In our upcoming GIN General Members’ Meeting (GMM) which will take place online in September 2021, we will run Board elections for 4 Board representatives.
In this round of elections we are replacing outgoing Board members in the following regions:
- Latin America,
- South and Central Asia,
- 2 of the 3 South Africans.
The following candidates for the Board have been approved. Where there is more than one candidate for the position, we will hold elections in the week of 27 September – 1 October online. Further information will be communicated by email.
No election is necessary for the East and South East Asia region, since there is only one candidate (see below).
We did not receive any suitable applications for the Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand region, and will therefore either be required to co-opt a candidate, or to hold a second, special election for this post.
For Latin America, we approved three candidates:
José Rodolfo Vargas Aramayo
Ana Ester
Ca Beltran Acero
José Rodolfo Vargas Aramayo, Licenciado en Filosofía y Teología, por la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá (Colombia), es una persona en continua construcción, con amplia experiencia en la docencia, manejo de grupos y acompañamiento a personas en situación de desventaja y vulnerabilidad. Cuenta con habilidad en el montaje y puesta en marcha de proyectos de desarrollo humano, con énfasis en género, diversidad sexual (SOGIESC), prevención de la violencia, educación alternativa y popular, capacitación de recursos humanos. Tiene conocimiento y manejo de la normativa boliviana e internacional sobre educación, niñez, adolescencia, juventud, género, prevención de la violencia, diversidades sexuales, derechos sexuales, derechos reproductivos y protección. Hace más de 10 años que realiza activismo mediante el transformismo drag queen, siendo parte de la Familia Galan y el Colectivo Las Divas. Hizo radio, televisión y teatro buscando como una llamada de atención sobre los temas de género, machismo, heteronormatividad. Participa en la Red Ecuménica de Teólogas de Bolivia, con la que se realizaron trabajos sobre la relación entre espiritualidad y diversidad sexual en juventudes. Es presidente del [Read More…]
Ana Ester es teóloga feminista queer-lesbiana-brasileña; Doctora y Maestra en Ciencias de la Religión por la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Es clériga ordenada por las Iglesias de la Comunidad Metropolitana y miembro de la Iglesia Antigua de las Américas. Ana Ester es miembro de la Academia Estadounidense de Religión (AAR) y de la Asociación Brasileña de Estudios de Homocultura (ABEH). Es columnista de temas LGBTIA+ para Revista Senso. Ana Ester es una reconocida oradora en Brasil sobre temas de teología queer, habiendo participado en reuniones en comunidades de fe LGBTIA+ Cristianas (Evangélicxs pela Diversidade, Red Nacional de Grupos Católicos LGBT), Budista (Rainbow Shanga Brasil) y Judía (Gaavah Brasil). Colaboró con GIN-SSOGIE en la redacción de informes y co-organizó el seminario São Leopoldo sobre Familia y Valores Tradicionales (2019).
Ana Ester é teóloga feminista-lésbica-queer brasileira; doutora e mestra em Ciências da Religião pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brasil. É clériga ordenada pelas Igrejas da Comunidade Metropolitana e membro da Iglesia Antigua de las Americas. Ana Ester é membro da [Read More…]
Nasci en Ipiales, Nariño (Colombia), en un hogar de personas cristianas evangélicas. Serví en los ministerios de alabanza en diferentes iglesias, durante mi adolescencia. Inicié mi vida académica estudiando Teología en la Universidad Bautista (2004-2009). En ese periodo me caso con una colega de la universidad Bautista; comenzamos como pareja pastoral en la Iglesia Colombiana Metodista y nos vamos a Brasil a hacer maestría y doctorado en Ciencias de la Religión (Universidade Metodista de Sao Paulo). En este proceso nos separamos paulatinamente de la Iglesia Colombiana Metodista; me separo de mi compañera, me asumo como una persona no-binaria, y regreso a Colombia en 2017. Soy profesor de lenguas (inglés, francés y portugués) mientras encuentro un lugar en la Universidad para enseñar Teología y Religión. En 2019 soy nombrada presbítera de la Iglesia Antigua de las Américas y comienzo a hacer parte de GIN. Actualmente me desempeño como profesor e investigador en Unicatólica – Lumen Gentium, y resido en la ciudad de Cali, Colombia.
For South and Central Asia, we approved two candidates:
For East and South East Asia, we approved one candidate:
Amir Mukambetov
Fr Thomas Ninan
Amar Alfikar
Amir Mukambetov is an LGBT activist, feminist, pacifist and Queer Muslim from Kyrgyzstan. Currently works in one of the biggest LGBT organization in Central Asia.
