Aqui Entre Nos

Monica Enriquez-Enriquez

Wednesday May 16, 2012 7:49

Aqui Entre Nos: LGBTQ Immigrants Speak Out is a short video featuring testimonies from queer immigrants and domestic violence survivors about the criminalization of immigrant communities and the devastating impact of law enforcement and immigration enforcement collaboration.

Honoring my Path // Honrando mi Camino

Maisha Johnson

Monday April 23, 2012 6:10

How did I get here? I could answer that question in a number of ways. I could talk transportation, transformation, or trust in my own path. I could mention the hard times and the hopeful times. I can say that I’m proud of how I got here, but I can also admit that wasn’t always the case. There was a time when I felt shame in parts of my path, but now I’m practicing shaking off that shame to honor my journey.

click here for more

Making Choices: A CUAV Love Story // Eligiendo: Una Historia de Amor de CUAV


Maisha Johnson

Thursday March 8, 2012 7:47

As the newest staff member at CUAV, I can’t help feeling a little like my union with CUAV was meant to be. Though I only recently joined the staff collective, I’ve been a member since the spring of 2009, when I stepped into the old office seeking support for a positive change in myself and in the world around me. The rest, as they say, was history. Except that it wasn’t just history. CUAV now plays a big role in my present life, and in the future of my journey, too. And I don’t quite believe that it was simply “meant to be,” either. Not in the sense that fate just had CUAV waiting until I happened to stumble upon it. No, for me, finding CUAV took hope and courage, to believe in the possibility of change and to move forward in seeking it out. I’m here for the difference CUAV makes for me and for the folks in my communities, but mostly, I’m here because I choose to be.

click here for more

Born to Be Heard // Nacimos para ser Escuchados

Maisha Johnson

Thursday February 17, 2011 5:16

from the moment we were born we knew we belonged on this earth
we breathed the air though nobody showed us how,
filled our lungs with it and raised our clenched fists into the sky above us,
knowing we can reach for more, screaming like we were born to be heard,

click here for more

We Belong in this Fight

Maisha Johnson

Thursday October 14, 2010 2:40

Thinking more about places where our voices belong, even when they’re not always heard or recognized. Especially places where we find the intersection of our voices – where queer people, people of color, people with disabilities, youth and others who aren’t often heard are one and the same, fighting for one another and for their own rights. 

click here for more

Safety Labs and New Ways of Being

Maisha Johnson

Monday August 23, 2010 8:46

click here for more

CUAV Responds to Prop 8 Ruling

Wednesday August 4, 2010 7:11

Today, we join members of the LGBTQ community in applauding Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional. This declaration is a victory against state regulation of our bodies and relationships and a step further towards building a culture where everyone’s lives are deeply valued.

click here for more

Rebuilding and Recovering From Haiti to the Bay Area

Wednesday January 20, 2010 3:29

Dear Friend,

We hope this new year finds you safe and close to the people you love. While we remain hopeful about all the positive movement that is to come in this new decade, we are present with the deep pain so many are experiencing. The numbers of Haiti's dead, injured, and displaced continue to rise in the wake of incalculable devastation. Despite the inspiring outpouring of international support, resources are scarce and the road ahead is unclear. We send our love and determination to the people of Haiti and their loved ones here in the Bay Area and throughout the world in their struggle to survive, recover, and rebuild.

click here for more

Sending Love to Mariah Qualls

Monday December 21, 2009 4:24

We are grieving the loss of Mariah Qualls, a vibrant member of our communities, and recommit ourselves to creating a culture of care and love free from violence. Our thoughts are with Mariah's family.

Click here to read the story about Mariah's death in the Bay Area Reporter. Below is a poem that was read at Mariah's memorial this past Saturday at TRANS:THRIVE.

Memorial Poem for One Who Has Died Violently
By Marta Benavides (Salvadoran Activist & Theologian)

Mother of Healing, Mother of Justice.
Help us to find the place where wounds can heal.
Wash her of distress, bathe her in blessings of peace.
Mother of Weaving,
Show us that what has been torn can be mended.
Mariah has had a rough crossing.
Mother of Justice,
We have rage and we have pain.
May justice be done.
Mother of Dreaming,
Our beloved Mariah is free.
Comfort her in your warm arms, carry her gently.
Blessed be.

