Advancing the Inclusion and Rights of LGBTQ+ of Faith in Peacebuilding Efforts

Inclusivity | June 2024

On Thursday, June 27, the Peacemakers Network hosted its third Inclusivity-based Community of Practice meeting of 2024, “Advancing the Inclusion and Rights of LGBTQ+ of Faith in Peacebuilding Efforts.” This meeting focused on how faith and LGBTQ+ communities can partner to utilize the Queering the Women, Peace, and Security Toolkit and advance further partnerships and awareness raising to create an even stronger international feminist movement.

The Peacemakers Network’s Senior Specialist on Inclusive Peace, Jessica Roland, began the meeting by welcoming the 57 participants and providing an overview of the agenda. The discussion then turned to four guest presenters who provided an overview of the context and an introduction to the Toolkit.

Queering the Women, Peace and Security Agenda Toolkit. Source: https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/centre-for-gender-in-politics/PolicyBriefs/Toolkit/

The first guest was Dr. Jamie J. Hagen, Co-Director of the Centre for Gender in Politics, Queen’s University Belfast. Hagen began presenting the goal of queering Women, Peace and Security (WPS), which requires addressing heteronormative and cisgender assumptions in gender, peace, and security practice. Hagen then highlighted the guiding questions and framework for Queering the WPS and presented the Toolkit’s objectives, including its three sections: 1) Queering the four pillars of WPS; 2) Feminist and LGBTQ+ collaborations; and 3) Queering the WPS National Action Plans. Hagen voiced the importance of addressing heteronormative and radicalized hierarchies across power levels, emphasizing the value of utilizing queer politics of resistance when analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the WPS agenda.

Dr. Jamie J. Hagen, Founding Co-Director at Center for Gender in Politics.

Dr. Hagen presenting introduction to definition of ‘Queering Women, Peace and Secruity’. 

The second guest presenter was Laura Beltrán, Political Advocacy Professional on Gender Peacebuilding for Colombia Diversa. Beltrán presented LGBTQ activism and WPS in Colombia, addressing what being LGBTQ has to do with feminism, the core role discrimination has played in the conflict in Colombia, and the importance of alliance-building with feminist actors through finding common ground. Beltrán emphasizes the significance of queering National Actions Plans, including the successes and challenges to queer Colombia’s first WPS National Action Plan.

Laura Gisselly Beltrán Estepa, Political Scientist and Specialist in Feminist and Gender Studies from the National University of Colombia.

Laura presenting best practices of Colombia implementing its WPS National Action Plan.

The third presenter was Anupama Ranawana, Thematic Research Specialist of Christian Aid. Ranawana highlighted FAQ’s addressed in the Toolkit, including “Why argue for gender, peace, and security?” and “Why is it important to focus on lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer women specifically?”. Ranawana then illustrates how the Toolkit can be beneficial to religious peacebuilding as an invitation to dialogue under the guiding principle of uncompromising solidarity, with particular attention paid to queer individuals who hold complex identities and questions of power that underlie these conversations. Ranawana finished by emphasizing the importance of local and global alliance-building across movements and how functional exercises outlined in the Toolkit, like power mapping, can facilitate these alliances by helping to foster a radically inclusive space.

Anupama Ranawana, Research Specialist at Christian Aid.

The final presenter was Yahia Zaidi, Senior Advocacy Manager of Network member The Global Interfaith Network. Zaidi closed the presentation with the key takeaways from a consultation with faith and LGBTQ+ actors on queering the WPS Agenda during the 2024 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Yahia Zaidi, Advocacy Manager at the Global Interfaith Network.

The discussion then turned into a Q&A with participants about lessons learned and best practices. Some important insights that arose from the discussion included: the value of feminist practices of thinking differently about how to invite people into dialogue, the necessity of awareness-raising activities like “myth-busting” challenging the narrative that LGBTQ+ issues are a Western issue, and the importance of consensus in countering the anti-rights movement from all levels. Following the Q&A session, the discussion moved into breakout groups for everyone present in the meeting to share opportunities within their communities to advance this new tool while addressing the major challenges they anticipate facing in that work. Based on the group discussions, below are key examples that others can build upon:

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