# Who we are

Source: https://www.qaravan.org/annual-report/2024/who-we-are/

*A group of people from the QARAVAN community, outdoors.*

This section of the QARAVAN Annual Report 2024 explains who QARAVAN is, who it serves, and why its work matters.

QARAVAN (formerly known as RUSA LGBTQ+), headquartered in New York City, is a community-based, nonprofit organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers and their allies, who come mostly from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.

The community began as a grassroots group in 2008. QARAVAN registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (a U.S. federal tax status) in 2022 and took its current name in 2025.

QARAVAN provides informational support and mutual aid to asylum seekers and other immigrants in the United States. It regularly hosts gatherings and events to build a stronger community of LGBTQ+ immigrants and allies, and to increase their visibility and voice in promoting wider acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the United States and worldwide.

At the heart of this work is the goal of building and strengthening a vibrant, resilient community. Through community events, mutual aid initiatives, navigation services, and orientations, QARAVAN unites LGBTQ+ immigrants and amplifies their visibility, voices, and rights.

QARAVAN is also committed to deepening its expertise and capacity, so that it delivers on its mission and builds a stable, impactful, and sustainable organization poised for long-term success.

## Our programs and initiatives

Through various activities, we work towards building a more robust support system, a stronger community, and more effective advocacy for the rights of LGBTQ+ immigrants.

During 2022-2024, the number of asylum seekers from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus in the United States has increased exponentially. LGBTQ+ people from Russia and other countries in this region seek asylum because everyone expressing an LGBTQ+ identity in these countries, transgender people especially, has been oppressed through ongoing waves of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

In 2024, the Russian government both banned transgender medical care and designated the entire “international LGBTQ movement [to be] ‘extremist.’” QARAVAN rejects this label: being LGBTQ+ is not extremism.

After the start of the Russian government's aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, the persecution of LGBTQ+ people greatly intensified in Russia. We have also embraced asylum seekers from Ukraine who are coming to the United States to seek safety from the war the Russian government waged against sovereign Ukraine in 2022.

[PDF, 27 pages, 15.7 MB](https://www.qaravan.org/files/qaravan-annual-report-2024.pdf)