Why Womankind is celebrating Pride Month
By Hannah Coombes, Communications Officer at Womankind
“In a world of possibility for us all, our personal visions help lay the groundwork for political action.” – Audre Lorde
A Black, lesbian, mother, warrior and poet is how Audre Lorde described herself. Her profound teachings about humanity, feminism, liberation and sexuality were rooted in her experience of all five of these interconnected identities.
Ahead of Pride month 2024, I interviewed women and activists in Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe, all part of the LBTQI+ organisations and feminist movements that Womankind partners with and funds. Across the experiences, roles within their movements and geographies one thing is clear: that just like Audre Lorde, their work is born from both a personal calling and an urgent necessity.
Pride month is a global celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community that emerged after the 1969 Stonewall riots. Throughout Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of activists at the forefront of LBTQI+ justice work, and celebrating the LBTQI+ organisations that we partner with.
But first, some context on why Womankind funds, stands with and advocates alongside feminist LBTQI+ movements.
Being LBTQI+ in our focus countries
Colonial legacies continue to shape and perpetuate laws, attitudes and treatment towards LBTQI+ communities. In Africa, more than 30 countries still criminalise consensual same-sex sexual activity, despite “the clear contradiction with established African Union and international human rights standards” including three of our focus countries – Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
In Nepal, despite some progress, there are still challenges for the LBTQI+ community in fully claiming and enjoying their rights. According to Mitini Nepal, the Constitution does not clearly spell out the rights of the LBTQI+ community, marriages between LBTQI+ couples do not hold legal validity and they are unable to adopt.
In Afghanistan, LBTQI+ people and “others who do not conform to rigid gender norms, have faced an increasingly desperate situation and grave threats to their safety and lives” since the Taliban regained control in 2021.
In our focus countries and across the world, LBTQI+ women face the layered and compounding discrimination of misogyny on top of their gender identity also. However, grassroots LBTQI+ organisations and feminist movements continue to be beacons of hope and support despite the deeply challenging contexts that they operate within.
Feminism and LBTQ+ rights
“It’s a struggle but that’s why we exist, so that another generation of lesbians of color will not have to invent themselves, or their history, all over again” – Audre Lorde
LBQTI+ rights are a feminist issue because we are all striving for freedom – freedom from the patriarchy and the harmful systems of misogyny, racism, homophobia and transphobia it perpetuates. At Womankind, we envision a world where women, girls and people of all genders enjoy equal rights and freedoms and live with joy, choice and dignity. But globally, many LBQTI+ women and communities continue to experience multiple and intersecting challenges like discrimination and abuse.
Womankind works with LBTQI+ organisatons and movements where intersectional feminism is thriving. We do this through; providing flexible funding to strengthen their movements and influencing opportunities, supporting spaces for learning, exchange, inclusivity, wellbeing and action and partnering on projects that support LBTQI+ women and communities.
A safer and joyful future
This Pride Month we are celebrating three of our partners: Mitini Nepal, Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG) and Pakasipiti in Zimbabwe. All of these organisations are providing holistic support for the diverse LBTQI+ communities in their contexts, through psychosocial support, healthcare, safe spaces, creativity, advocacy and beyond. We will be sharing insights into their work, the stories of the women making it happen and of those they support.
Throughout my conversations with these activists, one thing was clear: the LBTQI+ community is an ecosystem of care with the organisations at the heart of these communities built on a foundation of love, connection and a need for survival too. The staff members and volunteers working to create a sense of home and safety for those they serve, often arrived there seeking the same for themselves. In this way, just like Audre Lorde said “the question is a matter of the survival and the teaching. That’s what our work comes down to. No matter where we key into it, it’s the same work, just different pieces of ourselves doing it.”
*Terms LGBTQIA+, LBTQI+ are both used here depending on the context. Our partners frequently use LBQ.
