who we are
NOLOSE* is a volunteer-run organization dedicated to ending the oppression of fat people and creating vibrant fat queer culture. In the activist and empowerment work that we do, we envision a world:
- that is accessible to fat people and reflective of us.
- that is without fat discrimination, hatred or prejudice.
- where fat people are empowered to create positive change in ourselves and in our communities.
- where beauty, morality, health, humor and fashion are divorced from size and shape and all bodies are celebrated.
- where fighting fat phobia is seen as integrally linked to other social justice issues such as the women's movement, anti-racist and anti-imperialist struggles of people of color at home and around the world, queer and transgender movements, class struggle, disability rights movements and more.
- where all people have a right to basic human rights as well as joy, sensuality and self-determination.
- and where the diet industry closes up shop as the world sees their products for the oppressive and ineffective scams they are.
>> Read our manifesta!
>> Interested in becoming a Board Member?
Nonprofit
We are an entirely volunteer run, nonprofit charitable organization. We are looking to expand to other programming, in addition to keeping our annual conference affordable and accessible to all.
We need your help! Please click on the button below to make your charitable, tax-deductible contribution. Any donation you make will make
a difference in keeping us going. As a 501(c)(3), all donations to NOLOSE are tax-deductible.
Checks are also welcome! Please make them out to NOLOSE and send to: NOLOSE, P.O. Box 7255, Ann Arbor, MI 48107.
Volunteer-run
We also need your time, creativity and ideas. Have a juicy project? Want to get involved?
NOLOSE Board Members
Cristy Cardinal , President, Ann Arbor, MIHolly Hessinger, Vice President, Oakland, CA
Amanda Piasecki, Treasurer, Oakland, CA
Joe Libin, Secretary, Oakland, CA
Gigi Basanta, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
Kim Paulus, San Francisco, CA
Devra, Portland, OR
Zoe, New York, NY
*NOLOSE: queer women, trans, and everything in between (well, almost):
NOLOSE started out as the National Organizations for Lesbians of SizE. As the years passed and the organization grew, we changed our mission to include not only a broader community of queer women—dykes, lesbians and bisexual women—but also transgendered people.
NOLOSE and the annual NOLOSE Conference are explicitly trans-inclusive. We want to make it clear that NOLOSE invites all fat queer women, all fat trans and gender-variant folks and our allies** to participate.
We also want to make clear that while our policy is inclusive, NOLOSE (both as an organization and as a community) has a long way to go before we're truly trans-inclusive in practice. Therefore, we suggest several things which we think will help shift the dynamics of our conference and community to be more inclusive:
- We encourage conference attendees to propose workshops on trans inclusion and being allies to transgender people.
- We ask that those who have mixed feelings about trans inclusion attend these workshops with an open mind and seek out other resources to learn more. (Check out www.tsfaq.info and www.transfamily.org/trans.htm. Contact us at info@nolose.org for more suggestions.)
- We know some folks might feel that by welcoming transmen, we're losing women's space and that might be hard. But we ask that all NOLOSE attendees do their best to help make everyone feel welcome.
- We ask everyone to remember that unlearning prejudice is a life-long journey. While oppressive and unwelcoming behavior will not be tolerated at NOLOSE, we encourage everyone to have patience as we struggle together to make NOLOSE and the world at large a safe, inclusive and welcoming place for trans folks.