An Evening of Conversation & Celebration with Sunil Pant, Blue Diamond Society
Nepal’s Blue Diamond Society Conversation & Celebration
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, with Adhikaar, The Audre Lorde Project, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, Desis Rising Up & Moving, International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, South Asian LGBT Association, and others invite you to join us for:
An Evening of Conversation & Celebration with Sunil Pant, Blue Diamond Society
Sunil Pant, founder & president of Blue Diamond Society, who is being awarded with this year’s Felipa de Souza Award by the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), will be joining us in this rare visit to NYC. Please join us to learn more about the work of Blue Diamond Society and raise funds to support their work in Nepal. Visit www.bds.org.np for more information about
Blue Diamond Society.
DATE: May 10th, 2007
TIME: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
LOCATION: Astraea, 116 East 16th Street,
7th Floor, NYC
Suggested contribution: $20 – $100 for individuals (more if you can, less if you can’t – no one will be turned away). 100% of funds raised will be given to Blue Diamond Society.
To RSVP and/or pledge a contribution or for information about how to have your organization cosponsor the event or for questions about the event, please contact Lorraine at 212-529-8021 ext. 22 or email: [email protected].
Tax deductible contributions via check may be made payable to: Astraea Foundation (please indicate “5/10 BDS Fundraiser” in the memo line). Contributions can be brought to the event, or mailed to: Astraea, 116 E. 16th St., 7th flr, Att: 5/10 BDS Fundraiser, NY, NY 10003
South Asians Here and There: A Dialogue about LGBT & Human Rights
Astraea is proud to co-sponsor the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s (IGLHRC) panel discussions on the LGBT rights situation in South Asia. The panels, in New York and San Francisco, will feature Astraea Grantee Partner Sunil Pant, the founder and director of Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s only LGBT rights organization and the recipient of IGLHRC’s 2007 Felipa de Souza Award.
NEW YORK: Monday, April 30, 2007
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
LGBT Community Center (208 West 13th Street)
Panelists
Sunil Pant, Founder and President of Blue Diamond Society
Trishala Deb, Program Coordinator at Audre Lorde Project
Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC Executive Director, Moderator
SAN FRANCISCO: Wednesday, May 2, 2007
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center (730 Polk Street)
Admission is free.
Panelists
Sunil Pant, President of Blue Diamond Society
Dechen Tsering, Program Officer, Asia and Oceania,
Global Fund for Women
Sandip Roy, New America Media, former editor
Trikone Magazine
Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC Executive Director, Moderator
Colectivo Sentimos Diverso is a feminist group that mobilizes to create and develop projects and actions that empower women, adolescents, young people and people with sexual orientations and diverse gender identities for the enforceability of human, sexual and reproductive rights.
Colectivo Sentimos Diverso is a feminist group that mobilizes to create and develop projects and actions that empower women, adolescents, young people and people with sexual orientations and diverse gender identities for the enforceability of human, sexual and reproductive rights. They seek to build a more just, inclusive and violence-free world. They started their work in 2006 in the city of Bogotá. Since 2011, they have moved to the city of Quito, Ecuador, where they have focused on developing three lines of action:
- Pedagogical
- Communication and Networks
- Research and creation
In September of 2015, the Ecuadorian government recognized their foundation status. Their local work is recognized and strengthened by their visibility and impact at the regional level. They are part of the Campaign for the Inter-American Convention on Sexual Rights and Reproductive Rights and the Southern Transfusionist Network (in development).
*** En Español***
Somos un colectivo feminista que se moviliza para crear y desarrollar proyectos y acciones que empoderen a mujeres, adolescentes, jóvenes, y personas con orientaciones sexuales e identidades de género diversas para la exigibilidad de los derechos humanos, sexuales y reproductivos. Buscamos construir un mundo más justo, incluyente y libre de violencias.
Iniciamos nuestro trabajo en el año 2006 en la ciudad de Bogotá. Desde el año 2011 nos trasladamos a la ciudad de Quito, Ecuador, en dónde nos hemos centrado en desarrollar tres líneas de acción:
- Pedagógica
- Comunicación y redes y
- Investigación y creación.
En septiembre de 2015 el gobierno ecuatoriano reconoció nuestra personería jurídica, bajo la forma de Fundación.
Nuestro trabajo local es reconocido y fortalecido por nuestra visibilidad e incidencia a nivel regional. Hacemos parte de la Campaña por la Convención Interamericana de Derechos Sexuales y Derechos Reproductivos y la Red Transfeministas del Sur (en desarrollo).
Based in Quito, Taller de Comunicación Mujer (TCM) is a women’s rights organization that works to advance the human rights of lesbian and bisexual women.
