Published on Mar 6, 2013
This month, we are featuring Gender Justice LA’s work to secure gender-neutral IDs in Los Angeles; a youth empowerment collaboration between Affinity Community Services, Gender JUST, Young Women’s Empowerment Project, and FIERCE; and Red Lésbica Cattrachas’ announcement of policy reforms in Honduras around LGBTI hate crimes and femicides.
Los Angeles Secures Gender-Neutral ID
Thanks to advocacy efforts by Astraea grantee partner Gender Justice LA, as well as allied organizations and community members, the new City of Los Angeles Universal City Services Card, a citywide identification and services card, will be gender-neutralthe new ID card will not use gender markers. Now when you apply for a job, pay with a credit card, claim your food stamps, Gender Justice LA announced in February, whenever you have to show an ID, you have the option of showing this ID without outing yourself as trans or opening yourself up to harassment, judgment, and discrimination. The group expects that Los Angeles residents will be able to apply for the Universal City Services Card in late 2013.
Photo by Andre PerezBuilding LGBTQ Youth of Color Power
In February, four Astraea grantee partners worked in partnership to host Connect Our Roots, a three-day summit in Chicago, to share activist tactics amongst LGBTQ youth of color. Three Chicago-based grantee partnersAffinity Community Services, Gender JUST, and Young Women’s Empowerment Projecthosted the event, and worked with New York City-based FIERCE, who assembled the gathering. Over 40 LGBTQ youth of color attended the summit, representing approximately 17 organizations from 16 cities across the nation. Read more about the conference from the Windy Times article.
Marcher at the Feministas en Resistencia march. Photo by Gabrie Mass.LGBTI Hate Crimes and Femicides Now Protected in Honduras
After several years of strategic policy advocacy, and research and documentation of LGBTQI human rights violations, Red Lésbica Cattrachas announced that key articles of the Honduras Penal Code have been reformed to now penalize hate crimes against LGBTI people, and to penalize femicides.
Red Lésbica Cattrachas has worked on many levels to see the policy reform to fruition. The group has organized trainings and workshops with government officials and community members and led meticulous research efforts and documentation of LGBTQI human rights violations. Additionally, their recent advocacy at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and involvement with the UN Universal Peer Review process of Honduras over the past three years helped secure the policy change.
