Dear friends,
Fatima was thrown out of her home in Asunción, Paraguay when she was only 18 because she's a lesbian. She had nowhere to go, no money, and no job.
Luckily, she made her way to SOMOSGAY's community centre. We were able to help her get back on her feet with safe housing, job training, psychological support, and community.
But every day, more young people like Fatima are kicked out and left to fend for themselves. When they try to find help, they're turned away from shelters who can legally refuse to help LGBT people.
Our centre is often the only place where homeless LGBT youth can find any help at all.
That's why my group, SOMOSGAY, is aiming to launch a new community centre in a more remote region of Paraguay, where these types of resources are even harder to come by. But we can't keep up with the requests for help and need your support to make this happen.
Over the past few years, we've seen a terrifying rise in anti-LGBT movements here in Paraguay. Our country is very conservative – people promote homophobia and violence in the name of defending "traditional families."
Just last month, Paraguay passed a horrendous law banning schools from teaching LGBT-inclusive curriculums. The Minister of Education said he will burn books that don't follow his homophobic guidelines.
On top of that, Paraguay is the only country in southern Latin America with no legislation to protect the rights of LGBT people.
Young LGBT people have almost no resources and little safety. Their government, society, and families reject them.
That's why it's so important that we launch a new shelter – every day, more young people need our help. With your support, we'll launch a community centre in the town of Villeta, where hundreds of LGBT youth will finally have access to lifesaving resources.
Thanks for going All Out,
Simón Cazal,
Executive Director of SOMOSGAY
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