Volunteer Programs for LGBTQIA+ Rights
LGBTQIA+ rights are making monumental progress for equality across the world. Volunteers are contributing to this success and are making a real difference in areas ranging from informing the public of LGBTQIA+-related laws and acts to volunteering at LGBTQIA+ award ceremonies or marches to supporting the queer youth and community.
By volunteering for LGBTQIA+ rights and equal protection abroad, volunteers can help through crisis intervention, counseling, and disease prevention.
Read on to discover what opportunities are available for volunteering overseas with LGBTQIA+ rights and how can get involved to support equal rights.
Foundations/projects
Many LGBTQIA+-focused foundations and projects allow a multitude of ways for volunteers to get involved with LGBTQIA+ issues. These projects include: volunteering at award ceremonies and marches, crisis hotline intervention, and multimedia volunteer opportunities.
Disease prevention
Although AIDS and HIV affect Americans all over the country, the statistics show that gay and bisexual men are a high-risk group. The prevention of AIDS and HIV in the LGBTQIA+ community has been an important fight for decades and still needs all willing volunteers to help prevent it.
City-specific organizations
Within every state in America, there are LGBTQIA+ centers that have multitudes of volunteer opportunities to support the queer community. The largest volunteer opportunity most get involved in is with Pride Marches/Parades to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and the movement's growth and accomplishments. Pride usually takes place in June to commemorate the Stonewall riots, the beginning of the LGBTQIA+ movement for equality in the late 1960s.
LGBTQIA+ equality in law
Unfortunately, same-sex marriage is still illegal in more than half of the states in America, proving that equality for the LGBTQIA+ community is still greatly lacking. The fight for equality is now being taken to courts, both local and supreme. The fight for same-sex marriage is still being fought in some states around the US.
As with any volunteer experience, it's important to work with reputable companies and to make sure in advance that you have everything you need to travel and live in that country for an extended amount of time. If you are hoping to volunteer for LGBTQIA+ rights in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, your needs and plans will be substantially different than a volunteership in Paris. For location specific tips, consult our location guides.
You might also want to consider working with a volunteer program provider, like Global Volunteers, who has prior experience working with LGBTQIA+ volunteers and local LGBTQIA+ organizations. While on the surface the volunteering itself looks like other programs, this is different.
As Linda Schlapp explains, “the program is the same, but with free time I’ll do things like set up chats with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups or activists, if they exist locally. But an equally important part is for volunteers to be openly out, to be able to say, ‘this is who we are, and we’ve come to help.’”
Schlapp, the director of LGBT Programs and Development, says she “came out to myself” as a lesbian during her first Global Volunteers trip — as a traveler to Vietnam in 1995, before she worked with the organization. “What a great way to show the world how human we are by simply volunteering,” she said. “All activism is critical, and this is a low-key, peaceful way to help break down barriers."
This means that volunteers will be welcomed, cared for, do good, and enjoy their time abroad.
