Samaria Mata Alvarez is a project manager in the Swedish youth organisation Tamam. They are involved in the project Nordic Futures: QTIBIPoC Movement Based Learning, which received funding from the Nordic LGBTI fund in 2022. The project is developing a guide entitled ‘Rivers in Resistance’, to improve initiatives aimed at people who are QTIBIPOC. Behind the project was a sense within the organisations that existing initiatives did not always hit the mark and risked rendering invisible LGBTI people who are racialised as non-white instead of empowering them. 

– People within the group need to identify the problems themselves and drive the work. It is also about everyone having the same opportunities to take on leading roles within an organisation or institution. Many people who are racialised as non-white feel that they are not able to progress. This is also true in organisations that work actively with anti-racism. The systems of oppression that exist in society are reflected in the organisations. 

– I think it requires education about the different conditions in which we live. It also requires that organisations are prepared to listen to and make room for people who are directly affected. It’s about genuinely including people and building trust. Separate meeting places are also needed, where LGBTI people who are racialised as non-white can meet others with shared experiences.  

– It provides a space for people with shared experiences to explore issues of power and privilege. Separatist spaces offer a platform to build a community, share experiences and learn from each other. Many LGBTI spaces are white-dominated and can be difficult to navigate. The young people we work with tell us that they often feel that their identity is questioned in these environments. For example, they get many questions about how one can be both Muslim and gay. 

– They seem to be quite similar. However, the conditions are different for different groups. For example, there is a big difference in conditions depending on whether you are an asylum seeker compared to if you were born here and have a parent with a Nordic background, but the need for separatist meeting places where you are not questioned on the basis of any part of your identity applies generally.

– Not much is known about the situation of QTIBIPOC

QTIBIPOC stands for queer, trans, intersex and black, indigenous, people of colour.

people in the Nordic countries. The co-operation gives us a better picture, both of what the positive are and what needs to be improved.