The Rustin Fund is partnering with Foundation SEROvie to honor the legacy of our namesake, Bayard Rustin, and his work in Haiti. While working to promote democracy at home, Bayard Rustin also supported human rights struggles worldwide. As a Vice Chairman of the International Rescue Committee, he traveled the world working to secure food, medical care, education, and proper resettlement for refugees. He also helped found the National Emergency Coalition for Haitian Refugees. This organization works to protect the rights of Haitians seeking refuge from the poverty and political chaos of their troubled homeland.

Foundation SEROvie, founded in 1999, is one of the only LGBTQI organizations working in Haiti. SEROvie pairs health promotion for the LGBTQI community with human rights advocacy and socioeconomic empowerment. Today, SEROvie works on numerous program interventions: health care and basic nutrition, quality education for the LGBTQI and their children, and household economic security benefiting 22,000 clients and their families in 36 communities.

The current campaign will specifically focus on funding for LGBTQI safe houses, supporting victims of violence and disaster survivors, and socioeconomic empowerment.

Your funds will go directly to:

• Strengthening their socio-economic empowerment project (short-term training in entrepreneurship and hands-on job training).
• Coaching and Mentoring for the development of small businesses.
• Continue to train and support 100 new survivors of violence.
• Support for field agents who collect data relating to cases of violence and accompany survivors to centers for healthcare treatment, psychosocial and legal support
• Support for relocation of survivors who have fled areas controlled by armed gangs.
• Strengthening psychological assistance for rape victims and prevention of suicide cases.  

Please consider donating this holiday season. The Rustin Fund will match your donations up to $5,000.

MATCHING OPPORTUNITY –The Rustin Fund will match up to $5000 in funds raised before 31 December 2023!  

2023 witnessed an uptick in stigma, discrimination, and violence towards LGBTQI+ communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Most notably, restrictive legislation in Uganda, which penalizes those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality” with a death sentence, passed with nearly unanimous support in Uganda’s parliament. While the situation in Uganda remains challenging, neighboring countries throughout East Africa have been swept up in this anti-LGBTQI+ sentiment.  One of those countries is Burundi, the only country in Africa to actually criminalize same-sex behavior in this century, where the trend has been towards decriminalization. 

In honor of Bayard Rustin’s legacy, the Rustin for Global Equality is partnering with MOLI to support a scholarship program for LGBTQI+ students in Burundi through the Twiyubake Scholarship Fund.  With all the challenges, we feel investing in the education of young people is vital to overcoming stigma, discrimination, and violence.  Data suggests that education is a strong factor in alleviating poverty and is one of many long-term strategies for reducing hate and promoting more love.  

Serving its community for almost 15 years, MOLI works with other Burundian human rights organizations in offering an open and participatory process for students to apply for scholarships.  MOLI estimates $2100 covers the average annual tuition and living expenses for one full-time academic student at a university in Burundi, and $750 covers the average tuition and living expenses for one student to attend a certified vocational program, such as in healthcare, agriculture and livestock farming, construction, carpentry, or fashion/tailoring.  

University of Burundi

furniture making

coffee growing

Xtagabe’ñe is the area for critical reflection and new narratives on intersex that makes up the Brújula Intersexual project. In this area, we intend to develop creative projects based on the intersex experience that help strengthen the Spanish-speaking intersex community in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean from an intercultural, intersectional, and decolonial approach.

The word Xtagabe’ñe comes from the Zapotec of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and means “Water lily” or “Lotus flower.” The Xtagabe’ñe is a hermaphrodite flower that has around 70 variations or species, each with its shapes, colors, and sizes. These flowers usually grow solitary, without forming clusters, but several can be found in the same lake or pond. Intersex people often grow up isolated from other people with similar sexual characteristics to ours. Even if there are several in the same town or city, we don’t know each other, but one day we may meet.

The petals of the water lily always come out clean and intact, even though they grow in the mud. Intersex people grow up surrounded by difficulties and unpleasant situations that, just like the stem of the water lily, remain underwater, hidden from everyone around us; however, despite this, we get up and get ahead. Through the intersex movement, we fight to protect our human rights so that our right to bodily autonomy and self-determination is respected and the integrity of our bodies is preserved in the same way that the xtagabe’ñe flower maintains the integrity of its petals.

The project in the Area of Critical Reflection and New Narratives of Brújula Intersexual consists of the creation of a virtual fanzine about Intersexuality, through which it is intended to make a compilation of illustrations and narrative and lyrical texts that reflect the experiences of intersex in different sociocultural contexts of Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

To carry this out, we want to raise $5,000 or more, which will be used to remunerate intersex people who collaborate in producing the material. The number of people participating and their remuneration will depend on the funds raised.

Many people who will participate in this project are going through a difficult economic situation. Some have not been able to get a well-paid job due to the discrimination they experience daily, which makes it difficult for them to cover their most basic personal expenses such as food and housing, or they have difficulties covering medical costs because of the consequences left on their bodies the medical protocol. In this way, the remuneration they receive for their participation will help them cover these expenses.

Thanks so much for supporting Brujula and their community efforts!

Deystvie (LGBT Action) is an organisation which aims to better the lives of LGBTIQ+ people in Bulgaria – the European Union’s poorest member state and one of the lowest ranking countries in regard to respecting human rights and achieving full equality. 

Despite the extremely difficult context Deystvie is faced with, their mission is to achieve equal rights and social inclusion for the LGBTIQ+ community in Bulgaria via the means of legislative change and legal reform, as they believe this is the most effective and tangible way of cementing real change.

This month (May 2022) Deystvie turns 10 years old but it’s also the month in which funding for their long-standing legal programme ends.

Without this legal programme:

• LGBTIQ+ Bulgarians at home and abroad would no longer have access to the only form of pro-bono legal advice and support for LGBTIQ+ Bulgarians
• Deystvie may not be able to continue its pending trans cases
• Deystvie may not be able to continue to change HIV prescription legislation in the country 
• Deystvie may not have the opportunity to cement the bettering of over 100 000 rainbow families lives across Europe via their case in front of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union .

The Rustin Fund is partnering with Deystvie to ensure that the legal programme can continue to exist and support LGBTIQ+ people that are victims of discrimination and violence. Your campaign donations will support vital activities such as:

Supporting Bulgaria’s LGBTQ+ community means supporting one of the most marginalised LGBTQ+ communities in Europe. Please consider donating to support Deystvie’s fight for full legal equality. A win in Bulgaria is a win for everyone! 

For more information on the all-important case in front of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the case of Baby Sara), please visit the following link: https://en.deystvie.org/baby-sara-court-of-justice-eu

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

We here at the Rustin Fund operate as an all-volunteer organization so that all of your funding can do directly to LGBTI organizations all over the globe.  We do still have a few expenses, however, such as website hosting and credit card processing fees.  If you would like to donate to the Rustin Fund’s operations so that we can continue to direct all campaign contributions directly to organizations in low- and middle-income countries, please donate on this page. A donation made on this page may also go to one of our partners at the board’s discretion.