Blog: Perspectives

OutRight is excited to announce that we have recruited three activists to engage in our new, year-long, immersive Religion Fellowship Program, out of the over 560 applications received. The Fellowship has been made possible by support from the Global Faith and Equality Fund of the Horizons Foundation and is aimed to defend LGBTI people from the impact of religiously motivated violence and discrimination.

Although Sri Lanka elected the first female prime minister in the modern world in 1960, Sri Lankan women, including lesbians, bisexual women, and trans persons (LBT) have been facing unequal treatment on a daily basis – including gender-based violence (GBV).

OutRight's West Coast Director, Katie Hultquist, attended this weekend's Seattle Women's March 2.0. Katie spoke at the rally on the human rights of queer women, linking local and global organizing so no one is left behind, and how we can build together a world with freedom, equality and dignity for all LGBTIQ people. Below is a video embed of her speech that starts at 1:04:15 or read her speech below:

In 2017, we saw an assault on human rights globally. For every step forward, we struggled NOT to take a step back. We celebrated increasing transgender rights in Botswana and across 22 countries thanks to a landmark European Court of Human Rights ruling, and we were overjoyed by marriage equality in Australia. But, the increasing racism, sexism, Islamophobia and xenophobia made some LGBTIQ people even more unsafe.

Homespun art blog Stargazey Zines recently decided to donate proceeds from their ongoing “Yuri!!! On ICE” fan-art project to OutRight. This is the third project the young charity group has initiated since its founding. In a conversation with OutRight, Jolyn, administrator of the zine, explained that this initiative publishes “art books made by fans, for fans [--] in homage to shows, comics, [and] video games.”

A former Brazilian gay rights/HIV activist and a former Brazilian navy sonar operator, Flavio Alves came into the West Village coffee shop, The Elk, and greeted me with a classic Brazilian warm hug when I went for a formal handshake. Brazil is a tattoo in Alves’s life, inked with fearless gay activism and atrocious death threats, as he recalled.

With the support of ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, Sayoni, UN Women Asia Pacific and OutRight Action International, this LBQ Pre-conference at ILGA Asia Cambodia from 4-5 December is the first initiative to bring LBQ activists together in the much-needed construction of a LBQ movement in the Asia Pacific. The 2 days pre-conference will offer a space for the empowerment of LBQ women, to build solidarity and to articulate our needs, struggles and to envision possibilities as a collective.