Global Ties Miami joins our local and international community in celebrating Pride month. Over the past years we have had the opportunity to get to know some of the people working on behalf of LGBTQ communities, both at home and abroad. With having hosted International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) groups focused on LGBTQ topics involving areas such as Grassroots for Advocacy and LGBTI Rights; Youth and Civic Engagement; Promoting Social Change Through the Arts II; Strengthening the Capacity of LGBT Organizations and the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists; Global Ties Miami has facilitated meetings with local LGBTQ thought leaders and their international counterparts. We would like to share an overview about some of these IVLP meetings and the people who took part in them.
Grassroots for Advocacy and LGBTI Rights: In 2015 five IVLP leaders from Japan visited Miami to learn about the legislative framework to ensure LGBTQ rights in the U.S., explore U.S. and international initiatives to promote and protect the human rights of the LGBTQ community; observe how organizations monitor, influence, and advocate for LGBTQ rights policy at the local level and engage in public outreach and government relations while networking and building alliances. They were able to meet for a series of meetings and networking opportunities with local community counterparts such as SAVE, an organization that has advocated since 1993 for equal rights for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities through grassroots action focused on political advocacy that works to promote local, state, and federal policy change by building community consensus. A meeting for the IVLP group involving advocacy for LGBTQ youth issues took place at Pridelines Youth Services, a youth center that, for more than 28 years, has provided safe space, social support, skills building, leadership development and referrals to mental health, health care and support services for LGBTQ youth and their straight allies. In a meeting with attorney Elizabeth Schwartz, the IVLP group learned about groundbreaking Florida cases related to LGBTQ marriage equality, such as Pareto v. Ruvin, and Chin v. Armstrong, a case advocating for fair issuance of birth certificates to same-sex married couples; and were able to meet with human rights subject matter expert, Professor Jim Wilets of NOVA Southeastern University’s, Inter-American Center for Human Rights.
Strengthening the Capacity of LGBT Organizations: In 2018 five IVLP participants from Azerbaijan visited Miami to engage in meetings with local counterparts in order to gain insight into the approaches, experiences, and challenges of the LGBTQ community, such as civil rights and healthcare issues. They explored topics such as LGBTQ youth issues, achieving economic equality in the LGBTQ community; and learned about capacity building in the areas of managing LGBTQ NGOs. The group met at Pridelines Youth Services and engaged in a roundtable discussion about the challenges and potential solutions within LGBTQ spaces with representatives from organizations such as: the National LGBTQ Task Force, Lambda Living, SAVE, Miami Beach Pride and Florida International University’s LGBTQA Initiatives. The group took a tour of the Miami Beach LGBTQ Visitors Center and the headquarters of the Miami Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to explore ideas involving economic development for LGBTQ communities.
The group was taken on a tour of Ocean Drive along the “footprint” of Miami Beach Pride’s parade route. They later took a tour of the “Little Havana” area of Miami to learn about some of the businesses in the neighborhood that supports the local LGBTQ community and is involved in the yearly Gay8 Festival.
Youth and Civic Engagement: In 2019 a multi-regional IVLP group of twenty two youth advocacy leaders met with counterparts in Miami to discuss various topics involving youth empowerment. A panel discussion to explore youth engagement in marginalized groups was scheduled at Pridelines Youth Services and involved organizations such as SAVE; Maven Leadership Collective; the Stonewall Museum & Archives, and executives from the Miami Dolphins Football Unites program.
Promoting Social Change Through the Arts II: In 2019 a cohort of eighteen arts leaders from all corners of the globe came to Miami with the intention of meeting with creative counterparts and learning about the artistic landscape. Global Ties Miami had the great fortune to have had the collaboration of Preservation Historian, Herb Sosa, Founder of Unity Coalition, who led the IVLP group on a tour of the exhibition, “Art After Stonewall: 1969–1989” at Florida International University’s Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum.
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the exhibit was a groundbreaking survey featuring more than 200 works of art and related visual materials that explore the profound impact of the LGBTQ community on visual culture. The IVLP group additionally had the opportunity to partake in a walking tour of Miami Beach’s Art Deco Historic District narrated by George Neary, owner of Tours R Us. The group learned about the important century-old history behind the colorful buildings, and the architectural details involving the interesting décor elements of structures from a bygone era.
Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists: In 2019 a multi-regional IVLP group visited Miami to explore communications amid a richly diverse community backdrop. As it were, the IVLP group were visiting Miami at the same time as the annual Miami Beach Pride event. One of the programed meetings arranged by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor Bureau was an opportunity for the IVLP group to join a familiarization tour group of international journalists to tour HistoryMiami’s exhibit: Queer Miami: A History of LGBTQ Communities, lead by award winning Miami Herald journalist, Steve Rothaus.
Through these meetings with local and international leaders, learning about diverse experiences and perspectives makes our connections to one another stronger, and are able to help advance the goals of diplomacy together!
