Julie Dorf (born February 28, 1965) is an international human rights advocate best known as the founding executive director of

OutRight Action International OutRight Action International (OutRight) is a LGBTIQ human rights non-governmental organization that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. OutRight Action International doc ...

(then known as the

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission OutRight Action International (OutRight) is a LGBTIQ human rights non-governmental organization that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. OutRight Action International docum ...

). She started the organization in 1990 and served as executive director until 2000.

Career

As scholar Ryan Thoreson describes in his book ''Transnational LGBT Activism'', Dorf "built the organization from a grassroots group in the style of ACT-UP or Queer Nation into a more professional 501(c)(3) that became an authoritative source for information about LGBT rights globally." Dorf was subsequently on staff at the Horizons Foundation, a San Francisco Bay Area LGBT philanthropic organization before becoming a senior advisor at the Council for Global Equality, an organization she helped create and which advocates for LGBT-inclusive American foreign policy. A leader in the movement toward international LGBT equality for many decades, a few of Dorf's other activities include: co-founding the Pink Triangle Coalition on reparations for homosexual victims of Nazi persecution; helping to establish the Astraea International Fund for Sexual Minorities; and implementing the Russia Freedom Fund to assist LGBT activists in the former Soviet Union battling anti-gay laws. Over the years she has served as an independent consultant for the

World Professional Association for Transgender Health The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity and g ...

(WPATH),

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

Global Fund for Women The Global Fund for Women is a non-profit foundation funding women's human rights initiatives. It was founded in 1987 by New Zealander Anne Firth Murray, and co-founded by Frances Kissling and Laura Lederer to fund women's initiatives around th ...

Arcus Foundation The Arcus Foundation is an international charitable foundation focused on issues related to LGBT rights, social justice, ape conservation, and environmental preservation. The foundation's stated mission is "to ensure that LGBT people and our fello ...

, and Fenton Communications/J-Street Project. Julie currently serves on the board of directors of PowerPAC+; on the advisory boards of

and the LGBT Rights Program at

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

; as well as on the Northern California Finance Committee of J-Street. Previously she served on the boards of the

Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews The Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews (BACSJ) was founded in 1967 by Harold B. Light, Edward Tamler, Sidney Kluger, and Rabbi Moris Hershman as a grassroots human rights organization with a mission to advocate for Soviet Jewry's freedom of religion ...

(then known as the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal), the

Intersex Society of North America The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) was a non-profit advocacy group founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries.Matthews, Karen (Oct 22, 2000). Debate Grows Over Using Surgery on Infants with Amb ...

(ISNA) and

Freedom to Marry Freedom to Marry was the national bipartisan organization dedicated to winning marriage for same-sex couples in the United States. Freedom to Marry was founded in New York City in 2003 by Evan Wolfson. Wolfson served as president of the organiz ...

. Dorf is a

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

alumni with a B.A. in Russian and Soviet Studies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorf, Julie 1965 births Living people Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area American human rights activists Wesleyan University alumni People from Milwaukee American LGBT rights activists Women civil rights activists