Hearts on a Wire is a Philadelphia-based collective of transgender and gender variant (“T/GV”) people building a movement for gender self-determination, racial and economic justice, and an end to the policing and imprisoning of our communities.
Hearts on a Wire is a Philadelphia-based collective of transgender and gender variant (“T/GV”) people building a movement for gender self-determination, racial and economic justice, and an end to the policing and imprisoning of our communities. Because we recognize the harm and trauma that imprisonment causes, we work to support those most impacted by mass incarceration, specifically T/GV communities of color. Our approach is trauma informed and rooted in transformative justice – we believe that everyone is impacted by harm and violence and that everyone is capable of personal transformation. Within this framework, we imagine and work towards sustainable alternatives to punishment and imprisonment. Because mass incarceration effectively portrays incarcerated people as incapable of personal transformation, we work to break down stigma and elevate and nurture the humanity of our inside membership. Our work aims to disrupt the cycle of imprisonment and reincarceration by creating community both inside and outside of prisons.
This organization is supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.
Founded in 2010, the Queer African Youth Network (QAYN) is a queer feminist organization working to build a vast network of Support to Promote the well-being and security of LGBTQ people in West Africa and Cameroon.
Founded in 2010, the Queer African Youth Network (QAYN) is a queer feminist organization working to build a vast network of Support to Promote the well-being and security of LGBTQ people in West Africa and Cameroon. Their work has grown to focus more broadly on facilitating and strengthening the agency and leadership of young queer women in the West African LGBTQ movements, particularly in Francophone countries. Since inception, QAYN has been instrumental in broadening the base of LBT leadership, facilitating young activist’s access to space, skill-building, and advocacy platforms. Their work is central to their capacity building programs. Their Activist School has been running since 2012. This leadership incubator program brings together activists from across the area to build collective understanding, analysis and strategies to inform Their activism. In addition, QAYN uses their publications, cultural activism, and efforts to position LGBTQ activism in a broader social justice context. Between 2015 and 2016, QAYN, in partnership with Alternative AFRO-Benin and Cote d’Ivoire, organized a series of groundbreaking cross-movement exchanges bringing together social justice and LGBTQ activists. These convenings Followed QAYN’s work to research and publish Mapping of the Social Justice Movement in West Africa and Cameroon: Perceptions on LGBTQ Issues. In 2014, they also produced a beautiful social media campaign titled 16 Voices, 16 Experiences: Queer African Women Talk about Violence, which consisted of a collection of audio stories in French and illustrations. They are now working on a picture campaign Visibility and Expression and a series of video interviews committed to building visibility around LBT activism in Francophone West Africa and Cameroon. Their Q-Zine, the only bilingual pan-African LGBTQI arts and culture digital magazine, is now in its 5th year of publication. QAYN’s goal is to provide an inspiring and creative outlet for LGBTQI and queer Africans and allies to celebrate, debate, and explore the creativity and cultural richness of queer life in Africa.
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Fondée en 2010, le Queer African Youth Network (QAYN) est une organisation féministe queer qui travaille à construire un vaste réseau de soutien pour promouvoir le bien-être et la sécurité des LGBTQ en Afrique de l’Ouest et au Cameroun. Leurs travaux se sont concentrés plus largement sur la facilitation et le renforcement de l’agence et du leadership des jeunes femmes queer dans les mouvements LGBTQ d’Afrique de l’Ouest, en particulier dans les pays francophones. Depuis sa création, QAYN a contribué à élargir la base du leadership LBT, à faciliter aux jeunes activistes l’accès à l’espace, à la formation des compétences et aux plates-formes de plaidoyer. Ce programme d’incubation de leaders rassemble des militantEs de toute la région afin de construire une compréhension collective, des analyses et des stratégies pour informer leur militantisme. En outre, QAYN est reconnu pour ses publications, son activisme culturel et ses efforts pour placer l’activisme LGBTQ dans un contexte de justice sociale plus large. Entre 2015 et 2016, QAYN, en partenariat avec AFRO-Bénin et Alternative Côte d’Ivoire, a organisé une série d’échanges de mouvements croisés qui réunissent la justice sociale et les militants LGBTQ. Ces rencontres ont suivi les travaux de QAYN pour la recherche et la publication de «Cartographie du mouvement de justice sociale en Afrique de l’Ouest et au Cameroun: Perceptions sur les questions LGBTQ». En 2014, ils ont également produit une belle campagne sur les médias sociaux intitulée «16 voix, 16 expériences: Les femmes queer africaines parlent de la violence», qui consistait en une collection d’histoires audio en français et en illustrations. Maintenant, une campagne photo, «Visibilité et Expression» et une série d’interviews vidéo contribuent à renforcer la visibilité autour du militantisme LBT en Afrique de l’Ouest francophone et au Cameroun. Q-Zine, le seul magazine panafricain des arts et de la culture LGBTQI, magazine numérique bilingue maintenant en 5e année de publication, est l’objectif de QAYN de fournir un point de vente inspirant et créatif pour les LGBTQI et les alliés Africains pour célébrer, débattre et explorer la créativité Et la richesse culturelle de la vie queer en Afrique.
