25 November 2022 

Standing for HIV, Equality, and Rights, the HERO Awards is an annual event that acknowledges outstanding service to the HIV response in Asia and the Pacific, and to the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) communities

The 6th HERO Awards 2022 will be hosted under the concept of “Unity&Diversity” at Australian Embassy, Bangkok on Friday 25 November 2022. The event is also a fundraiser for the Bangkok-based APCOM Foundation, a leading NGO which works to fight HIV and advance LGBTQI health and rights across the Asia Pacific region. APCOM partners with over 200 community organizations in 35 countries to promote the health and human rights of LGBTQI+ people. APCOM works with communities, governments, and development agencies to ensure LGBTQI+ people are included, as well as fight the impact stigma, discrimination and violence have on LGBTQI+ people.

You can also be a hero!

APCOM’s survey of the LGBTQI+ situation in Thailand and in the region during the COVID-19 pandemic found that mental health issues mainly in anxiety, depression, and helplessness, and hopelessness due to joblessness and/or loss of income, particularly for trans people and people living with HIV. Some respondents reported cases of discrimination and violence due to their sexual orientation and gender identity, and/or living with HIV.

You can be a hero by supporting APCOM emergency fund and sponsoring the event to ensure that those most marginalized and affected by the pandemic can rebuild their livelihoods. The Rustin Fund for Global Equality is partnering with APCOM, a long-standing grantee partner, to support a fundraising campaign linked to the HERO awards. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation via the Rustin Fund for Global Equality. 100% of your support will go directly to APCOM for emergency support to LGBTQI individuals in the Asia-Pacific region.

#HEROAwards2022 #Unity&Diversity

To find out more about the HERO Awards, check here

https://www.facebook.com/apcom.org/videos/594776741740073

Nigeria Trans/Non-Binary Community about to lose Shelter 

Creme de la Creme House of Fame (CDLC) is a transgender (trans)-led advocacy and community service organization based in Abuja, Nigeria.  Established in 2016, our aim to improve the lives of Nigerian trans and non-binary individuals, with a focus on health services access, safety and security, human rights and educational opportunities.  Over the past four years, CDLC has provided safe shelter and health services for hundreds of trans and non-binary persons in Lagos and Abuja respectively. Due to extreme transphobia in Nigeria, LGBTI persons are often “kicked out” of their families and homes, and left to fend for themselves. CDLC was formed by our community to assist others in dire need.  

For the past three years, with the asssitance of several individual and institutional donors, CDLC has been operating two safe houses (one in Abuja and one in Lagos) and offered over 100 Trans/non-binary persons refugee and relief from the extremes of transphobia in Nigerian society.  We offer safe temporary short term housing for those in need, a safe space for others to socialize and find community, and access to gender affirming health services.  We also work to assist our community members in securing job skills training, employment and educational opportunities. These relatively modest homes have been life savers for so many.  

During COVID, with such severe restrictions and lockdowns, the economy plunged and many in our community had few safety nets to fall back on.  As well, several of our individual donors have struggled to support us financially.  Also, as a result of upcoming federal elections, the Nigerian Parliament is currently debating a “cross dressing” bill that would criminalize trans and non-binary people.  Putting all these factors together, our community is very scared.  

We have an urgent need to cover the rent of our safe houses.  We owe our landlords rent (which is pre-paid once per year) and are in need of $6400 to cover rent for these community centers/homes. While the upkeep of the safe house require additional funds (e.g. food, electricity, water), we aim to work within the community to cover those costs as we have in the past.

Creme de la Creme House of Fame is keen to partner with the Rustin Fund and others during Pride Month 2022 to support trans and non-binary communities in Nigeria.  Can you assist us with a tax deductible contribution in paying the rent?  $10, $50, $100, $1000…any amount would be greatly appreciated.

Check us out at:

Intagram: @cdlcf

Twitter: @cdlc_foudation

Facebook: Crème de la crème house of fame foundation

The Rustin Fund board of directors retains discretion over the use of funds.

Since 1999 SEROvie an LGBTI-identified organization has an established network of eleven (11) centers that serve various communities across Haiti’s ten departments.  Because of the challenge of being an openly LGBTQI-identified organization in a rights constrained country, SEROvie has focused on health and entre to our human rights and community building work. In addition to LGBTQI people, we also serve at-risk adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and sex workers.  

Today, SEROvie works on numerous program interventions: health care and basic nutrition, quality education for the LGBTQI and their children, household economic security benefiting 22,000 clients and their families in 36 communities.

