Awardees (by year)
Our 2022 Awards
Dr. James A. Makokis
Indigenous and transgender healthcare recognized leader.
Dr. James A. Makokis
Dr. James A. Makokis is a Nehiyo family physician of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, Canada. An internationally recognized leader of Indigenous and transgender healthcare, Dr. Makokis operates from a platform he calls “Brave Advocacy.” Makokis has served on numerous commissions and addressed the United Nations on Indigenous health and Covid-19. Makokis and husband Anthony Johnson (Diné/Navajo), made history as the first Two-Spirit couple to win “The Amazing Race: Canada” (2019). The Monette-Horwitz Trust honors Dr. James Makokis for their tireless work in bringing awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women, to protecting trans-people of Canada, and for being a good person who fosters the brilliance of queer spirit. https://www.drjamesmakokis.com/
KOURAJ
A group of masisi (queer) activists in Haiti.
KOURAJ
KOURAJ is a group of masisi (queer) activists in Haiti, created to organize other LGBTQ+ persons regarding their fundamental human rights. KOURAJ seeks to empower LGBTQ+ people to reinforce a visible, viable masisi community in Haiti. Masisi is a derogatory term used by Haitians against queer folk. KOURAJ speaks to the masisi community, which includes lesbians, gays, bisexuals, intersex persons, trans people, and all other persons who do not correspond to the cultural heterocentric norms violently imposed on them by Haitian society. The founding members of KOURAJ are the first Haitian masisi living in Haiti who are ready to take the risk to be publicly out in the media.
Rainbow Railroad
International Support for LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers.
Rainbow Railroad
Rainbow Railroad collaborates internationally with organizations and settlement teams to support LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers. The Rainbow Railroad has assisted thousands of queer people to escape violence and death by helping them arrive and settle into new free lives. They provide support with application processes, and help the newcomer resettle and adjust to their new homes. Settlement teams are integral to the newcomer adjustment process. Rainbow Railroad has helped queer refugees go from Chechnya to Canada, from Jamaica to Argentina, from Egypt to France, and recently helped 29 queer Afghanis resettle in the UK. Thanks to all the heroes of the Rainbow Railroad. https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/
ORAM
Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration.
ORAM
ORAM. Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM) provides help to LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees on the global stage. ORAM’s services include legal assistance, advancing economic viability, and providing critical emergency response — such as their COVID-19 efforts — to queer refugees. The crisis at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya became a major focus in ORAM’s efforts, collaborating with (Monette-Horwitz Awardee 2022) Rainbow Railroad. Their joint Kakuma research project has been endorsed by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. It will provide accurate information on LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees living in the camp — a critical piece in more effective advocacy on behalf of those who need us most. https://www.oramrefugee.org/
Rainbow Teens
Korean Youth Crisis Support Center.
Rainbow Teens
DDing Dong Youth Crisis Support Center (Rainbow Teen). Korea is a culturally conservative society; homophobia is widespread there, in families, schools, religious centers, and on the streets. LGBTQ teens are often subject to emotional, verbal, and sometimes physical abuse. Many of them suffer from depression, low self-esteem, and are at a higher risk for suicide. Dding Dong Youth Crisis Support Center provides refuge in this hostile environment. Street Counseling (Phase I) of Rainbow Teen Safe Space will offer a multi-dimensional support system by providing crisis intervention, counseling teens for socio-psychological pain and trauma, and restoring relationships between queer teens and their parents and peers. They will create a Safe Space so that queer teens can feel accepted and affirmed.
Chase Strangio
Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU.
Chase Strangio
The Monette-Horwitz Trust is pleased to recognize Chase Strangio for our 2022 Activism Award. Strangio is Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU, and is a nationally recognized hero in impacting litigation, legislative and administrative advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ Americans. At the ACLU since 2013, Strangio was lead counsel for trans-whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and represented high school transboy Gavin Grimm 2017 MoHo Awardee. Strangio also represented trans-American worker Aimee Stephens in a wrongful termination case before the Supreme Court, and was on the winning side in another labor decision in favor of gay-American Gerald Bostock, who sued Clayton County, Georgia. We look forward to many more years of Chase Strangio being a vibrant contributor to the eradication of homophobia and transphobia.
ACTING LIKE WOMEN
Story of the California feminist performance art movement of the 1970s.
ACTING LIKE WOMEN
ACTING LIKE WOMEN tells the story of the California feminist performance art movement of the 1970s. At the film’s center is the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles – an incubator for some of the most innovative, fearless and still-relevant work in the history of performance art. It was a birthplace for radical new ideas that made the art world take notice and laid the groundwork for future art and social justice movements. They brought women’s private experience into the public consciousness illuminating issues like sexual identity, equal pay, and violence against women. Feminist artists were passionate about social justice and caring for the earth, creating some the first eco-feminist artworks and exposing lesbian content. https://seedandspark.com/fund/acting-like-women#story
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Paul Monette papers, 1945-1995
UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library