Saint Lucia’s first and only LGBT organisation, United and Strong Inc. was formed in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Saint Lucia’s first and only LGBT organisation, United and Strong Inc. (U&S) is a non-profit human rights organization formed in 2001 and registered in November of 2005 in collaboration with the Caribbean AIDS Alliance and AIDS Action Foundation in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Its aim was to reach men sleeping with men; however U&S has always worked actively with women sleeping with women. United and Strong foundation is to build and provide an enabling environment for the advancement of human rights of the LGBT community in Saint Lucia. Our main goal as a community is to advocate for the human rights of all persons, to encourage respect and acceptance for diversity; eliminate stigma and discrimination while creating a just society where everyone is equal; not just in words but in actions.
United and Strong provides legal resources and psychosocial accompaniment to LGBT members who have experienced human rights violations. Apart from advocacy, the organization also conducts education sessions, trainings, human rights documentation, and local/regional advocacy and media to raise awareness about the human rights of LGBT people. United and Strong serves as the ILGA Women’s Secretariat.
GALANG was formed in 2008 by a small group of lesbian activists who saw that the LGBT sector in the Philippines was predominantly middle-class.
GALANG was formed in 2008 by a small group of lesbian activists who saw that the LGBT sector in the Philippines was predominantly middle-class. Given the realities observed on the ground, the group decided to establish an organization that could be a catalyst for the empowerment of Filipino lesbians, bisexual women, and trans men (LBTs) in urban poor communities to attain social and economic equity, and create an enabling policy environment. GALANG helped establish four (4) LBT people’s organizations with members living in seven (7) depressed areas/barangays (villages) of Quezon City. GALANG continuously works with LBT organizations as its partners, and recently expanded its scope of work to include heterosexual families and friends of LBT members. GALANG aims to support a cohort of LBT community members who can mobilize their peers around sexual and LBT human rights; create new/strengthen grassroots organizations of urban poor LBTs; support urban poor LBTs to access technology and skills development trainings, and to use these skills in gaining employment or engaging in income generating activities; get village development councils and local community leaders to issue statements of support promoting LBT human rights; and promote Filipino research and advocacy work on the intersections of sexuality and poverty.
Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) is a coalition of individuals and groups connected to LGBT communities in Trinidad and Tobago.
Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) is a coalition of individuals and groups connected to LGBT communities in Trinidad and Tobago. CAISO’s aims are to foster a forward-thinking, visionary and humane approach to sexual orientation and gender identity; secure full inclusion in all aspects of national life, social policy and citizenship; develop capacity, leadership and self-pride in communities; and mobilize an advocacy movement for social justice. CAISO has participated in Trinidad and Tobago’s constitutional reform process, advocating for human rights protections. The organization provides legal and psychological accompaniment to LGBT members who experience human rights violations, and engages in ‘everyday lawyering’ with the long-term goal of building up documentation for a decriminalization case. They also use popular education and a ‘wholeness and justice’ approach to engage LGBT community members in healing past trauma, building resilience and taking collective action.
Shades of Yellow’s mission was to cultivate a community of empowered HAPI LGBTQI (Hmong and Asian Pacific Islander, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) and allies.
Shades of Yellow’s mission was to cultivate a community of empowered HAPI LGBTQI (Hmong and Asian Pacific Islander, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) and allies to challenge what we’ve been told about API and LGBTQI communities, and ignite positive cultural and social change. SOY’s vision was a world where HAPI LGBTQI and allies are liberated and celebrated for who they are. Existing in HAPI cultural communities where being LGBTQI or gender-nonconforming means risking displacement, disownment, and disconnection to families and community, SOY worked to make it possible for constituents to remain visible, be present in community, and acknowledge the complex intersections of their identities, identities for which many Asian languages have no words (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, or Intersex). This meant challenging their cultural communities to make room for all people and to acknowledge that LGBTQI people exist. In order to address and impact change, SOY used 3 main strategies: arts and culture, leadership development, and community building.
This organization was supported through the Funding Queerly Giving Circle, which is housed at Astraea.
Founded in 2005, Lesbian Independent, Feminist and Socialist Lesbian (LIFS) has been a grantee partner of Astraea since 2008.
