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RESPONDING TO A CRISIS. Meet the Grantees of OutRight’s COVID-19 Global LGBTIQ Emergency Fund
December 22, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International
With thirty years of experience and on-the-ground partnerships, OutRight was in a great position to mobilize quickly to ensure life-saving support would be available for our communities worldwide. In April 2020 we launched the COVID-19 Global LGBTIQ Emergency Fund.
We had a modest target of raising $30,000. We raised over $1 million. Within six months we had distributed $967,000 in small grants, making this the biggest global COVID-relief fund for LGBTIQ people.
Philippines and Myanmar Striving for Domestic & Family Violence Protections
November 25, 2020| Contributed by Grace Poore - OutRight's Regional Program Coordinator for Asia

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.
OutRight TV: LGBTIQ advocacy in Asia: day job, night job, passion job
November 24, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

Director of Corporate Engagement at OutRight Action International Elise Colomer-Cheadle interviews Asian LGBTIQ activist and social entrepreneur Kenneth Kwok. Based in Hong Kong, Kenneth is Founder and CEO of Global Citizens Capital & the Better Together Foundation, Community Developer at SHK Group and the Founder & Co-President of Asia World Anti-Aging and Well-Being Association.
OutRight TV: Rainbow Advocacy to Stop Domestic & Family Violence in Myanmar
November 24, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

A first time study on domestic and family violence against LGBT people in Myanmar was completed in 2019 and published in a report called, "Rainbow Tears." Grace Poore talks with two Myanmar LGBTI advocates Aung Myo Min & Aint Hmue, who were involved in the study. Findings will be used to push for a new law in Myanmar that prohibits violence against women and is LBT inclusive.
New Regional Network on SOGIE & GBV Launched In Asia
November 18, 2020| Contributed by Grace Poore - OutRight's Regional Program Coordinator for Asia

Since 2012, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocates in at least nine countries in Asia have documented and reported that domestic and family violence is widely prevalent in LGBTI communities with few or no options to safely access protections and support services. Those committing the abuses are primarily parents, older brothers, family elders or intimate partners.
OutRight TV: HIV and Human Rights
September 29, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

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.
UN LGBTI Core Group Event Recap: Building Back Better
September 29, 2020| Contributed by Katherine Martin - OutRight Communications Assistant

Last Wednesday, the UN LGBTI Core Group hosted the 8th annual high level discussion during the 75th session of the General Assembly. The event, “Building Back Better: How to Create a Virtuous Circle for the Inclusion of All LGBTI Persons” addressed the multiple, layered, and intersecting forms of discrimination suffered by LGBTI people and what is being done to work towards inclusion.
OutRight TV: Feminism in Algeria
September 29, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

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.
OutRight TV: OutRight Alum Helps Resist Soviet Coup Attempt
September 23, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

In acknowledging 30 years as an organization, this OutRight TV episode features OutRight alum Tom Boellstorff, interviewed by Operations Manager Kevin Wanzor. Tom talks about working with LGBTIQ activists in the USSR beyond the festival and playing a large role in resisting the Soviet coup d'état attempt by operating as an underground printing press.
From Russia With Homo Love
September 23, 2020| Contributed by Julie Dorf and Masha Gessen

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.
OutRight TV: From Lebanon to Canada
September 18, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

In this episode of OutRight TV, Arabic Media Coordinator Nazeeha Saeed speaks to Norma Lize, a trans activist from Lebanon who sought asylum in Vancouver, Canada two years ago. Norma, despite living her authentic life in Canada, talks about discrimination she continues to face based on her ethnicity and identity. Together they discuss the positive life changes that have come along with leaving their home country as well as the things they both miss about Lebanon.
OutRight TV: Seeking Asylum
September 15, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

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.
Sissy That Mob: LGBT youths front and center in Thailand’s democracy movement
September 14, 2020| Contributed by Guest blogger - Paisarn Likhitpreechakul

OutRight periodically features analysis from our colleagues and partners. We welcome a contribution from Paisarn Likhitpreechakul. Paisarn is a writer and freelance journalist with interests in LGBT+ issues, human rights, Buddhism and Asian history.
Expanding Work Tackling Gender-Based Violence in the Caribbean
September 11, 2020| Contributed by Daina Ruduša - OutRight Sr Communications Manager

Gender-based violence is a phenomenon most often associated with violence perpetrated by men against women. Yet it is also the most common form of violence faced by LGBTIQ people. What leads to gender-based violence are archaic perceptions of gender roles and appearances, toxic masculinity and notions of how things “should be”. As such, anyone who somehow does not fit, or worse still, challenges what is perceived as the norm, can be a target and victim of gender-based violence (GBV).
OutRight TV: Organizational Sustainability: OutRight COVID-19 Grant Recipient
September 11, 2020| Contributed by OutRight Action International

In this episode of OutRight TV, Africa Program Officer Yvonne Wamari speaks to Ishamael Bahati of PEMA Kenya. PEMA advances the human rights of gender and sexual minorities in Kenya and was one of OutRight's COVID-19 grant recipients. Ishamael talks about an inability to access government relief, hostile home environments, and the importance of maintaining organizational sustainability beyond relief money through social and economic empowerment programs.