Centering the LGBTQIA+ Community This Women's History Month

At Boston Women’s Fund, we recognize that although we are all navigating oppressive systems, some folks are even further marginalized. We're highlighting Ericka Hart and her work, specifically during Women’s History Month, to center support for who we believe to be the most vulnerable individuals: the LGBTQIA+ community, and for us, specifically, Black trans women.

We all need to consider how we can create safer spaces for queer, trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming folks. As an organization, we are dedicated to building an environment that pushes beyond the inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community and instead fosters true belonging. Ericka Hart has incredible knowledge to share regarding just that, and we invite you to learn with us.

In Solidarity,

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Defend Equal Access to the Ballot: Voting Rights Organizations to Support in the South

Our ancestors have done immeasurable work in making a way for us to exercise what is, in theory, a protected right for all Americans. The fight for equal access to the American ballot box stretches on beyond a century. The 15th amendment which granted Black men the right to vote was quickly hindered by Jim Crow laws. When women gained the vote in 1920, Jane Crow stood in their way, too. These oppressive roadblocks weren’t overturned until nearly 100 years later with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which would not have been possible without the work of countless grassroots organizations and action by the people.

March from Selma to Montgomery, AL.

But with as much progress as we’ve made, we can not look away from what is still on the table. For many, voting rights, the crux of our democracy, as well as reproductive rights, are still in jeopardy.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan law and policy institute, as of mid-January, more than 250 bills restricting voting access have been introduced, pre-filed, or carried over in 27 states. Many of these actions will disproportionately impact people of color and other underrepresented communities. For example, a Virginia bill would remove the right for people with disabilities to get assistance completing their ballot. Several states are considering bills requiring proof-of-citizenship to vote.

Around the country, many of these bills are being passed, making it harder for people to vote. Some states have restricted mail-in voting, adopted stricter voter ID laws, and/or restricted early voting. In two of the largest counties in Texas, for example, ID requirements have resulted in the rejection of over 25% of mail-in ballots cast, an abnormally high percentage. The state also recently banned drive-through voting and 24-hour voting, both used widely by people of color and people with disabilities. On top of tighter ID requirements, Georgia has reduced the number of drop-off ballot boxes and limited voting hours, among other obstacles. All of this is happening alongside what is, at times, discriminatory redistricting designed to divide communities of color and weaken the power of our voices at the polling place.

These issues affect women+, girls+ and LGBTQIA+ individuals more than any other demographic. Oppressive voter laws also impact reproductive rights as it hinders people’s ability to push back against laws that infringe on their reproductive health. Photo ID laws disenfranchise transgender and nonbinary people who are often hindered by the financial and legal obstacles connected with updating their IDs. According to the Movement Advancement Project, the South is home to one in three LGBTQIA+ people, and eight southern states have passed restrictive laws already.

While those of us in Massachusetts may feel protected from this injustice, we know that the links of oppression don’t snap from state to state. Any disenfranchisement we passively allow in another region of our country will show up at our door before long. What our brothers and sisters are dealing with in the South is just as much our problem to solve. That’s why we encourage you to get involved today and support grassroots leaders, particularly in the South, who are working to defend voting rights in their communities and create systems change to ensure that access to the ballot box isn’t up for debate in our democracy.

Here are a few organizations you can support today to get involved:

Black Voters Matter, Atlanta, GA

Fair Fight, Atlanta, GA

Texas Civil Rights Project, Austin, TX

Durham For All, Durham, NC

Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Durham, NC

Mass Vote, Boston, MA

The 2022 Anna Faith Jones & Frieda Garcia Women of Color Leadership Circle

Connection, Growth, and Healing in Sisterhood

By: Natanja Craig-Oquendo, Executive Director at Boston Women’s Fund, co-founder of the Women of Color Leadership Circle; and Alexandra Auguste, Director, Community Investments at Boston Women's Fund

“The very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” – Toni Morrison

From time to time, we think of these famous words and are reminded of countless experiences we’ve endured as women of color in the workplace. We know all too well the exhaustion of having to prove your leadership and competence time and time again. We know what it’s like to have to fight to have your voice heard. We know the trauma of operating within systems of white supremacy culture and the isolation many women of color experience, too.

The Anna Faith Jones & Freida Garcia Women of Color Leadership Circle (WOCLC) was founded as a salve for such struggles. This is not a standard leadership development program. Our aim is less focused on what these women produce, or leadership strategies; we are instead concerned with their core. This program is about the hearts and souls of women in leadership positions. And so, we call this a human-centered leadership development program.

The Women of Color Leadership Circle was built around what we needed but had not yet received in the workplace — a supportive environment to explore who we are as leaders, an ethos centered on collective wellbeing rather than individualism, and a community of other professionals with our shared experiences. The WOCLC is a place where barriers come down and bonds become strong, a space that will challenge the ways we’ve internalized the dominant culture’s view of us and replace that with deep love, acceptance and sisterhood.

We are excited to kick off the year with our second cohort of 15 incredible women working in the nonprofit sector.

Creating Sacred Space & Relationships

This year’s circle met for the first time in January and connected in such a way during the six-hour virtual meeting that, by the end, they were stalling for time. The session began by centering connection through storytelling and culture sharing. Each sister shared a photograph representing their power, an aspiration, an ancestor, or something that was grounding them, and together, they built a digital altar. So many told stories of their mothers and grandmothers and the long-lasting boldness and self-confidence they’d passed down. The group discussed how this current moment has impacted each of them personally and professionally. They also spent time reflecting and setting intentions for how they’d like to show up as leaders.

We were so moved by the unapologetic vibe of the discussion. There was no rushing. We took time to let each woman express her thoughts. No emotion was too big. No topic was off-limits. There was no need to be reserved. This was a space for every woman to show up and feel welcomed to be herself.

The unique energy of the session and the freedom it began to foster couldn’t be denied, and neither could the diversity of the virtual room. So often in mainstream culture, women of color are seen as a monolith. When in truth, there is so much beautiful complexity and variety within our cultures and identities. To allow for connection within those nuances, we created breakout rooms where women could gather with others of their background: Black Diaspora, Asian Pacific Islander, Latinx, and mixed heritage.

One woman commented that although she is of mixed race, such a group usually isn’t offered. In the past, she’s joined the group for Black individuals to avoid the exhaustion and complication of explaining how she actually identifies. She was so surprised to see a breakout group specifically for mixed-race individuals, which she excitedly joined because she knew she would find others with shared experiences there.

Centering Inclusion and Joy

We dreamed of the WOCLC as an inclusive space, through and through, and in just the first session, we were reminded of how our individual diversity enriches the group as a whole. To offer a full experience for a participant who is deaf, each session features women-of-color sign-language interpreters, whose work offered a gift to us all that we had not foreseen. Unexpectedly, honoring the needs of one sister brought such powerful beauty, light and movement that we didn’t know we were missing. We can’t think of a more perfect illustration for the truth that when we prioritize accessibility we create a more rich experience for all.

Our interpreters are both women of color, as well, and they are incredible. Huge thanks to Jo Welch and Kaylee Texiera from The Learning Center for the Deaf. Additionally, we’d like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to our amazing facilitators, Aba Taylor and Kelly Bates of the Interaction Insitute for Social Change. Aba and Kelly’s energy was so felt by all of the women in attendance and their understanding and deep commitment to this program is invaluable and so appreciated by us all.

The session closed with the circle sharing ideas for self-care and cultivating joy. We hope to have created an environment that allows these women to explore, heal, envision who they want to be as leaders and foster a sisterhood among each other. Most of all, we hope through all of this we are saying, “You are enough.”