Founded in 2005, Lesbian Independent, Feminist and Socialist Lesbian (LIFS) has been a grantee partner of Astraea since 2008. LIFS is one of the oldest lesbian organizations in Peru. It is well-known and well-connected with the Peruvian feminist movement and over the years has created a voice in policy advocacy spaces such as the Ministry of Women. It believes that policy changes have to be accompanied by feminist transformations and, to this end, it organizes forums with young lesbians to provide feminist political education, works in coalition with LGBT and non-LGBT organizations, and one of its primary goals is to create networks. It also has a well-known “Batukada Lesbian Feminist Voices Les,” which is a type of grassroots political protest in the Latin American and Caribbean region, in which members go out to rallies and protests with drums and sing popular songs that are adapted to convey political messages. *** En Español*** Fundada en 2005, Lesbianas Independientes, Socialistas y Feministas (LIFS) ha sido co-parte de Astraea desde 2008. LISF es una de las organizaciones lésbicas más antiguas de Perú. Es bien conocida y está bien conectada con el movimiento feminista peruano y a través de los años ha creado a una voz en espacios de defensoría de políticas como el Ministerio de la Mujer. Cree que los cambios de políticas tienen que estar acompañados por transformaciones feministas y, para este fin, organiza foros con lesbianas jóvenes para brindar educación política feminista, trabaja en coalición con organizaciones LGBT y no LGBT, y una de sus metas primordiales es crear redes. También tiene una muy conocida “Batukada Lésbica Feminista Voces Les”, la cual es un tipo de protesta política de base en la región de Latinoamérica y el Caribe, en la cual las personas miembro salen a mítines y protestas con tambores y cantan canciones populares con líricas adaptadas para transmitir mensajes políticos.
SASOD is dedicated to the eradication of homophobia in Guyana and throughout the Caribbean. Since 2003 they have been working tirelessly to repeal discriminatory Guyanese laws, change local attitudes about the LGBT community, advocate for human rights, and end discrimination in the government, workplace, and community.
SASOD is dedicated to the eradication of homophobia in Guyana and throughout the Caribbean. Since 2003 they have been working tirelessly to repeal discriminatory Guyanese laws, change local attitudes about the LGBT community, advocate for human rights, and end discrimination in the government, workplace, and community. Four years ago SASOD and four claimants launched a suit against the 1893 law against male and female “cross-dressing.” In 2013, the Guyana Chief Justice unfortunately did not declare the “cross-dressing law” unconstitutional, stating that the law isn’t discriminatory on the basis of gender because it applies to both men and women. SASOD has submitted an appeal in the hopes the case will be ruled in their favor. In the meantime, SASOD continues to monitor the case, train media outlets on LGBT discrimination, work with trans organizations to develop security protocols, and engage in international advocacy. They aim to pass an amendment to the Prevention of Discrimination Act 1997 to include SOGI and health status as grounds for protection. SASOD recently leveraged Guyana’s 2nd UPR review in January 2015 with a successful media campaign, obtaining coverage on LGBT issues from nearly every media outlet.
Cattrachas is a collective of psychologists, advocates, academics, media communicators, graduate students, and activists whose main goal is to advance and protect the human rights of LGBTQI people in Honduras.
Cattrachas is a collective of psychologists, advocates, academics, media communicators, graduate students, and activists whose main goal is to advance and protect the human rights of LGBTQI people in Honduras through rigorous documentation of cases of violence against people LGBTQI, national and international advocacy at the policy level, and the creation and use of networks at local, regional and international levels. Thanks to its strategic advocacy, articles 27, 117, and 321 of the Honduran Penal Code have been reformed. These articles now penalize hate crimes against LGBTI people and femicides. Its leadership in investigating and documenting human rights violations against LGBTQI people has been instrumental in getting other co-parties in Latin America to also systematically monitor and document violence against LGBT people. Watch Cattrachas Founder Indyra Mendoza’s speech at our 40th Anniversary Gala in November 2017: *** En Español*** Cattrachas es un colectivo de psicólogxs, abogadxs, integrantes de la academia, comunicadorxs mediáticxs, estudiantes graduadxs y activistas cuyo objetivo principal es avanzar y proteger los derechos humanos de las personas LGBTQI en Honduras a través de la documentación rigurosa de casos de violencia contra las personas LGBTQI, la defensoría nacional e internacional a nivel de políticas y la creación y el uso de redes a niveles local, regional e internacional. Gracias a su defensoría estratégica, los artículos 27, 117 y 321 del Código Penal hondureño han sido reformados. Estos artículos ahora penalizan los crímenes de odio contra las personas LGBTI y los feminicidios. Su liderazgo en la investigación y la documentación de las violaciones de los derechos humanos LGBTQI ha sido fundamental para lograr que otras co-partes en América Latina también monitoreen y documenten de forma sistemática la violencia hacia las personas LGBT. Mira el discurso del fundador de Cattrachas en nuestra gala de 40 aniversario en noviembre de 2017 aquí:
Mulabi focuses on policy advocacy and education of public officials and service providors to promote decent treatment for trans and intersex people.
Mulabi was founded in 2006 and has become a leading force in Latin America. They participated in organizing the regional meeting of ILGALAC in November 2019 and the Regional LAC intersex conference in February 2020. Their advocacy work includes a workshop on the preparation of the Universal Periodic Exam, aimed at Women’s organizations in San José, Costa Rica (October 2019), participation in the Conference on Forced Migration of BGLTI populations, organized by the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy and the Foundation for Peace and Democracy (October 2019), and a presentation before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, of the recommendations of the UPR written by Mulabi (September 2019). They are giving workshops in an awareness-raising approach.