In support of communities responding to violence

Thursday November 12, 2009 4:15

click here for more

Keeping Us Safe

Nick Hodges, Board Member

Tuesday May 12, 2009 9:08

I first became involved with CUAV in the early 90's as a Halloween safety monitor when Halloween was a big, and safe, event in the Castro. I wanted to be  more involved so I became a crisis line volunteer and helped in that capacity for a couple of years. I joined the board for the first time in 1999 and then joined again in 2005 and became chair of the board for 3 years. 

I love CUAV and value what it does for the community so deeply. It has helped me understand that many people in our community are not safe and makes me value my personal safety so much. Our transgender brothers and sisters are still victimized by police the way all queer people were in the 70's and 80's. Queer youth are at tremendous risk of violence because they dare to be out and open in a way I was afraid to be when I was young. 

CUAV's new focus on creating accountability from all of us to make our neighborhoods safe is a turning point for the organization. I urge everyone to get involved in whatever capacity you can - financially, as a volunteer, as a board member. Being involved with this organization will change your life in the most positive way and you will meet an incredible group of allies and friends. 

Nick Hodges is the COO of Schwab Charitable Fund and has served on CUAV's Board of Directors since 1995. 

CUAV Releases New 3-Year Strategic Plan

Friday April 3, 2009 9:16

After two years of intensive reflection and evaluation, we are proud to announce our brand new 3-year strategic plan. With the passion and collaboration of staff, Board, clients, volunteers, community members, and ally organizations, we have generated a bold new plan to realize our renewed vision: to build the power of LGBTQQ communities to transform violence and oppression towards safety and liberation. We are overjoyed to share this plan with you. Highlights include:

• Center LGBTQQ communities impacted by multiple forms of violence and oppression, particularly people who are low-income, young, immigrant, and/or people of color, in all areas of our work.  
• Develop viable models of community accountability that can build the power of our relationships, neighborhods, and movements as we respond to violence.
• Build the leadership of survivors, our families and intimate networks, organizations, and neighborhoods to transform violence in our lives, communities, and movements.
• Shift our organizational structure towards a community-driven shared leadership model that promotes true collaboration and sustainability.
• Continue to provide vital emergency support and healing opportunities to LGBTQQ survivors of violence and abuse through our 24-hour safety line and peer counselors.

Precious Lives

Loretta Risso

Friday April 3, 2009 8:37

Dear CUAV,

There are no words to describe the impact that CUAV has made on so many lives. Precious lives that otherwise may have given up hope.

CUAV was there to help my son during some very troubling times. The compassion, support, kindness and respect shown him was indescribable. Because of CUAV and their involvement, my son's life blossomed and he became a better, stronger and happier person than he ever was. CUAV generated a positive energy and yielded "the skies the limit" attitude to those who thought they never could.

I will always feel a great deal of gratitude to CUAV and will continue to support this organization in whatever way possible.

May your next 30 years be as successful and bright as the ones that have passed before you. Angels have truly touched the communities that have been blessed with your generosity.

In gratitude and continued support,

Loretta Risso

CUAV Releases 2007 Annual Anti-LGBTQQ Hate Violence Report

Wednesday June 4, 2008 7:27

On May 20, 2008, alongside the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) and over thirty of its member agencies, CUAV released its 2007 annual report on violence against LGBTQ people. CUAV’s local Bay Area report indicated that incidents of anti-LGBT violence in the Bay Area are up to 304 from 285 in 2006.

click here for more

The New Face of CUAV.org

Wednesday April 30, 2008 1:07

It’s been a long and exciting journey, and we have finally arrived to present to the world our brand new shiny website. CUAV worked hand-in-hand with Oakland-based designers TUMIS to create a dynamic, engaging, and useful website that better reflected the CUAV we are today.

click here for more

We Are Not Disposable!

Wednesday March 19, 2008 6:36

On Friday, March 21st, over 200 people gathered at 24th Street BART Plaza at Mission St. in San Francisco to demand an end to the systemic violence, abuse, and discrimination that transgender communities face on a daily basis. This public action was held a year after a vigil for Ruby Ordenana, a Nicaraguan transgender woman who was murdered on March 16, 2007 in the Mission. A vibrant coalition of local organizations--including CUAV, El/La Program Para TransLatinas, Hermanos de Luna y Sol, MASA, the SF LGBT Center, and the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) have worked together over the last year to create opportunities for collective healing in the wake of this devastating loss.

click here for more