Our Partnership with the Feminist Inclusion Center in Uganda

At Origami Customs, we believe that gender-affirming care and community support shouldn’t stop at borders. Our work has always been about creating access, dignity, and comfort for trans and gender-diverse people everywhere, and that means looking beyond our own backyard. That’s why we’re so excited to share about our growing partnership with the Feminist Inclusion Leadership Center (FIL-Center) in Uganda.

Who is the Feminist Inclusion Center?

The FIL-Center is a trans-led, feminist, sex worker-led organization working at the grassroots level in Uganda. Since 2019, they’ve been at the front lines of gender justice, building inclusive programs for transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse communities who are facing some of the harshest legal and social barriers in the world.

Originally founded as the Trans Feminist Association Uganda, they rebranded as the FIL-Center in 2023 to secure legal registration in an environment where trans organizations are often denied recognition. Despite the risks, their team continues to push forward with an intersectional and community-driven approach.

Their work is incredible in scope, encompassing the creation of safe spaces, advocacy for healthcare access, leadership training development, support for back-to-school initiatives, poultry and agriculture projects aimed at economic empowerment, and even establishing emergency funds for their community. On top of all this, they provide gender-affirming resources, such as gaffs, binders, and educational resources, which are often nearly impossible to access in Uganda.

Why Supporting Uganda Matters

I first connected with the FIL-Center earlier this year at the Moving Trans Histories Forward Conference at the University of Victoria. Samantha, one of their leaders, presented right before me. For 45 minutes, I sat in the audience completely absorbed in her talk. She spoke with such clarity and courage about the realities trans and gender-diverse people face in Uganda. Many of us, including me, were moved to tears.

Uganda has some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world. In 2023, Parliament passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which criminalizes consensual same-sex relationships with penalties ranging from 10 years to life. The law also introduced the death penalty for so-called “aggravated homosexuality,” a charge that can apply in cases of repeated same-sex acts or when one partner is considered “vulnerable.” 

In April 2024, Uganda’s Constitutional Court upheld most of these provisions, reinforcing systemic discrimination and exposing LGBTQ people to even greater risks of violence, harassment, and stigma. While a few sections restricting healthcare access and housing were struck down, the ruling has left the community more vulnerable than ever.

Even with the struggles we face in Canada, and even for our siblings who had come to the conference from the U.S., we realized the level of privilege we still hold compared to those living under Uganda’s anti-trans laws. The talk moved me so much that I knew that Origami Customs needed to support their mission.

What FIL Does on the Ground

Despite operating under conditions that make their work not just challenging, but dangerous, FIL-Center continues to create life-changing programs:

• Gender-affirming support: providing gaffs, binders, and hormone safety information.
  

• Healthcare advocacy: linking trans members to supportive facilities.
  

• Education: helping those who had to leave school return to finish their studies.
  

• Leadership and empowerment: offering training in advocacy, politics, and economic independence.

• Economic empowerment: farming and agriculture training and resources to provide a sustainable income and food source.
  

• Safe spaces and emergency support: giving their community places to gather and resources to survive.
  

It’s impossible not to be inspired by the scale and heart of their work.

How We’re Partnering with FIL-Center

Our partnership is still in its early stages, but it’s already rooted in mutual respect and care. Here’s what we’ve been working on together:

• Allotting money from our Donations Program to support the Center

• Creating free custom binders and gaffs for FIL’s staff

• Donating a box of free gaffs, binders, breastforms, and safety flyers for their community 

• Working together to strategize, share resources, and dream up new solutions for how to support them functionally over time

• Brainstorming other crowdsourced funding campaigns that we can assist them with in the future 

• Offering free training for staff on how to best support their community, and how to fit and use gaffs and binders safely

• Offering free educational training on safe binding and tucking practices, designed with extra security measures so participants can join without showing their names or faces.
  

We’re so grateful to Samantha and the FIL-Center team for their courage and for welcoming us into this work alongside them. Their vision of a world where trans and gender-diverse people can live with safety, dignity, and joy is one we share.

Here in Canada, even with the struggles we face, we still benefit from governmental protections, anti-discrimination laws, access to healthcare, and the right to our freedom. Freedoms that our siblings in Uganda are still fighting for at great personal risk. That awareness makes us all the more committed to using our privilege to stand in solidarity, share resources, and amplify their voices.

How You Can Help

Our partnership with FIL is just beginning, and there will be ways for our community to get involved and fundraise soon. For now, here are some simple steps you can take:

• Follow and share the FIL-Center on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

• Talk about their work with your own communities.
  

• DONATE directly to FIL to help fund their latest incredible initiative to open a safe vocational training center for queer youth.

• Or DONATE to our community program so that we can send even more gender-affirming garments and resources their way. 

This is what community is made for. This is mutual aid. It’s about standing shoulder to shoulder with our siblings in the Global South, who often have the least access to grants and funding but are doing some of the most vital and courageous work. At Origami Customs, we believe that when one of us is oppressed, all of us are. Solidarity is the only path forward.