This article was published more than 4 years ago.
At the Fund, we believe that everyone deserves the ability to live with dignity. But around the world, millions of people are still denied the basic right to love freely and openly.
From queer activists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to mothers searching for their missing children in Honduras, we’re highlighting five of our frontline partners whose life-changing work proves that love is love—no matter what.
Organización Lesbica-Feminista Cattrachas
Indyra Mendoza remembers how difficult it was to grow up as a lesbian in Honduras, unable to love freely. Demeaned by the media and offered few protections by the courts, LGBTQ people face incredible hardships.
That’s why, in 2000, Indyra helped create the Organización Lesbica-Feminista Cattrachas, or just Cattrachas, to document human rights abuses against LGBTQ people and advocate for legal equality. With a mostly volunteer staff of young activists, Cattrachas is still fighting to secure opportunities to education, employment, and marriage for Honduras’s LGBTQ community.
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Amal Association for Women and Children
A mother’s love knows no bounds. But single mothers are one of the world’s most marginalized populations.
In Tunisia, where unmarried mothers are often treated like outcasts and access to critical civil services depends on a paternal family name, the Amal Association for Families and Children, or Amal-Tunisie, is working to preserve families by empowering single mothers.
In addition to providing psychological and legal support, vocational training, shelter, and education to women in need, Amal-Tunisie helps single mothers obtain child support and register their children to attend school and get identity cards.
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Association of Strong Women Alone (ASWA)
If you’re alone this Valentine’s Day, don’t forget that self-care is still a radical statement of love.
In India, single women—including widows, divorcees, and deserted women—are often ostracized by traditional society. The Association of Strong Women Alone began as a small self-help group for single women in the state of Rajasthan. Today, more than 120,000 single women across six states are members of ASWA’s unique sisterhood. Their strength and solidarity help single women in India seek support and speak out against the discrimination they face.
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Rainbow Sunrise Movement (RSM)
The Rainbow Sunrise Movement is the only LGBTQ group working in eastern Congo—where same-sex marriage is constitutionally banned and homosexuality remains a cultural taboo. Formed in 2010, the activists of RSM promote the political, social, and economic rights of LGBTQ people; offer psychological, social, and legal support to those in need; and expand access to information about HIV/AIDS and protection.
The Fund was RSM’s first international donor, and we’ve been thrilled to see how their crucial work has impacted the Congolese LGBTQ community.
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Committee of Families of Disappeared Migrants of El Progreso (COFAMIPRO)
Every year, thousands of Hondurans leave their loved ones behind to flee violence or seek economic opportunity in the United States. For their families left at home, waiting for good news can be an excruciating ordeal—and, sometimes, it never comes.
Founded by a group of mothers and grandmothers whose children disappeared while migrating, COFAMIPRO is a lifeline of support for the loved ones left behind. The organization offers psycho-social support to grieving families, tracks data from migrant shelters across Latin America to help reunite families, and, when necessary, identifies and repatriates the bodies of deceased migrants.
