Category: Texts

WHERE: USA – New York

I first encountered the work of Astraea in 2007. I was living in Egypt and met some of the sexuality rights movement-builders from the Arab region when they passed through Cairo. One such pioneer, Rauda Marcos, co-founded Aswat, a Palestinian Lesbian Women’s organization. She told me about Aswat’s work, which is made possible both by members’ determination and funding from Astraea. Aswat members held community clean-up days taking care of their neighborhoods and leading by example.  According to Rauda, the first step was to show strength in numbers.  Community clean-up days were a simple tactic to be out, proud and present in the community.

When I first read Astraea’s mission, I remember asking myself for the first time, what does it mean for me, Todd Lester, to be an allied community member? What roles can gay men play in supporting LGBTQI organizations that are committed to the leadership of lesbians, queer women and transgender people? How are our struggles interconnected?

History answers some of these questions for me: When the AIDS crisis hit my community in full force in the 1980s, it was nothing less than devastating. But amid this devastation, the lesbian community showed up for their gay brothers in our living rooms as care-givers and on the streets leading ACT UP demonstrations to demand our meds (see footnote 1). In 1995, the Brothers for Sisters campaign emerged in the Bay Area as a way for men to give back to the women’s community who had been the first to step up when HIV ravaged San Francisco’s gay community. This history of showing up women for gay men and, in turn, men for lesbians resonated with the showing up and being present that Rauda was talking about with Aswat’s community service days.

Why is it important for me to show up? When I was in Cairo, I learned about a support network of lesbians and transgender women from diverse backgrounds who would meet in private homes around Cairo. I became close friends with Kholoud, the network’s coordinator, another brave LGBTQI leader in the Arab region.  She told me she is often mistaken for a gay man and thus harassed relentlessly. On these occasions, she regains her safety by letting people know she is a woman. And yet in other circumstances, she is thought to be a man and receives positive attention until onlookers realize she is a woman and become aggressive and sometimes violent.  There is no way for her to simply be herself without the expectations of others curtailing her freedom to live, work and socialize.

Witnessing the challenges Kholoud faces on a daily basis in her life and work helped me understand the need for allies and highlighted who I am already in community with. Seeing these daily moments of courage by others being who they are and negotiating their identities reminds us all of our complex and shared histories.

I remember growing up in the rural South, in Tennessee, and tactically instinctually learning how to pass as straight in order to stay safe from all the threatening and volatile forces that my young mind sensed around me.  Flash forward to today: I’m living in New York City at a time when I feel comfortable presenting and carrying myself in any way I so choose. When I am sharing spaces with people socially or at work we understand and celebrate our uniqueness casually. Our differences are not the first thing we focus on.

But still, what is my role as a gay white man living in the US conditions that usually mean I can walk down the street and not worry about being harassed or experience the ramifications of standing out? For starters, I can remember, stand with and financially support my allied community members in their work all over the world. By doing so, it means I don’t take my own good circumstances for granted. And an active way for me to do that has been to join this team to create the resources for the next phase of Astraea’s important work.

Around the world, gay, lesbian and transgender communities share a history of movement-building. And were it not for the connections we carved out to support one another and work hand-in-hand in the past, we would not be where we are in the present, making strides in LGBTQI justice. Being part of the diverse, informed and strategic community of donors across the economic spectrum that support Astraea is a tangible way for me to show up. As a global funder, Astraea funds organizations in the Middle East working for LGBTQI rights, as well as those in under-resourced communities in the US, including some in the rural South.

Astraea’s mission is based on an enduring commitment to feminism, progressive social change and an end to all forms of exploitation and discrimination based on race, age, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, class, physical and mental ability, anti-Semitism, and other such factors. Together, we are transforming the social justice landscape for LGBTQI people around the world.

