We are thankful that all Rainbow Street team members and beneficiaries in the city have confirmed that they are safe. We reached out to check in with other friends and colleagues in the city, and all have so far confirmed that they are alright. Everyone is shaken, and we grieve with them for the terrible loss of life and the incredible damage of this catastrophe.
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On this first day of Pride month, Rainbow Street planned to launch a campaign culminating on Give Out Day on June 30. We’re pausing that launch in solidarity with all who are protesting police violence in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
As queer people, we understand the power—and the necessity—of an uprising. At its core, Pride itself is a protest, a riot, a rebellion.
And right now, our Black comrades and their allies are rising up. With them, we say the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade, a Black transgender man murdered by police in Florida last week.
Rainbow Street is a queer organization—queer as in Black lives matter, queer as in anti-racist, queer as in united against police terrorism, white supremacy, colonialism, militarism, capitalism, oppression. Queer people aren’t safe until these systems are dismantled.
Whether you are protesting today or sheltering at home, we wish you peace and power this Pride month.
Art by Shirien Dabra and Miriam Mosqueda (@vientoxsol).
Last Friday, The Queer Arabs Podcast released their latest episode featuring a full interview with Rainbow Street Executive Director Kevin Steen. On the show, Kevin discusses Rainbow Street’s origins, the organization’s theory of change, what it means to identify as an activist, and more.
The Queer Arabs Podcast is a regular show with episodes in English and Arabic featuring queer- and trans-identified Arabs and their guests. The platform has become an important meeting ground for change makers working at the intersection of LGBTQ and Arab identities.
You can find the Queer Arabs on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Listen to the show at thequeerarabs.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
Too good to be true: A tempting headline perpetuates colonialist stereotypes about LGBTQ organizing around the world.
On April 28, 2020, multiple online news outlets began posting articles with headlines proclaiming that Tunisia had become the first Arab country to legalize same-sex marriage. These headlines are deliberately misleading. Rainbow Street condemns the intentional spread of misinformation and urges the participating news organizations to report responsibly and accurately on LGBTQ issues in Tunisia in future.
To summarize the issue, Rainbow Street defers to our partners at Mawjoudin, a membership-based LGBTQ organization in Tunisia, who released the following statement denouncing the misinformation:
The covid-19 pandemic is an extraordinary crisis of global proportions. Like all disasters, it exposes the disparities that already plague our societies. The most fortunate remain insulated from this catastrophe, while the world’s marginalized bear the brunt of its consequences.
This is how the pandemic affects our client population and what Rainbow Street is doing about it.
Read MoreOn Friday, February 21, 2020, Rainbow Street hosted a panel discussion titled Queer Super Powers: How LGBTQ Activism is Redefining Borders, Societies, and World. The event was generously sponsored by The Gayglers and held in the Google Community Space at 188 Embarcadero in San Francisco. Over 50 guests attended.
Read MoreIt’s significant, how the Rainbow Street community is helping form the version of me that’s empowered, that’s proud. That’s what I hope to do, and intend to keep doing, for other people.
Read MoreRainbow Street is a non profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people living in the Arab World who experience discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender expression by connecting them to a network of support, providing them with necessary resources to find lasting stability, and assisting them in the realization of their long term goals.
