Issue Highlights
CPAC was no fluke. The right wants to eliminate trans people.
Hundreds of anti-trans bills have been introduced. The few that have become law are laying the groundwork for further discrimination.
Unafraid, unbowed, and unapologetic: The life and legacy of Judy Heumann / Ford Foundation
She was among the courageous advocates who, in 2014, rightly called me out for the Ford Foundation’s omission of people with disabilities from our strategy to address inequalities of all kinds—an unintended, but damning, embarrassing reification of the very inequalities we aspired to disrupt and dismantle.
World’s Largest Chimpanzee Sanctuary
Private tour visitors will have the opportunity to observe the chimpanzees, most of whom are retired from bio-medical research, in their forested habitats and play yards, get to chat with staff about all things chimps and witness Chimp Haven’s Animal Care team in action.
From chaos to ecosystem: A tool for social change | by Thick Press | Medium
ten roles that people often show up in (such as weaver, builder, and storyteller) when they are responding to crises, participating in social change movements, or organizing collectively to advance a campaign or a cause.
LGBTQ Social Justice
Wave of homophobic legislation hits Africa
Uganda, Kenya, and Ghana are just a few examples of countries where lawmakers are proposing or considering legislation that discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community.
Ugandan bill threatens jail for saying you're gay - BBC News
The bill also threatens landlords who rent premises to gay people with a prison sentence.
LGBT Ugandans face backlash as parliament launches schools investigation | OPENLY
"People have gone back into hiding, people have gone back into the closet ... people are getting arrested. There's a lot of blackmail and extortion by law enforcers," said Frank Mugisha, an LGBT rights activist whose charity was shuttered last year.
Kampala-based human rights advocate Adrian Jjuuko said he was aware of victims who had been detained, beaten and threatened. One was nearly castrated by a mob, he said.
Ugandan TV aired highly charged and biased debate on LGBTQ rights
evealing the shows’ bias against LGBTQ people, the segment was titled “The LGBTQ Debate: An attack on our social fabric.”
Religious leaders in U.S. oppose Uganda's new anti-gay bill
The National Religious Leadership Roundtable, convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, reiterates its condemnation of Uganda’s proposed “Anti-Homosexuality Bill.”
Kenya's first lady declares prayers against homosexuality | Africanews
Prior to this, the First Lady had already created a Faith Diplomacy Office which, she says, will be spreading a praying culture across the country.
My Queer Return to Trinbagonian Carnival | Autostraddle
Even though Trinidad and Tobago is still hesitant to embrace its vibrant queer community, our influence on the culture cannot be erased.
Immigration news: advocates urge Biden to reconsider asylum policy
Immigration advocates said that the policy will cost many thousands of migrants’ lives and warned that the policy could create a two-tiered system of the haves and have nots applying for asylum, especially once the app becomes the only way to make an appointment at the US-Mexico border. Those who have smart phones, high-speed Wi-Fi, and US sponsors will have a better chance than those who are poor and lack resources.
Inside the Secret Working Group That Helped Push Anti-Trans Laws Across the Country – Mother Jones
Leaked emails give a glimpse of the religious-right networks behind transgender healthcare bans.
Faith leaders with transgender kids fight raft of trans bills - The Washington Post
“It’s the imposition of one religious group’s gender norms on the rest of us. It’s theocracy and fascism,”
Parents say lawmakers—not drag queens—are harming their kids
But while state lawmakers have tried to push Arizona to the front of the nation’s culture wars by passing laws that will surely die at the governor’s desk, the benefits and education behind drag story hour has been lost.
The fear and fury of these Florida parents
“If I leave Florida, then who am I leaving behind?” says Angela Wynn, the mom of a 10-year-old daughter in Sarasota and co-founder of the statewide advocacy group Support Our Schools. “If we go, who is left to fight?”
What’s happening in Florida has made fighters of parents who did not expect to be at the center of such high-stakes political battles, and rallied some who never before considered their politics to be particularly “progressive.”
Students switch up college plans as states pass anti-LGBTQ laws
Some students worry about having access to hormone therapy while away at school, some want to attend schools with all-gender housing options, and others fear hostile rhetoric puts them at a heightened risk of physical violence.
Trans people face hostile rhetoric from state lawmakers | PBS NewsHour
Advocates worry that increasingly hostile rhetoric about transgender people could have a chilling effect on those who want to speak out against new restrictions and could do lasting damage to a community of trans youth that is already marginalized.
Georgia bill tagged 'Don’t say Gay' appears shelved for 2023 legislative session - Georgia Recorder
The first version of the bill would have restricted schools, camp counselors and other authority figures from answering children’s questions about gender identity or sexual orientation. The latest version would have required all local boards of education to develop a policy for dealing with parental involvement and child privacy related to issues of gender identity.
