Philanthropic Partnership Supports Youth Globally
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| Coordinadora Universitaria por la Diversidad Sexual (CUDS) members raise visibility with a concert at the public pool. Photo courtesy of CUDS |
Around the world, youth-led organizations are boldly tackling their countries’ toughest problems. In Nigeria, youth are uncovering traditions of acceptance to combat the idea that LGBTI people are “un-African.” Students in Chile are using cultural venues to challenge a reemerging right wing. In China, young people are building support and leadership networks for otherwise invisible LBT youth. This kind of leadership has a timely impact and lays the groundwork for a lifetime of agency and activism. Three Astraea donors wanted to support LGBTQQ youth to improve societal conditions affecting their lives, so they created the International LGBTQQ Youth Fund through a philanthropic partnership with Astraea.
As friends who had already been collaborating for a decade to fund LGBTI youth organizations in the U.S., Weston Milliken, Michael Dively and Ralph Alpert found Astraea to be an effective partner in making grants internationally. “Astraea's international networks have provided our group with excellent high-impact funding opportunities to support queer youth in the global South and East. We have been delighted by the impact we have seen—outcomes that would not have been possible without Astraea,” Weston said. Michael elaborated, “Through this collaboration, we were able to learn a great deal about queer youth organizing around the world and make more than $80,000 in grants in Chile, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Lebanon and Nigeria.”
Here are highlights of two organizations in Chile and Nigeria that the LGBTQQ Youth Fund supported.
Coordinadora Universitaria por la Diversidad Sexual (CUDS) Santiago, Chile
Chile is one of the most conservative states in South America, both socially and legally. The country’s sodomy laws were repealed only a decade ago and divorce was legalized in 2004, the same year a prominent judge lost custody of her children in a Supreme Court decision because she was a lesbian. In this environment, Coordinadora Universitaria por la Diversidad Sexual (CUDS) works to transform Chilean society, especially as it relates to the lives and the leadership of young people. The organization produces intentionally provocative programming to shake up the status quo and propose alternate ways of being oneself. The group’s online magazine broke site traffic records with more than 10,000 visits, thanks to its satirical article that claimed the leader of Chile’s right wing was gay. CUDS also produces public theater and conducts political education and advocacy within and outside university settings.
Youths 2Gether Network Ekpoma, Nigeria
The only organization of its kind in Eastern Nigeria, Youths 2Gether Network (Y2N) fills a void in LGBTI services and advocacy in a country where a conviction of homosexuality carries a prison term of up to 14 years. In the face of police brutality, family isolation and even violence at the hands of friends, the organization challenges cultural taboos around sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity. Y2N is currently undertaking research on the tradition of women marrying women in Eastern Nigeria. Making this practice widely known will challenge the idea that same-gender-loving is an un-African, Western import. Emphasizing the empowerment of young people, the group has successfully begun a hotline supporting other LGBTI youth; won the release of a group of gay men arrested on morality charges; and organized the first-ever community workshop on sexual health in the region.
