Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - August 14, 2008
Heather Tirado Gilligan
The rainbow-colored school bus, which will make a number of stops between Sacramento and San Diego before dropping its cargo in Tijuana, is but one of many clever money-raising ventures by Rainbow World Fund, the only openly gay humanitarian group in the United States. The bus trip, called the "Bus of Hope Project," runs October 4-13.
RWF's mission is to raise awareness of international need in the LGBT community in the United States and give residents of developing nations what is for many their first glimpse of gay culture.
"A deep concern for the world" is what Jeff Cotter, president of the all-volunteer RWF, said motivates him to give back to the community.
Cotter founded RWF in 2000 after a 15-year career as a social worker in San Francisco.
"I started where I was, as a gay man in San Francisco, as a way to make a difference and to tap into our community strength," Cotter said of his decision to begin a gay humanitarian group. RWF's work "changes the public's misperceptions about who gay people are. A lot of the world still views us as just concerned about sex, drugs, and materialism."
"We've already learned so much from civil rights struggles and struggles with HIV. I felt that we had a lot to offer the world," Cotter added.
"It changes the way we see ourselves and it changes the way our world sees us," Cotter said, emphasizing a reciprocal relationship between LGBT visitors and Third World countries.
On their most recent trip to Guatemala, last month, RWF distributed $300,000 worth of supplies and $56,000 in cash grants, Cotter said. The grants were distributed among a number of organizations, Cotter explained, including an advocacy group for HIV-positive LGBTs. The largest grant, $21,000, went to build a clean water supply for a rural community, he said.
The trips to Guatemala are meant to use the resources of the gay community to give back to the world, Cotter noted, but they are also immersion trips into the culture of the country. The 15 people who participated in the July trip went to rural villages, spoke at local schools, and met with a group of the country's shamans.
RWF is helping to support the shamans' ongoing oral history project, where they are attempting to document their history, culture, and rituals before they are lost to the world as the older generation dies.
"Really, for that group of shamans, it was the first time they ever had contact knowingly with a gay person," Cotter said.
By the end of the visit, the shamans agreed to develop educational materials for shamans on LGBTs in collaboration with RWF.
"It really is quite a big deal and makes a big impact," Cotter said. Because Guatemala has no developed LGBT movement, he said, every bit of education on LGBT rights constitutes a significant improvement in the lives of gays there.
Cotter hopes that the bus trip through California to Mexico will have a similar impact, and that the mission will draw new volunteers and donors to RWF.
"We're challenging the LGBT and friends communities to help fill the bus up with medical and school supplies and we hope cash, too," he said.
The bus will stop at community organizations from churches to LGBT centers for donations during the trip. The collections will fund two orphanages, including one for children who were abandoned because they are HIV-positive, a school, and an HIV clinic.
Humanitarian work abroad, Cotter said, is yet another step that LGBTs can take to secure their civil rights at home. "Gay identity and contributions to society need to be visible, and we need public support to achieve our full civil rights," he said.
RWF's next trip to Guatemala is July 9-18, 2009, and all are welcome. For more information about donating to the Bus of Hope Project, go to http://www.rainbowfund.org.
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