HRC’s Robinson marks 100 days with ‘unrelenting commitment’ to fight
It’s not lost on Robinson that she is one of four queer Black women and one nonbinary Black person heading up five of America’s leading LGBTQ organizations. Quoting Lizzo, an American singer and rapper, Robinson said, “It’s about damn time.”
Pride flag ban: LGBTQ symbol vanishes from more cities, schools
The municipal measures that prohibit rainbow flags aren't explicitly expressed as such. Presented as a means to avoid favoring any one group over another, they limit flag displays to government and military flags – but the effect is the same.
Great Apes & Gibbons
In Sumatra, increased orangutan sightings point to growing threats to the apes
Villagers say it’s important to preserve the animals, as they’re a key seed disperser for the fruit trees that farmers here depend on.
6 Endangered Eastern Gorilla Facts You Should Know About | Earth.Org
The main threat to mountain gorillas is habitat loss and degradation. With more than 100,000 people already residing in the remote areas surrounding primary mountain gorilla habitat, as well an annual population growth rate of 2.37% in Africa, forest habitat is increasingly cleared for human settlements, agricultural farms, and for the extraction of natural resources, such as firewood and materials used in the production of charcoal.
Passport art sparks conservation debate in Sierra Leone
Widespread deforestation remains the biggest threat to chimpanzees, with 84% of the areas frequented by chimps overlapping with areas considered suitable for oil palm development, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports; that figure is 94% in neighbouring Liberia.
Apes Getting Dizzy On Purpose May Explain Humans' Love Of Mind-Altering Substances | IFLScience
Spinning great apes are the focus of new research that suggests getting dizzy may be a way of these animals altering their cognitive state. If true, it could indicate that we were seeking mind-altering activities before Homo sapiens even evolved, and raises questions about how their use may have influenced the evolution of the human mind.
Philanthropy
Six Questions for Joy Chia, Executive Director at Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice | Inside Philanthropy
The idea here around my queer and feminist perspectives of seeing the world is that we’re looking at who has power and who doesn’t, and also calling on ourselves to exercise whatever power that we may have to transform that. The power and agency to make those decisions will inevitably mean that you get to increase care for the ways in which we work with each other.
Pan African and feminist: the movement set to sweep philanthropy off its feet - Alliance magazine
It’s beyond time to build the power of pan African feminist philanthropy and challenge dominant ideas in philanthropy circles – rooted in capital acquisition and appropriation, patriarchy and white power.
Sarah Mukasa on African philanthropy and why trust matters - Alliance magazine
define what we mean by philanthropy from the African context. Is there a different meaning when we say African Philanthropy or Philanthropy in Africa
For This New Fund, There Is No Technology Justice Without Disability Justice | Inside Philanthropy
Borealis Philanthropy and the Ford Foundation have launched the $1 million Disability x Tech Fund to support disability-led groups in the U.S. working to bring about change at the intersection of disability justice and technology.
Seeing Progress and Potential, Jewish LGBTQ Donors Form a Network to Support Their Community | Inside Philanthropy
At the end of the day, we are a philanthropic network, so giving is an incredibly important part of what we’re about. We want to funnel significant monies into LGBTQ Jewish spaces,” Spears said. “To do that, we build a network and a community of LGBTQ Jewish philanthropists. It’s not just about the valor of hitching your name to a thing. It’s about really knowing each other, about being in a relationship with each other. It’s about sharing their dreams and hopes and stories to inspire together as we make a collective impact.”
Building a movement to advance equity in the social sector
A lack of standardized demographic data not only hinders our collective work to create a more equitable sector; it also requires nonprofits to take time away from their mission-driven work to respond to disparate requests by funders for this information.
To Avert a Tipping Point, Philanthropy Must Decolonize Giving Practices - The Center for Effective Philanthropy
The non-profit organization Amazon Watch mobilizes solidarity funds directly to Amazonian leaders and communities through their Amazon Defenders Fund (ADF). Guided by Indigenous principles of interconnectedness, relationality, and reciprocity, these funds provide an alternative to more colonial and bureaucratic funding models that ultimately limit the amount of capital that is accessible to Earth Defenders and Indigenous peoples globally and inhibit the transformational change that is necessary to shift toward a more climate-just and livable world.
What Funders Can Do to Fight the Nonprofit Worker Burnout Crisis | Inside Philanthropy
without sufficient funding, nonprofits can’t address many of the roadblocks standing between sector jobs as they exist today and the better, more sustainable jobs they may truly want to create. The toolkit addresses those roadblocks directly in its final section, which consists of a discussion guide and specific recommendations for funders centered on two key areas: full cost funding and open communication.