Astraea owes its existence and vision to the incredible, bold legacy and work of the lesbian, queer, and trans elders who paved the way for us. The Acey Social Justice Feminist Award was launched in 2017 as a way for Astraea to honor lesbian, queer, and trans elders over the age of 62 for their activism and contributions to their communities and our movements, who often have unmet financial needs as they age. The Award was created in honor of Astraea’s Executive Director Emerita, Katherine Acey.
This award is an opportunity for us to say to these incredible activist elders: We see you. We love you. We deeply appreciate what you’ve done and what you continue to do.– Katherine Acey, Astraea Executive
Director Emerita
Astraea is delighted to uplift the awardees of the 2nd Acey Social Justice Feminist Award. The Award recognizes lesbian and trans women of color over the age of 62 who have made under-recognized contributions to our movements, and who often have unmet financial needs as they age. Please join us in congratulating this year’s awardees: Julia Bennett, Brenda Joyce Crawford, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and Norma Timbang.
This year’s nominating committee consisted of Vega Subramaniam, Mary Anne Adams, Beth Richie, Rickke Mananzala, Ashleigh Eubanks, and Katherine Acey; you can read more about the 2019 Committee here.
In 2017, Astraea announced the new Acey Social Justice Feminist Award and celebrated our inaugural honorees: Reverend Gale Jones, Angela Bowen, Ali Marrero-Calderon, and Eleanor Palacios. The Acey Award honors lesbian and trans women of color over the age of 62 who have made significant but under-recognized contributions to our movements and often have unmet financial needs as they age. Named after and created in honor of Astraea’s Executive Director Emerita Katherine Acey, who led Astraea for 23 years and who is now leading conversations about aging and activism as well as about building multigenerational relationships within and across movements, the Award calls attention to the need for greatly increased community support for our LGBTQ elders. Read more about the inaugural Acey Award awardee, Reverend Gale Jones, and our other Acey Award honorees, including Black lesbian feminist and prima ballerina Angela Bowen, San Francisco Pride mastermind Ali Marrero-Calderon, and Latinx activist Eleanor Palacios below.
The Acey Award Nominating Committee consisted of Mandy Carter, Miles Goff, Jewelle Gomez, Vega Subramaniam, Olga Talamante, and Katherine Acey; read more about the Committee here.
LGBTQI elders, especially if they are people of color, face intense marginalization and decreased access to things like housing and healthcare. To learn more about the issues LGBTQI elders face, please read some of the resources and links below.