In the aftermath of the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that rocked southwestern Haiti, 1,400 people are dead and more than 6,900 others injured, 10,000 people left homeless while hundreds more are still missing.  The southern and western parts of the country, particularly the Sud, Grand’Anse and Nippes departments, have withstood the worst of the quake, while some communities closer to the epicenter, yet to be reached and out of contact, and are thought to have been completely devastated.

Despite Tropical Storm Grace weakening into a depression, the system still threatens to dump more than 10 inches of rain over the areas hardest hit by the earthquake this week potentially triggering deadly flash floods that could complicate humanitarian response efforts.

Recognizing the unique challenges faced by LGBTI people, SEROvie developed a specialized disaster response and recovery effort. As an established LGBTQI organization, SEROvie has a unique role in providing support directly to our Haitian LGBTI community. In the past, more generalized disaster response efforts have been quite discriminatory against LGBTQI community members, and our communities have suffered.  Hence, we need to provide support directly to our community!

Based on initial assessments with LGBTQI community members in the Southwest, our priorities and recommendations reflect in that an urgent response is needed – specifically for safety, food and potable water.  Substantial funding is urgently for SEROvie to offer relief in Les Cayes and Miragoane:

1. Food distribution at our two southern facilities—we estimate we have 320 beneficiaries Cayes in 127 in Miragoane who will need help for at least a two-week period. 
2. Hygiene kits (water bucket, soap, paste and toothbrush, toilet paper and hygiene pads) distribution for at least 500 beneficiaries.
3. Tents, pillows, and sheets for at least 500 beneficiaries.
4. Potable water for at least 500 beneficiaries; and
5. Organizing emotional first aid and psychosocial support to help LGBTQI cope with grief and trauma within our LGBTQI Friendly Spaces (Biomed articles will be needed and cook food will be offered daily to 450 for a week period).

Please support us with what you can, and the funds will go directly to impacting LGBTQI people in Southwest Haiti.  In partnering with the Rustin Fund, 100% of the funding will go directly to these impacted communities.  

About the organization:

“SISTERS” is the first foundation to provide counseling and guidance exclusively for transgender women by transgender women in Thailand, also known as SISTERS Center Pattaya, which was founded in June 2004.  SISTERS was registered as a foundation in Thailand in September 2014. For almost 17 years, SISTERS has been serving the transgender community in Pattaya and is the largest trans-led service provider in Thailand.  Pattaya is known as capital city of transgender people in Thailand.  SISTERS is run by professionally trained transgender leaders and staff; the largest hiring agency of trans individuals in Thailand.  SISTERS not only works to promote equal access to healthcare services and to advocate for a healthy-lifestyle and well-being of trans people in Pattaya and in Thailand.  Annually, SISTERS serves over 3,700 to 4,300 clients in Pattaya and nearby provinces.

About the campaign:

In Thailand, SISTERS Foundation has worked hand in hand with the trans communities to provide support during the pandemic by starting the campaign titled “Toey Cha-Na” or “Trans will win”. This project aims to provide food pastry to trans people including immigrant workers who are LGBTIQ+ in Pattaya city, Thailand and nearby provinces. With the support from private sectors and the international agency, SISTERS is being able to provide more than 600 bags to the community members whom they cannot reach out the government programs due to their citizenship and discrimination against trans people.

In addition to this project, SISTERS operates day-to-day to provide healthcare services including HIV/STI testing, health consulting, and HIV/STI treatment referral. However, the pandemic has affected SISTERS on their operation due to a decreasing of trans people in Pattaya. Many trans people in Pattaya and nearby provinces now have lost their jobs since the Thai government announced its border restrictions combining with several occasions of lockdown policies due to the pandemic; many members of Sisters decided to move back home where some of them are facing harassment from their unaccepting families. Despite of the government’s policies, trans people are always left out from the governmental programs socially and economically. Also, healthcare services and facilities are not welcome trans people because the services are designed to serve only male and female which has created discomfort to many trans people who desperately need healthcare services. For example, many trans women are forced to stay in the governmental quarantine facilities where they have to share with all male patients because their sex at birth is male.

To continue supporting the trans communities, SISTERS will need support from you to help the organization sustain its work for the trans people as well as to continue hiring experienced staff who help run the program while funding is at stake during the pandemic.

