R-Rights Thanks Astraea & Friends

As we come to almost the end of a funding season, R-Rights would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our funder, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and to all our partners who shared our big dream of having LGBT forums that are light and informal (ok, technically they are also about LGBT rights under criminal, civil, family, election, and labor laws but they were never boring). While the forums were rational, objective and informed, they were opportunities for fun, laughter, and inspiration as we also talked about our experiences and our successes as a community.
Its humble beginnings started with its “outing” on June 24, 2005 through a Round-Table Discussion on LGBT rights and Philippine Law at the University of the Philippines Center for Women Studies. After the discussion, R-Rights embarked on its Rainbow Exchange/Dyke Dialogue Series, with out-of-pocket funding and the kindness of friends.• DYKE DIALOGUES: OUR RIGHTS: Law 101 for LGBTs (24 June 2005)• DYKE DIALOGUES 2: Lesbian Identities and Relationship Dynamics (October 2007) • RAINBOW EXCHANGE: M2M: Living the Gay Life ( November 2007)• DYKE DIALOGUES 3: The Sex Talk (January 26, 2008)• REVISITING THE PINK CARD (May 2008)
From June 26, 2008, with funding support from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, R-Rights sponsored the following forums: • WOMAN NONETHELESS: Being a Trans Female in the Philippines (August 30, 2008)• DYKE DIALOGUES 4: SEXUAL NEGOTIATIONS An Intimate Forum on the Politics of the Artistic and Erotic (September 13, 2008)• TRANS DIALOGUE : TRANSGENDERISM 101 (November 22, 2008) • DYKE DIALOGUES 5: Out-ing the Queer Identity (February 7, 2009)• UNEQUAL UNDER THE LAW: Transgenderism in the Philippines (March 10, 2009)• GIVING VOICE TO THE PINK VOTE: Election and Party List Representation Law for LGBTs (March 21, 2009)• DYKE DIALOGUES 6: Families of the Heart – Legal Protections for Lesbian Partners and their Children (April 18, 2009)• DYKE DIALOGUES CEBU SERIES: An Exclusive Encounter with Rainbow Rights (May 1-2, 2009) • DYKE DIALOGUES CAGAYAN DE ORO: PLUS (People Like Us Meets Rainbow Rights) (May 23, 2009)• FILIPINO LGB YOUTH AND SUICIDE RISK: Findings from a National Survey (June 20, 2009)• LEGAL RIGHTS AND SEXUALITY (July 27, 2009)
Astraea’s support made it possible for R-Rights to have forums that generate awareness within the community, bring LGBT rights advocacy to mainstream discourses, and give recognition and appreciation to resource persons, a practice that expresses a high regard for activism work. It allowed R-Rights to go beyond Metro Manila. It also empowered R-Rights to sustain its “Pink Peso” campaign. In this campaign, R-Rights gives back to the community by availing the services of LGBT-run and-owned businesses and service providers.
It has also given R-Rights an opportunity to strengthen alliances with other advocacy groups and tap valuable resource persons from within and outside our community. Here is a list of the groups and individuals that R-Rights has worked with in the forums:• Baguio Pride Network• Cebupride • CDO People Like Us • Cordillera Women’s Education, Action and Research Center• Living the L Word (Manila)• Lunduyan ng Sining (Cradle of the Arts) • Metropolitan Community Church (Quezon City, Baguio City, and Makati City)• Paralegal Volunteers Organization, College of Law, University of the Philippines • Pi Sigma Delta Sorority (Baguio)• Radar Pridewear Inc. • Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP)• Task Force Pride • University of the Philippines Film Institute • University of the Philippines (Baguio) Student Council• UP Babaylan* And Ladlad LGBT Party
To all of you who have helped us and trusted us, to all of you who attended our forums and shared your insights and knowledge, to all of you who were generous with your time, talent, and services, to all of you who have stepped up to serve as facilitators and resource speakers, THANK YOU. This is not a “salamat, paalam.” We are not saying goodbye. R-Rights has more fun activities coming with its August 29, 2009 self-defense workshop for lesbians, and bisexual and transgender women co-sponsored by Radar Pridewear and Defense Specialists Inc, and its legal rights and sexuality forum on September 19, 2009, with Metropolitan Community Church (Quezon City).
Thank you and see you soon!
With love from R-RIGHTS