This is why I say that Astraea is a foundation who knows who she is! It is also why, for me, as a gay man, supporting her is a vehicle for me to show up, across the globe, standing in partnership with my friends and allies.  I am confident that this is the way forward, and I’m asking other men to stand with Astraea in her work for freedom for us all.

by Todd Lester

Footnote 1: For more on this history, be sure to check out We Were There, a film in progress that just received Astraea funding through the U.S. Annual Fund.

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Originally published on Dec. 21 2011, here.

A Associação da Parada do Orgulho LGBT de São Paulo, ONG responsável pela maior Parada LGBT do Mundo, vem comunicar que após reuniões realizadas nos meses de Novembro e Dezembro/2019, com a participação da Sociedade Civil (mediante convite e inscrição prévia) e das Pessoas Associadas, onde resultaram na sugestão e seleção de dois temas como os mais votados: DEMOCRACIA e HIV/AIDS, na data de ontem (09/01/2020), após explanação pelos defensores dos referidos temas, e após votação dos Associados presentes*, o tema escolhido para a 24a Parada do Orgulho LGBT de São Paulo 2020 é DEMOCRACIA, tendo em vista todo cenário político e social, com o desmonte nas áreas da saúde, na educação e na cultura, que não só atinge a comunidade LGBT, e sim toda sociedade.

Também ficou deliberado pelos Associados presentes, que o tema HIV/AIDS será o tema da 25a Parada do Orgulho LGBT de São Paulo em 2021, ano no qual lembraremos os 40 anos do surgimento do HIV/AIDS.

A APOGLBT/SP em parceria com seus Associados, Parceiros e Apoiadores, começa a partir de agora a trabalhar os dois temas durante todo o ano de 2020.

Atenciosamente,

Diretoria da Associação da APOGLBT/SP

www.paradasp.org.br

*a partir de 2020, os convites para as reuniões sobre o tema serão realizados apenas para os Associados da APOGLBT/SP, clique aqui e Associe-se.

__________________________________

Texto originalmente publicado no dia 10/01/2020, aqui.

I.

Levantou-se. Dentro da privada, mescla de prazer e necessidade. A. se viu refletido no espelho pela primeira vez. Olhos ainda vermelhos, cabelo desgrenhado, suor na face e no torso nu. Ela abriu o chuveiro e, dessa vez, foi ágil ao manejar a temperatura da água. Sorriu. Pegou a primeira toalha disponível. Macia. Enxugou-se sem pressa, mas determinado. Toalha amarrada na cintura, encaminhou-se em direção à sala. Da escada, podia ver o outro deitado no sofá. Êxtase. Preguiça. Conforto. Um baseado no canto de sua boca, pronto para ser fumado. Sorriso. “Meu namorado tem esse mesmo pudor”, disse, com uma naturalidade desconcertante, sem se mexer do sofá. “Namorado?”, pensou A. Não deixou o pensamento, a revelação, chegar a superfície de seus gestos. Não estava surpreso. Nem triste. Sentou do lado do acompanhante, tomou-lhe o baseado e fumou. Da porta, permitiram-se um último beijo. A intimidade da última hora parecia pender em uma corda bamba. A despedida era inevitável. E mesmo assim um ritual estranho para A. Para o outro era o oposto. Ainda nu, pressionou-o para um último abraço, beijo, amasso. Apertou-lhe a bunda e disparou: “É natural?”. A. sorriu amarelo. O acompanhante não percebeu. “Genética”, disse, displicente. Porta fechada. Na rua, sacou de um bolso o celular. Notificações aleatórias. Do outro bolso, o fone de ouvido. A. precisava de um estímulo para marchar para casa. Encontrou a música e seguiu.

“I like digging holes and hiding things inside them
When I’ll grow old, I hope I won’t forget to find them
‘Cause I’ve got memories and travel like gypsies in the night
I build a home and wait for someone to tear it down
Then pack it up in boxes, head for the next…”

See also, by Alberto Pereira Jr:

#movingtarget

Please, touch me (PT/EN)