Based in Quito, Taller de Comunicación Mujer (TCM) is a women’s rights organization that works to advance the human rights of lesbian and bisexual women. TC Women documents and monitors the “de-homosexualization clinics” and human rights violations within them. In 2011, TC Mujer was responsible for ensuring that CETFDCM (the CEDAW) and the Human Rights Council recommended and monitored the closure of all clinics by the Ecuadorian state. TC Women has helped close many of these clinics. TC Mulher continues to document and monitor clinics in four provinces (Guayaquil, Manabí, Pichincha and Azuay), documenting survivors’ testimony and monitoring the Ministry of Health, while pursuing a broader feminist advocacy for women’s sexual and reproductive rights. *** En Español*** Con base en Quito, el Taller de Comunicación Mujer (TC Mujer) es una organización de derechos de las mujeres que trabaja por el avance de los derechos humanos de las mujeres lesbianas y bisexuales. TC Mujer documenta y monitorea las “clínicas de deshomosexualización” y las violaciones de derechos humanos dentro de estas. En 2011, TC Mujer fue responsable por lograr que la CETFDCM (también conocida como CEDAW, por sus siglas en inglés) y el Consejo de los Derechos Humanos recomendaran y monitorearan el cierre de todas las clínicas por el estado ecuatoriano. TC Mujer ha ayudado a cerrar muchas de estas clínicas. TC Mujer continúa documentando y monitoreando clínicas en cuatro provincias (Guayaquil, Manabí, Pichincha y Azuay), documentando testimonios de sobrevivientes y monitoreando al Ministerio de Salud, a la vez que realiza una abogacía feminista más amplia por los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres.
Causana has carried out awareness raising on LGBT realities with hundreds of public servers in the judicial and health sectors, targeting mainly health providers, police and prosecutors.
Founded in 2003, Causana is a lesbian feminist collective located in Quito that has fought for the closure of “dehomosexualization clinics” for several years. It also provides legal and psychological support to lesbian survivors of these clinics. Causana has carried out awareness raising on LGBT realities with hundreds of public servers in the judicial and health sectors, targeting mainly health providers, police and prosecutors; it has also done so with various sectors of society: older adults, teachers, students, families, youth sectors, public servers, etc. Through community mobilization and six National Lesbian Encounters as well as training processes and public actions to raise awareness and denounce, Causana has strengthened the capacity of LBT women to demand their rights and access a life of freedom. Causana’s mission is to de-structure the systems of power and subordination through the empowerment and empowerment of LBT people from an inclusive approach of genres, diversities and holism to develop a new community co-existence proposal within a framework of harmony with others. *** En Español*** Fundada en 2003, Causana es una colectiva lésbica feminista ubicada en Quito que se destaca por su lucha contra los encierros en las llamadas “clínicas de deshomosexualización” desde hace varios años. También ofrece apoyo legal y psicológico a sobrevivientes lesbianas de estas clínicas. Causana ha realizado capacitaciones de sensibilización sobre las realidades LGBT con cientos de servidorxs públicxs en los sectores judicial y de salud, dirigiéndose principalmente a lxs proveedorxs de salud, la policía y la Fiscalia; de igual manera lo ha hecho con diversos sectores de la sociedad: adultxs mayores, docentes, estudiantes, familias, sectores juveniles, servidorxs públicxs, etc. Mediante la movilizacion comunitaria y seis Encuentros Nacionales Lesbicos así como procesos de capacitación y acciones públicas de visibilización y denuncia, Causana ha fortalecido la capacidad de las mujeres LBT para exigir sus derechos y acceder a una vida de libertades. La misión de Causana es desestructurar los sistemas de poder y subordinación a través del empoderamiento y fortalecimiento de las personas LBT desde un enfoque inclusivo de géneros, diversidades y holismo para desarrollar una nueva propuesta de convivencia comunitaria en un marco de armonía con nostrxs, lxs otrxs y la Pacha Mama.
Gender DynamiX is a long-standing national and regional advocacy organization by and for trans people.
Gender DynamiX is a long-standing national and regional advocacy organization by and for trans people. Gender DynamiX’ long term goal is to ensure that diverse trans and intersex people are able to live openly, without obstruction, and in dignity by being able to equitably participate in the social, political and economic spheres of society. Over the last four years, they have engaged in advocacy campaigns to enforce Act 49 (the existing legal gender recognition law), increase access to healthcare, education, and accountability for violence against trans communities. They now have an opportunity to refocus efforts on redrafting South Africa’s gender recognition law to fully incorporate fundamental human rights for diverse trans people, which includes the right to self-identification premised on one’s right to self-determination, dignity and freedom. Over the next two years, they will build up a self-identification discourse, consolidate support amongst human rights movements, develop self-identification jurisprudence through test litigation cases and build a solid network of political and social stakeholders invested in legislative change.
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.
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:
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.
Astraea is the world’s only lesbian-led, feminist foundation focused on both U.S. and international LGBTI human rights.
Women will come from all over the world to meet in Dallas, Texas November 2nd through the 5th, 2006 at the Omni Mandalay Hotel and share ideas and strategies for funding social causes and programs. Astraea is the world’s only lesbian-led, feminist foundation focused on both U.S. and international LGBTI human rights.
