her work, Gray has received dozens of honors. She was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1992. She received the prestigious Stonewall Award, the Horizons Community Services Human First Award and many other accolades.

Gray’s life is documented in the upcoming book, Vernita Gray: From Woodstock to the Whitehouse, by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen. (Source: Windy City Times)

 

ToshiReagon

Toshi Reagon is a talented, versatile singer, composer, musician, curator and producer with a profound ear for sonic Americana–from folk to funk, from blues to rock. While her expansive career has landed her comfortably in residence at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House &  Madison Square Garden, you can just as easily find Toshi turning out a music festival, intimate venue or local club. Toshi knows  the power of song to focus, unite and mobilize people. If you’ve been lucky enough to be in Toshi’s presence, you know you can’t walk away from her without feeling better about yourself as a human being. She aims for nothing less.

Toshi has been the recipient of a NYFA award for Music Composition, She co- composed music for two Peabody award winning films, The Black Lily Music and Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performance. She is a National Women’s History Month Honoree, and is the 2010 recipient of OutMusic’s Heritage Award. Her collaborators include Lizz Wright, Chocolate Genius, Robert Wilson, Ani DiFranco, her band BIGLovely and her mother Bernice Johnson Reagon.

Toshi’s current touring projects include “Celebrate The Great Women of Blues and Jazz” A 16 piece all women’s ensemble of some of New York’s best Instrumentalist and vocalist. The Opera, “ Zinnias- The Life of Clementine Hunter”. Directed by Robert Wilson. Libretto and Music by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon, Book by Jacqueline Woodson. “The Blues Project” A Collaboration by Dorrance Dance and Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely.

Toshi also created the Words* Rock* & Sword: A Festival Celebration of Women’s Lives as a way to learn and be connected to the powerful work and skills coming from the Women in her community. The festival brings together, Musicians, Film Makers Heath Educators, Dance Instructors, Activist, Community Organizations and everyday brilliant people. It is open to all. Learn more at www.toshireagon.com

Meet the Activist: Connecting LGBTQI and Women’s Rights

The United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women will shine a spotlight on human rights issues this March. Join us at the office on March 13th after a full day of the CSW to meet and connect with local and international grantee partners. We’ll spark conversation on LGBTQI human rights within the context of women’s rights with a panel discussion with Astraea staff and our grantee partners from 5:30-6:30pm. An informal reception will follow from 6:45-8:30pm.

Meet the ActivistMeet the Activist: Connecting LGBTQI and Women’s Rights

Thursday, March 13th, 5:30-8:30pm
5:30-6:30pm Panel discussion | 6:45-8:30pm Informal reception

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
116 East 16th Street, 7th Floor, NY, NY 10003
Event is wheelchair accessible.
RSVP to attend

Held as intimate gatherings at our office, Astraea’s Meet the Activist series provides a unique opportunity to learn about the work of LGBTQI activists and movements around the world.

MORE ABOUT THE ACTIVISTS
Side by Side Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Film Festival was founded in the summer of 2007 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Through the platform of cultural events Side by Side seeks to maximize and extend the range of accurate information on LGBT and LGBT rights within the public space, challenging stereotypes and obsolete notions currently being expounded by conservative voices within government, the orthodox church, far right and ultra national groups.

Manny de Guerre is founder and organizer of the Side by Side LGBT Film Festival based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Over the last 7 years she has been responsible for overseeing the direction and management of the film festival. Among some of the key responsibilities are the creative direction of the festival, developing projects and strategies, fundraising and establishing contact with potential partners, sponsors and organizations with the view for collaboration and building relations both at local and international levels. She has carried out extensive research in Russia concerning the importance of the arts and culture in terms of its social, political and psychological significance.

United and Strong Inc. is an LGBTI Human Rights organisation Saint Lucia, with responsibilities for general administration, advocacy and programs. She is also the Coordinator of the Eastern Caribbean hub of the Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities (CariFLAGS). She is the lead contact for CariFlags/U&S as the alternate Women’s Secretariat of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA).

In 2009, Kenita Placide submitted the first written and oral presentation by United and Strong to Saint Lucia’s Constitution Reform Commission and followed up with a submission to the Universal Periodic Review process at the United Nations in 2010. Kenita is instrumental in organising the many training in Saint Lucia and the OECS including the first regional security and human rights training for LGBT and sexual rights defenders in July of 2011 and regional documentation training in 2013.

Iranti-Org is a Lesbian, Transgender and Intersex media reporting organization for South Africa and Southern Africa. Based in Johannesburg, Iranti-Org is committed to documenting and gathering evidence-based materials for the purpose of advancing the rights of LGBTI people affected by various forms of human rights violations. Iranti-Org was formed with the intention of building local partnerships and movements with media as the key platform. They use videos, photography, audio recordings, and other mediums to document Queer memories that destabilize discrimination based on gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. They also use art as a way to promote social change and bring communities together. Iranti-Org has a team of seven staff members.

Jabulani C. Pereira is an activist, researcher, trainer and facilitator and the co-founder and coordinator of Iranti-Org. Jabulani lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa, Jabulani has been an organizer for 24 years. They have worked at the Legal Resources Centre, Soul City, and they served as a Board member of FEW, a national black lesbian organization, based in Johannesburg. Jabulani graduated from New York University. They have a masters of arts degree, with a major and focus is museum studies. Their thesis titled Museum Exhibitions, Mass Violence and Human Rights, examines and tracks the ethical responsibility of museums in displaying photographs on atrocities.