The Aguda he Association for LGBTQ Equality Annual Report 2023

Sustaining Community Resilience Amidst War: Stronger Together

To further support our mission, we introduced a training program tailored for caregivers involved in professional training (supervision) and those in mental health professions. The curriculum covers the latest therapeutic approaches in gender-affirming therapy, unique considerations when working with gender-diverse children and youth, training tools, ethics, and more. With the onset of the Israel-Hamas War, we collaborated with Hoshen, the ‘Gila Project for Trans Empowerment,’ and the Jerusalem Open House to establish a control center for the LGBTQ community—a WhatsApp group boasting over 900 participants. This group provided a secure space for community members to seek and offer help and assistance. The center facilitated assistance for over 100 individuals, addressing housing needs, emotional support, combatting loneliness, and distributing numerous food baskets and food stamps.

Additionally, recognizing the need to support communities affected by the war, we collaborated with other LGBTQ organizations in a joint project titled “A Place for Pride: A Space for the LGBTQ Community” within central evacuation centers. This initiative is poised in various forms until the war concludes and the evacuated communities can return home. Furthermore, we initiated a national needs assessment for the LGBTQ community in wartime, collaborating with the Israeli Institute for Gender and LGBTQ Studies. This collaboration enables us to offer pertinent solutions in conjunction with local authorities.

In the past year, the inception of the “Agents for Change” initiative aimed to address prevalent anti-LGBTQ sentiments, particularly those targeting the transgender community, originating from both the general public and occasionally from healthcare professionals. These sentiments often stemmed from unreliable, biased, and

Keinan Birenbaum VP of The Aguda

misrepresented information sources, focusing predominantly on developmental and therapeutic aspects concerning transgender children and adolescents. In response, we joined forces with the ‘Gila Project for Trans Empowerment’ in collaborating with leading academics and professionals in psychology, medicine, and social work to establish the “Maayan” (Spring) website. This online database compiles peer-reviewed research literature, providing accessible resources for therapists in Hebrew.

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