Around the world, AJWS partners and grantees are celebrating Pride this month — and we’re dedicating this edition of Stories of Hope to these amazing, brave activists.
It should come as no surprise that Pride in 2025 feels especially powerful, and even bittersweet. Here in the United States and in many countries where AJWS works, people fighting for LGBTQI+ rights are facing daunting challenges: increasing discrimination, violence, and government policies aimed at erasing their vibrant but vulnerable communities. However, signs of hope and progress remain all around us.
And as we celebrate AJWS’s 40th anniversary, we too remain committed to this global fight for LGBTQI+ rights. Below, immerse yourself in recent stories of queer pride, joy and progress — and then dive into an inspiring story from our archives.
An Oasis for Queer Joy in the Dominican Republic
Welcome to La Cimarrona Cultural House! With support from AJWS, our partner organization Aquelarre RD — a collective of queer Dominicans of color in the conservative-leaning city of Bonao — established this oasis of acceptance. In just two years, La Cimarrona has expanded to include a community kitchen, an event space, a library and more for the city’s queer community and their allies.
More Stories of Hope
- Revisit this powerful letter from Ong, a Thai lawyer, activist and AJWS ally who — after fighting on the front lines of the marriage equality movement for years — finally married his partner on Valentine’s Day this year. Thailand made international news when it voted to legalize same-sex marriage last year; Ong’s story puts a (smiling!) face on a massive win for global human rights.
- Still, the fight continues. Young Thai activist and AJWS partner Sai is pushing for full rights and acceptance for Thailand’s LGBTQI+ people. “Even if we can marry legally, there’s still far to go before society will accept us,” she says. “Tradition doesn’t follow the law.” Read her powerful story; and prepare for the next stage of this human rights struggle in Thailand.
AJWS at 40: LGBTQI+ Progress
2016: India rolls back its anti-homosexuality law
For many, many years, queer people in India were subject to discrimination under the law: Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalized sex “against the order of nature.” Slowly but surely, a movement of LGBTQI+ activists, including many AJWS grantees, fought this cruel law — and in 2016, the Indian Supreme Court finally overturned it. As an AJWS grantee said at the time: “Today’s judgement reinstates our hope that another world is possible. A world where everyone’s human rights are affirmed and everyone can live with equal rights and privileges.”
Thank you for standing with AJWS — sharing in our joy and our struggle. They’re both important pieces of our mission to create a better world.