Your donation will help SISTERS run their program and continue to be a “second home” for trans people as this reputation is perceived by the clients/members of SISTERS since its inception. Following are examples of how your donation will contribute to SISTERS’ program and activities:

For more information, please visit the following link:

Website: http://www.sistersthailand.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sistersfoundationTH/

Fundraising for Black trans women who have been unhoused in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Trans women living in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a post-conflict zone marked by violence, experience all kinds of discrimination and transphobia because of their gender identity and gender expression.  Hateful statements coming from pastors in revivalist churches have rendered these women more vulnerable, reinforcing existing states of precariousness.  This situation has increased the number of trans women living without shelter, worsened their social stability and state of health, and increased their food insecurity.  That is why we must stand up today to say NO and to end this violence and alleviate the suffering that trans women in eastern DRC are enduring.

The funds collected will help a community of trans women who are living in the street and who live by sex work to survive, to have safe housing, free from transphobic threats and attacks.  Many trans women living in this situation have been subject to torture, and some have been subject to “corrective” rape to punish and humiliate them.  The majority of trans women who have survived “corrective rape” are HIV-positive.

Incidents of attacks on the physical integrity and bodily autonomy, attacks on human security, and attacks on general well-being have been recorded: between January and April 2021, six trans women were forced to flee their houses in one town in eastern DRC by law enforcement officers.  Nine transgender women living in the street were physically and sexually attacked, four trans women living in the street were kidnapped and subjected to inhumane treatment, and five trans women were arbitrarily arrested in the street by law enforcement because of their sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

Currently, we have identified 57 trans women who sleep in the streets in a large town in eastern DRC, and the number is only growing.  These trans women do not have means to survive, and their lives are in danger.

The funds collected will allow us to build A HOUSE OF HOPE FOR OUR SISTERS, purchasing a house in the town of Bukavu in a safe neighborhood to house trans women, to ensure their food security for one year, and to train them in entrepreneurship.

All funds collected will be transferred to the account of the organization Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, which will use the funds to buy a house and to make it available to our sisters and to ensure their livelihoods and to train them on entrepreneurship to allow our sisters to have the capacity to seek employment or to create their own businesses.

What happens to our sisters is a daily occurrence, and there is nobody to help them.  Please, support trans women in the eastern DRC today and make a donation with all that you can and share this.

Summary

On April 9, the La Soufriere volcano erupted, causing the evacuation of thousands from surrounding villages in St. Vincent. We will provide immediate assistance to LGBTQ+ evacuees affected by the volcanic eruption and already battling with COVID-19 and discrimination in a region that criminalizes their conduct. Our relief assistance will include food packages, clean water, hygiene kits, sanitary products, clothing, heavy-duty face masks, relocation and housing support.

Challenge

LGBTQ+ and PLHIV, already on the margins, face barriers in accessing shelter, food, medical and other assistance during emergencies. With many displaced after the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano, LGBTQ+ and PLHIV can fall through the cracks or feel forced to hide their status, sexuality and/or gender identity to access help or avoid discrimination.

Solution

Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) will co-ordinate with partners on the ground in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Dominica, and Saint Lucia to provide emergency assistance to LGBTQ+ persons who have been evacuated from their homes in St. Vincent. This will bolster efforts by eastern Caribbean governments already mobilised to shelter, feed and clothe thousands in need. This project will also provide relocation and housing support, care services, mobile credit for emergency communication and *safe spaces* for those most-at-risk.

Long-Term Impact

The discrimination faced by PLHIV and LGBT+ people in a criminalised environment does not dissipate during an emergency, that the existing challenges are amplified/exacerbated. This is of utmost urgency especially this time with the COVID-19 pandemic still a problem and with the start of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season (June 1st – November 30th) fast approaching LGBTQ+ Vincentians still face a number of challenges. This fund will prevent many LGBTQ+ Vincentians from going back into the closet in order to access emergency assistance and will improve, safety and well-being. It will also strengthen the network of advocacy organisations and their connections to the community.

IRCA Casabierta is a San Jose-based organization that assists LGBTI international migrants in seeking asylum and settling into safe living situations in Costa Rica. Costa Rica promises freedom, security, and equality to LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers in Latin America. Threats of violence against queer people are far lower in Costa Rica than nearby countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

IRCA Casabierta focuses on all aspects of a migrant’s relocation and resettlement journey by covering costs associated with international migration, offering food and rent stipends for LGBTI refugees and immigrants in Costa Rica, and supporting resettled LGBTI folks through psychological, legal, and health services. They are planning to finance the relocation of 11 transgender women from around the greater Latin American region and need financial support.

IRCA Casabierta wants to raise enough money to relocate 11 transgender women and support them for a total of six months: one month to relocate to Costa Rica, plus their first five months in San Jose. Per person, the costs of relocation ($560) plus six months’ worth of living costs in Costa Rica (6 x $500 = $3,000) costs $3,560. In their plans to assist 11 women, IRCA Casabierta needs your help to raise a total of $39,160.

