Jessica Stern, executive director of what to date has been called the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, with Chesterfield Samba, the director of Gays & Lesbians of Zimbabwe, whom the group honored in Manhattan on September 28 at its Celebration of Courage gala. On that occasion, Stern announced that the group was changing its name to OutRight Action International. In a letter to supporters, Stern explained that “the truth is that we changed our name because rendering bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer realities invisible was unacceptable. We want to make clear in word and deed that our commitment is to the full spectrum of our community.” She added, “We also emphatically chose to include ‘action’ because we believe that only through collective and tenacious activism will we change the status quo.”
