Partners Work to Ensure Positive Portrayal of LGBTI Community in Media, Legal, and Religious Arenas

April 5, 2019

The social justice grantees of Arcus’ spring 2019 funding cycle will continue to be laser-focused on legal and media matters to ensure that members of the LGBTQ community are protected and positively represented. Other partners will continue their work with faith leaders and allies to ensure the acceptance and inclusion of all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., is using its grant to train journalists in East and southern Africa to positively represent and report on the LGBTQI community. Such training will examine areas like the mis-gendering of LGBTQI persons in the media and aim to increase the amount of ethical coverage of the community, ensuring it is either neutral or positive.

Meanwhile, the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa will support litigation for sexual rights in Africa, in addition to other legal and related safety and communications work, including in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda.

Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues will use its funding to help organize LGBT foundations through a lens of racial, gender, and economic justice. As a membership organization, it will also engage with the philanthropic sector to build support for the most marginalized LGBTQ people.

Several organizations are continuing their work with faith-based organizations. Inclusive & Affirming Ministries will promote acceptance and inclusion in communities of faith in East and southern Africa. Its work is critical in countering discriminatory attitudes toward the LGBTQ community in the faith arena. The group will also hold regional and local dialogues to provide training, and will increase the capacity of allies and activists to develop a network of pro-LGBTQ faith leaders.

Working to combat religious exemptions, the Proteus Fund for the Rights, Faith, and Democracy Collaborative will build strategic collaborations between the reproductive justice and LGBTQ movements to create positive protections and acceptance in Georgia and New Mexico.

ZANERELA+ will help combat stigma and religious oppression in Zambia. It will also help prepare faith leaders and allies for pending legislation and constitutional amendments that will happen in 2020, including advocating for a sexual orientation and gender identity inclusive Bill of Rights. With that in mind, it will hold policy dialogue meetings with stakeholders and facilitate community mobilization outreach.

Also receiving grants this funding cycle are the Astraea Foundation; Audre Lorde Project; Casa Ruby; Gay & Lesbian Victory Institute; Transgender, Gender Variant, Intersex Justice Project (fiscal sponsor: St. James Infirmary); Unión=Fuerza Latino Institute (fiscal sponsor: Center for Black Equality); Southern African Christian Initiative; Southeast Asia Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression Caucus (ASC); and Washington Blade Foundation.