All contributions made toward this goal will make a substantial impact. Consider whether you might be able to support the costs affiliated with a specific aspect of IRCA Casabierta’s demonstrated needs. Can you contribute $30 to cover fees associated with immigration procedures? Are you able to donate $50 to cover IRCA Casabierta’s institutional services? Can you help pay for some or all of the $290 needed to make rent each month?

Your donations will save lives and enable 11 transgender women to create new futures for themselves in a safe environment. We thank you for your support!

Community Health Initiative for Youth in Nigeria (CHIYN) is a LGBTIQ-led organization base in Abuja (FCT) and Minna (Niger State) Nigeria.  Our focus is on the health and well-being of our community.  We exist because of major challenges in Nigeria regarding human rights for LGBTIQ people.  Due to the 2014 Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, as well as the existence of Sharia law in parts of Northern Nigeria, our community members continue to suffer; lacking support from families and communities, as well as lacking access to quality health (including mental health) services. 

Already marginalized, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our LGBTIQ community severely. Many members have lost their jobs and housing; and are struggling to survive.  Mental health challenges and depression have increased.  Just last week, we had three members seriously threaten to commit suicide. Many of our community members have been shunned by their families and communities because of their LGBTIQ status, hence, we have stepped up to help each other survive. 

CHIYN has been a beacon of hope for many.  Over the past few years, we have grown to not only advocate for better conditions for LGBTIQ people, we now are operating our own mental health service, and helping to manage physical health services specifically for LGBTIQ persons via USAID and other donor funds. We also are forging relationships with our local government to promote the health of our community.

Over the past 12 months, we reached over 23,000 LGBTQI people with health messages; and to date we are assisting over 600 LGBTQI people to remain on HIV treatment.  We also are currently helping to house 80 LGBTQI persons in Abuja and Minna (Niger State).  In the past year, we also documented and responded to over 450 cases of gender-based violence.

For the past eight months under COVID-19 lockdowns, we have pooled our limited personal resources to provide emergency food assistance, temporary safe housing and mental health support for numerous community members. However, the need greatly outpaces the minimal resources we have.  We really need additional support.  A small amount goes a long way.  Please consider supporting us!

Thank you so much for your support!

About APCOM:

APCOM wants a world where all gay men, other men who have sex with men and people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics can fully participate in and achieve sustainable development in all aspects of their health, rights and wellbeing.

Formed in 207, APCOM is a Bangkok-based NGO network of over 200 community-based organisations across 38 countries in the Asia Pacific region. The organisation’s primary focus is reducing the impact of HIV on vulnerable communities. And APCOM works to improve human rights and access to healthcare for LGBTI people in partnership with civil society groups, government agencies, diplomatic missions and international organisations like the UN and the Global Fund.

Standing for HIV, Equality and Rights, the HERO Awards is an annual gala event in Bangkok which acknowledges outstanding service to the HIV response in Asia and the Pacific, and to the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) communities. The HERO Awards also raises money for the HIV and LGBTI human rights work of APCOM, a leading Asia Pacific HIV and LGBTI community network based in Bangkok.

Taking place on Friday 22 November at the Netherlands Ambassador’s Residence in Bangkok, the HERO Awards is a special fundraising event for the Bangkok-based APCOM Foundation, a leading NGO which works to fight HIV and advance LGBTI health and rights across the Asia Pacific region.

View the video of the HERO Awards event in 2018 which was hosted at the British Ambassador’s Residence, THANK YOU so much for your support last year!

https://www.facebook.com/apcom.org/videos/-live-lgbt-gala-party-at-bangkoks-british-embassy-and-enjoy-a-night-of-inspirati/2008681542559883/ 

More information can be found here: https://www.heroawards.asia/our_heroes

Read our TENACITY: Leaving on one behind strategic framework 2018-2020

Video contains English subtitles

In a small country in Central Asia called Kyrgyzstan, the LGBT+ community is daily plagued with stigmatization and discrimination. They face limited access to social services, abuse from police, illegal detentions, blackmailing, domestic violence, physical attacks, rape and even torture. They lack safe environments where they can meet, socialize, talk or just simply be themselves.

Recent constitutional amendments, passed via a referendum, have strengthened the power of the state at both the cost of democracy and civic society. The state campaign advocating for the amendments was full of anti-LGBT messages, with particular focus on changing the definition of marriage from between two adults to between a man and a woman. A discriminatory bill, which seeks to criminalize the promotion of LGBT+ rights in a similar fashion to Russia, is making its way through parliament.

