We get so wrapped up in 'just us'. The question of the day–this to me is the question of the future–are we about justice or 'just us?'

Mandy Carter has formed connections among a range of issues: opposition to war and violence, support for social and economic justice for people of color, and equal rights for women, lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender people. She works in grassroots campaigns and national coalitions, especially focused on the religious right's antigay organizing in black communities. She is a brilliant coalition builder, highly respected by people from diverse backgrounds. Her work has been essential to the inclusion of gay/lesbian issues as social justice issues in the United States.

Born in upstate New York in 1948, Mandy Carter was raised in foster homes and a state-run children's home. In 1967 she trained at the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence and in 1968 participated in the historic Poor People's Campaign, a huge gathering on the Mall in Washington, DC, organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She began working for peace and justice with the Quaker-based American Friends Service Committee and pacifist-based War Resisters League. She attributes her nonviolent philosophy and commitment to the nonviolent direct action to these organizations. A key focus of Mandy's work is to monitor the radical right in communities of color, paying particular attention to the divisive tactic of antigay organizing in black communities and the black church. As someone who straddles several movements, Mandy is respected by people from diverse backgrounds and is a brilliant coalition builder. As an "out" black lesbian social justice activist, Mandy's work has been an essential contribution to the acceptance and inclusion of gay and lesbian issues as social justice issues in the United States. She exemplifies a model of "bridge building" between the lesbigaytrans movement and communities of color. Mandy has held many staff positions in progressive organizations and campaigns at local and national levels. In 1993, she cofounded Southerners On New Ground to build a movement across the South for progressive social change by developing models for organizing that connect race, class, culture, gender, and sexual identity.

Southerners On New Ground (Song) National Call to Resist National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum