Embracing their place on ‘the fringes,' queer artists reimagine Jewish ritual garments for all bodies

Lesbian bars across the United States, like Femme Bar in Massachusetts and Lipstick Lounge in Tennessee, offer a safe space for LGBTQ+ people to connect, be themselves, and build a supportive community.

Women in central India are being recruited and professionally trained as wildlife safari guides and naturalists. Government hiring initiatives and Pugdundee Safaris' ProNat program have provided rural women with stable, well-paying careers while improving the safari experience for tourists and increasing conservation compliance in tiger reserves.

The trans-women and cis-women-led Aravani Art Project collective uses large-scale, public art projects across India as a social practice to empower its members and create space for conversations and acceptance.

After learning that the number of lesbian bars across the U.S. was dwindling, two filmmakers launched the show “The Lesbian Bar Project” which spotlights the bars’ significance to their communities. Along with the show, they crowdfunded $300,000 to help financially support the surviving bars.

Westminster Presbyterian Church in New York opens its doors to create the Pride House, a safe space for local LGBTQIA+ youth, once a week. Organizers provide snacks and games, and participation in the church is not required.

The John C. Anderson Apartments is a LGBTQ+ friendly, senior facility in Philadephia, Pennsylvania, that gives residents an affordable place to feel safe and be with their peers.

The city of Tucson and two nonprofit partners, Primavera Foundation and Old Pueblo Community Services, launched STAR Village, a safe sleeping site offering supervised tent housing, bathrooms, showers, case management, and outreach services for up to 25 homeless women and nonbinary people. The site is entering its second year, funded by approximately $300,000 in unspent city office budgets, plus nonprofit contributions.

The community networks of women defenders in Piura are organized structures that, since 2018, have provided accompaniment, training, and inter-institutional coordination to victims of gender-based violence, combining psychological support, legal pathways, and economic empowerment. Since their founding, more women have reported violence, coordination between public institutions such as police and prosecutor's offices have improved, and survivors have transformed into leaders who break cycles of violence in their communities. Read this story in Spanish here: https://solu.news/mvw1

A group of women from a fishing village in southern Mexico are restoring mangroves on the Yucatán Peninsula. While the group, known as las chelemeras, is reviving the local ecosystem, the members also find personal empowerment from the work and the pay.

The Nashville print-shop Music City Creative builds a welcoming working environment for the LGBTQ community through fair wages, using LGBTQ job boards, and including staff input when making company decisions.