Safe spaces are vitally important for communities such as ours and that is why NGO Kyrgyz Indigo is raising funds for a “Rainbow House” (watch the video here). This community centre will offer:

• a safe haven where excluded, abandoned or terrorized LGBT+ persons can find shelter;
• a creative space where LGBT+ people can collaborate and fulfill their potential;
• a learning environment where we can empower each other;
• a secluded area for LGBT+ people to socialize without fear of being forcefully outed;
• a secure base, financially sustainable, for us to continue helping LGBT+

Our desire to establish the Rainbow House comes not just in the face of the challenges mentioned above but also with the aim of making our society more inclusive and diverse, and foster a commitment to human rights and equal opportunities.

https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/lgbt-issues-kyrgyzstan

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/04/kyrgyzstan-lgbt-community-fear-attacks-russia

What we need & what you will get

Creating and equipping the Rainbow House with all it needs to accommodate LGBT+ people in need and to enable us to continue standing up for their rights is expensive and resource consuming. We estimate the total cost to be around $100,000, of which so far we’ve raised $52,000.

Every dollar donated by you will move us closer to our main goal of creating a space where gay, lesbian, bisexual, intersex and transgender persons, as well as their allies and families, can freely express their sexual orientations and gender identities. It will be a space where diversity, equality, mutual understanding, respect and positive recognition are embraced, something crucial for the spiritual, intellectual and physical development of us all.

By donating to our cause you will be contributing tremendously to LGBT+ activism not only in Kyrgyzstan but also in Central Asia, as whilst the situation is difficult in our country, in the four other countries in Central Asia the situation is worse. For many, Kyrgyzstan is a refuge and the Rainbow House could be invaluable for their safety and wellbeing. You will also be actively playing a part in creating an inclusive country with equal rights for all.

Once the Rainbow House has been established, you are invited to visit our beautiful home, giving you the opportunity to witness a part of the world you might not have explored before. Alternatively, you could become a volunteer for Kyrgyz Indigo, helping promote equal rights in Kyrgyzstan.

This campaign is part of a series of ongoing fundraisers. If we raise just $7,000 more, the Rainbow House will become a reality! We know that Kyrgyz Indigo’s Rainbow House will be key to empowering the LGBT+ community to stand up for their rights and help transform Kyrgyzstan into a country that values diversity, respects human rights and appreciates the rule of law.

Thank you for your support!

Providing Disaster Relief to LGBTI Bahamians

LGBTI people are often left out of Caribbean disaster relief responses.  In the wake of the first hurricane of the season, many displaced LGBT persons in the Bahamas are urgently in need of safe and friendly temporary housing.  The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) Coalition, is the largest indigenous charity working in the area of human rights and sexual and reproductive health in the region. CVC has teamed up with the Rustin Fund to get rapid and urgent assistance to our LGBT brothers and sisters in the Bahamas. This is a direct lifeline of support managed by CVC through LGBT groups in the Bahamas ensuring emergency funds reach them quickly. It is made possible solely thanks to your kindness and generosity.

We received sad news on Sunday, December 30, 2018 that our office — affectionately monikered ‘Rainbow House’ — was engulfed in fire late in the evening.  The fire which caused severe damage and destruction to the building and its contents.

Though the property did not belong to us, it became our home where we worked and made history having staged most of our first pride events there.  As staff and community members stood there that night while the fire blazed our spirits fell. It’s even more a damper on our spirits and significant impediment on our work given Rainbow House was a safe space for the community. It was there we held many activities to build community, educational sessions around laws and policies and human rights, document human rights violations, convene support groups for transgender and non-gender conforming persons and discuss issues such as self stigma and internalized homophobia and transphobia and violence perpetrated against LGBT people. Already, this is hampering our ability to undertake these and related activities at low cost.

While investigations are still ongoing, there is evidence that the severity of the fire means we have lost most of our files, equipment, furniture and other supplies (cumulatively 90% damage). From our calculations of the contents in the building that were destroyed, we estimate we will need about US $50,000 – US $60,000 to recover them and achieve some level of normalcy in our operations. 

*The cost of the damage to the building is not known. 

We are very grateful to the support that we have received thus far from everyone. We are slowly resuming operations on will continue to fundraise to restore all we lost to effectively operate and under the critical work we must do for the local LGBT community.

Please make a donation to help us restore and continue our operations to ensure protection of the rights of LGBT people in Jamaica. 

We are also open to other forms of support. Interested persons and organisations can email us at rebuilding@jflag.org.

*Funds are being raised by Rustin Fund for J-FLAG. All donations received will go directly to J-FLAG in Jamaica to recover what was lost and does not, in anyway, include costs for damage to the building.