Left to right: Berta Cáceres, Marsha P. Johnson, and Audre Lorde

Today, Astraea celebrates the formidable efforts of women around the world who are rising up in incredible numbers to combat the growing tides of misogyny, xenophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia and white supremacy. International Women’s Day is a moment to recognize and remember the efforts of our community members, organizers, and cultural workers who’ve fought and continue to fight for our right to not simply exist but thrive in all our beauty, dignity, and autonomy.

We honor all the ways you may be activated today: striking, wearing red in solidarity with A Day Without Women, phoning elected officials, taking to the streets, or supporting your favorite Lesbian Foundation for Justice (!) because must use all available tools to resist and rise up.

Left to right: Colectiva Mujer y Salud, Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group, and BreakOUT!

Lifting up the visions of lesbian, queer, and trans women, Astraea grantee partners are building the world in which they want to live:

• Colectiva Mujer y Salud produced the first-ever document to exclusively address the priorities and demands of lesbian, bisexual, and queer women in the Dominican Republic. Titled “The LesBiAgenda,” the text was created through a national process that included rural and small cities.
• Thanks to the advocacy of Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG), the Supreme Court of Georgia found Levan Kochlashvili guilty of the murder of Sabi Beriani, a transgender woman, in December 2016. WISG has been accompanying Sabi’s mother to court since the murder two years ago and has been working to raise visibility of the growing violent backlash against trans women in Georgia.
• In response to growing anti-trans violence in the United States, BreakOUT! issued a call to action to create sanctuary for young trans women and gender non-conforming people of color in New Orleans. They are also developing new strategies for community safety.

Astraea is proud of our four decade history of gender justice activism that supports the leadership of women, trans folks, youth, and people of color. Our lives depend on activists who are linking LGBTQI and women’s rights movements together, rising up, and resisting violence and discrimination that specifically affects lesbian, queer, and trans women. Today and all year round, we strive to find hard to reach groups in often-isolated areas and resource them to fight for justice in their own local contexts.

This International Women’s Day, we welcome you to join the uprising! Connect with the activists behind our movements through our Facebook feed, view and share our video on what 40 years of queer organizing looks like, or donate to the Uprising of Love Fund to support activists working against increased discrimination in the United States.