February 14th: Join the #1BillionRising Thunderclap to Amplify the REVOLUTION Against Violence

February 14th: Join the #1BillionRising Thunderclap to Amplify the REVOLUTION Against Violence

Did you know that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime? Let's get together to end the stigma for female victims of violence. Join us on V-Day (February 14th) with #1BillionRising in a worldwide #Rise4Revolution by using Thunderclap, an online flashmob that allows a single message to be mass-shared at the same time. Sign-up to show your support! 

PHILIPPINES: Filipina Trans Beauty Queens Get Political in Fight For Equality

PHILIPPINES: Filipina Trans Beauty Queens Get Political in Fight For Equality

Trans beauty queens are not merely pretty faces. Filipina beauty queens turned trans advocates Maki Gingoyon and Geena Rocero get political in their fight for equality and recognition. Consider this: from 2008-2014, the Philippines had one of the highest rates of murders of transgender people in all of Asia, according to the International Trans Murder Monitoring project. Filipina trans women may be visible but often lack recognition and full legal protection leaving them vulnerable to discrimination and violence.

Watch the video that profiles trans women activists in the Philippines after the jump.

Filipina Transgender Advocate January Marie Lapuz Commemorated in New Documentary on Trans Issues

Filipina Transgender Advocate January Marie Lapuz Commemorated in New Documentary on Trans Issues

A new documentary profiling Filipina trans activist January Marie Lapuz is due for release in early 2016. January Lapuz was a social coordinator and advocate for Sher Vancouver, a social, cultural and support group for LGBTQ South Asians and their friends in Surrey, Canada. The film is an homage to January who was brutally murdered in 2012. January: We Matter sheds light on trans women of colour who are being murdered at an unprecedented rate and addresses issues important to the trans community including access to educational opportunities, equitable employment, poverty and violence. News story from The Georgia Straight.

U.S. Marine Scott Pemberton Found Guilty for Killing Jennifer Laude

U.S. Marine Scott Pemberton Found Guilty for Killing Jennifer Laude

A Philippine court has found Scott Pemberton guilty of killing Filipina transgender woman Jennifer Laude. Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton was convicted of killing Jennifer Laude in a hotel room in Olongapo city, north-west of Manila, last year. The marine was on leave in Olongapo on 11 October 2014, after joint military exercises with the Philippine army, when he met Ms. Laude in a bar. Police said they left together and checked into a hotel, where she was found dead the next day, apparently strangled and with her head inside the hotel toilet. Pemberton will face between six and 12 years imprisonment. News story courtesy of BBC.com.

 

Volunteer to help mobilize the hospitality industry to action against human trafficking on November 22nd

 Volunteer to help mobilize the hospitality industry to action against human trafficking on November 22nd

Join San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking with The Inter-Faith Committee & Jewish Coalition to End Human Trafficking for a volunteer training session on Sunday, November 22nd. You can help become a part of the SFCAHT Inter-faith Committee's volunteer team formed to engage hotel management and staff in an effort to identify and eradicate human trafficking in hospitality venues and volunteer in the hospitality industry outreach campaign.  Pre-Super Bowl Volunteer Training Session will take place Sunday, November 22, 2015 from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm at St. Luke's Episcopal Church on 1755 Clay Street, San Francisco, California.

Wear Purple and Join us on Friday Oct 9 @ San Francisco City Hall Steps to Rise Against Displacement, Forced Migration and State Violence with Gabriela USA and Rise4Revolution

Wear Purple and Join us on Friday Oct 9 @ San Francisco City Hall Steps to Rise Against Displacement, Forced Migration and State Violence with Gabriela USA and Rise4Revolution

The Filipina Women's Network commemorates Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Filipino American History Month by speaking out against state violence and oppression with our sisters at GABRIELA and One Billion Rising.

WEAR PURPLE and join us this Friday, October 9th at 4 pm in uniting with women from different communities against all forms of violence that affect women and families at the front steps of San Francisco City Hall. 
 

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Approve Comfort Women Memorial

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Approve Comfort Women Memorial

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution calling for a memorial to "comfort women" abused by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

Introduced by Supervisor Eric Mar (D1), the resolution is aimed at honoring some “200,000 women who were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery the Imperial Japanese Army during its colonial and wartime occupation” of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War. 

News story from TheInquirer.net

US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton is GUILTY for the Murder of Jennifer Laude

US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton is GUILTY for the Murder of Jennifer Laude

GABRIELA USA demands immediate justice to find Joseph Scott Pemberton guilty as charged on the vicious hate crime and killing of Filipino trans woman, Jennifer Laude, last October 2014 in Olongapo, Philippines. Last Monday August 24, U.S. Marine Corporal Joseph S. Pemberton admitted to choking Jennifer Laude until she stopped moving, but claims she was still alive when he left the hotel room. Autopsy reports show she died from asphyxiation by drowning.  Pemberton claimed he acted in self defense as he was surprised to find that Jennifer was a “man” and feared being “raped” by him.  This does not excuse the soldier's malicious intent to harm and ultimately take the life of Jennifer Laude. His admission to choking her only exposes Pemberton’s intent to kill Jennifer upon realizing Jennifer’s transgender identity.

From GabrielaUSA