Blog: Perspectives

During the last meeting of the board of OutRight Action International in February 2021, Aalap Shah was voted in as the new Co-Chair of the Board. Former Co-Chair Micheal Ighodaro stepped down after his term ended. Co-Chair Jenny Pizer continues in her role. 

On February 1, Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, orchestrated a coup, alleging voter fraud in the November 8, 2020 elections that declared the National League for Democracy (NLD) the winner. The Tatmadaw has declared a state of emergency and arbitrarily detained the civilian government leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Several other political leaders and state officials, who publicly criticized the coup, have been arrested and charged under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code for “public disturbance,” issuing statements or publications to undermine the government, and/or  “with intent to cause or likely cause fear or alarm to the public...offense against the State or against the public tranquility.” Penalties are fines and a potential two-year prison term. In response to the illegal military takeover, thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) people are protesting countrywide in a Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).  

In 2018, OutRight received a two-year grant from the Human Rights Initiative of Open Society Foundations to lay the groundwork for an Asia regional platform of LGBTI-centered expertise on domestic and family violence (DV/FV) – providing opportunities for ideas and advocacy exchange and linking national anti-DV/FV initiatives to a regional platform on SOGIE and gender based violence (GBV). The grant also supports two country projects – a new Myanmar initiative undertaken in partnership with OutRight’s country partner, Equality Myanmar to advocate DV/FV legal protections for LGBT people and educate LGBT communities about DV/FV, and a Phase 2 Philippines project undertaken with EnGendeRights, Inc. to improve LGBTI help-seeking for DV/FV services from local government units (barangays) that were trained in Phase 1 of the project in 2016-2018. 

In this episode of OutRight TV, Head of Operations Kevin Wanzor interviews OutRight Alum Karyn Kaplan. Karyn was an HIV Program Officer for OutRight (then IGLHRC) from 1998 - 2002 and continues to fight for HIV/AIDS treatment access today. Karyn talks about OutRight being invited to speak at the first ever UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS and helping mobilize Thailand to create the Thai Drug Users’ Network (TDN), the first of its kind in the region. 

In this episode of OutRight TV, Arabic Media Coordinator Nazeeha Saeed speaks to Hanane Mettouchi, an Algerian feminist. Hanane talks about the feminist movement in Algeria, specifically in the way that they mobilize and campaign for independence, despite the backlash they face.

On July 22, 1991, a Czech Air plane carrying sixty-four American queers landed in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). We were on our way to the International Gay and Lesbian Symposium and Film Festival in the Soviet Union. It was absurd. It was exhilarating. It was mostly our fault.

In this episode of OutRight TV, Arabic Media Coordinator Nazeeha Saeed speaks to Omar Hassan. Omar is a transgender male who left Egypt in 2010 to seek asylum in the US. Omar talks about coming to terms with his identity, his first love, and navigating discrimination - even from his own family.