At Kyrgyz Indigo, he is responsible for heading the Community Empowerment Department. His Department’s objective is to capacitate and raise agents of change within the LGBT communities by implementing relevant projects and activities to empower the LGBT people in Kyrgyzstan. Besides capacity building activities such as trainings, workshops, conferences, awareness raising and community mobilizing, he coordinate to operate within the following 8 objectives:
Fr Thomas Ninan is an ordained Priest of the Indian Orthodox Church (Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church). He is currently the Executive Secretary – Projects of Christian Service Agency, a service wing of the NCCI and was previously the General Coordinator of the ESHA Project of the National Council of Churches in India, located in Nagpur. The Project engages and equips churches and theological colleges in the area of human sexuality and gender identities. He also coordinates the activities of the National Ecumenical Forum for Gender and Sexual Diversities of the NCCI, a forum of passionate LGBTIQ people and allies engaging with churches and civil society. He is also a member of the WCC Reference Group for Human Sexuality.
Amar is an Indonesian transman Muslim activist, a queer theology enthusiast, with experience within social activism aiming to unpack queer-phobic languages and challenge dehumanizing narratives in theology. In 2019 Amar co-founded Jaringan Transgender Indonesia (Indonesia Transgender Network), in the same year he also published a booklet entitled “Christian-Islam Progressive Interpretation of Gender Diversity and Sexuality: A Guideline to Understand Human Body and God” published by GAYa NUSANTARA. Formerly he was a steering committee of Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR). Currently, he is selected as a Chevening scholarship awardee to study MA Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham”
For South Africa, we approved three candidates:
Yvette Abrahams
Dumisani Dube
Sedica Davids
Yvette Abrahams holds a Ph. D. in Economic History from the University of Cape Town. She has consulted for government and various NGO’s on issues relating to gender equality in policy and practice, while publishing widely both locally and internationally on gender equality, queer theory, climate change as well as the history of First Nations South Africans. She served as Commissioner For Gender Equality where she headed their programmes on poverty, energy and climate change. She subsequently worked as Advisor to Project 90 by 2030, an NGO which focuses on food security, energy, and promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency entrepreneurship in the context of climate change, She served as Commissioner on the University of Cape Town’s Institutional Reconciliation and Truth Commission. Today she runs a small business making organic carbon neutral soaps and body products on her smallholding east of Cape Town. Her blog is www.khoelife.com, and she can be contacted at khibomsis@gmail.com
Dumisani Dube is a Zimbabwean gay man living in South Africa. A Christian and a human rights activist, Dube has a passion in fighting for LGBTI rights across all spectrums including religious institutions. Dube has been involved in the LGBTI activism for the past 20 years. Having worked for an LGBTI organisation in Zimbabwe from 1998. He has a wide range of experience in campaigning for LGBTI rights in different religious houses. He is the Co-ordinator of Holy Trinity Catholic Church LGBTI Ministry. He is also actively involved in issues of HIV/Aids within the LGBTI and MSM sectors. He has been involved in training NGOs and religious sectors on the Protection and Prevention of Sexual Minority Refugees’ survivors of SGBV. Dube has served as treasurer of Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC) board, he remains in the board representing the African Region. Dumisani is also currently working as Editor in Chief of EXIT Newspaper, the only LGBTI newspaper in South Africa. He is the founder and Director of Dialogues for Change an NPO that seeks to facilitate dialogue with religious leaders and the sexual minorities.
Sedica identifies as a queer Muslim womxn and she is associated with the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town. As a development consultant who works with marginalised communities in sub Saharan Africa, her experience includes fundraising, strategy, and governance within the LGBTIQ+ sector. Sedica has recently provided sustainability coaching to 6 African grantees of Arcus Foundation and provided gender inclusivity coaching for staff at state owned enterprises in Nigeria. To further social inclusion and womxns’ empowerment, she raised funds for a start up project at the University of the Western Cape to capacitate domestic workers to be part of the digital economy, where she is currently employed as a researcher. Sedica served on the board of Community Arts Project from 1996 to 2006. She enjoys the minimalism of poetry and she has contributed to the following publications: To Breathe Into Another Voice: A South African Anthology of Jazz Poetry, edited by Myesha Jenkins in 2017, a short story called “On being a closet poet” appear in Our Words, Our Worlds: Writing on Black South African Women Poets, 2000-2018 and edited by Makhosazana Xaba, in 2019, and a short story titled “Viral Love” that appears in Covid Diaries: Women’s Experiences of the Pandemic, published by Imbali Academic Publishers, 2021