We’re living through a challenging moment right now.

Our economic system is showing a lot of strain and uncertainty, something that’s affecting a lot of Americans—and Chicagoans—personally.

Some of that’s reflected in our political climate. We’ve gone beyond just having tensions between Democrats and Republicans, with followers of each party saying nasty things about their fellow party members, even when they essentially agree on most issues.

It is during difficult periods that we need to remember the kind of values we share and the common goals we seek to reach. We in Chicago form one of the world’s great GLBT communities. Even when we disagree about some things—even many things—there are still some things we can accomplish.

One of those possibilities lies in our amazing diversity. Few cities in the world match Chicago’s diversity—there are people from almost every country in the world living here. That gives us a unique perspective as a GLBT community.

Many GLBTs around the world, including those in countries such as Poland, Russia, Nigeria and, as detailed in news stories in this issue of the Chicago Free Press, Iraq and Iran, are not free. They can be, and often are, jailed for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.

Even in tough times, many of us can help GLBTs in those countries move closer to freedom. Especially in tough times, when the poorly performing U.S. economy has international repercussions, we should support them.

Chicago has the largest Polish-descended population of any city in the world outside Poland. In that country, led by a far-right government, GLBTs are routinely arrested and attacked for organizing peaceful GLBT events. There should be a constant flow of support from Chicago’s Polish-American GLBT community to Poland’s Campaign Against Homophobia, a non-profit national group organized by Polish GLBTs to work for equal rights. Find out more about them at kampania.org.pl.

In Russia, Moscow Pride marchers have been repeatedly and violently stopped by police and nationalist thugs when they’ve tried to hold peaceful rallies. The leading gay activist from Russia, Nikolai Alexeyev, spoke here in Chicago last year about the need for international solidarity with struggles in Moscow and elsewhere. Learn more about how to support those efforts at gayrussia.ru.

Another activist spoke to Chicagoans in 2007 about the death threats and intimidation he and other GLBTs routinely face, again from homophobes and also government officials, in Nigeria. That activist, Davis Mac-Iyala, leads Changing Attitude Nigeria, an Anglican GLBT rights group. Learn more at changingattitude.org.uk.

In Iran gays are frequently hung, a tragic and brutal contradiction of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ridiculous assertion that there are no gays in Iran. Groups working on behalf of Iranian gays must do so from abroad. Often, the best thing they can do is work to arrange for Iranian gays to leave their homes and seek asylum in Western countries. Learn more and support those efforts at irqo.net.

And the upheaval caused by our country’s occupation of Iraq has left many Iraqi gays under siege from fundamentalist militia groups. The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based human rights group, is trying to help GLBTs in Iraq, as detailed in a news story in this newspaper. Support that effort at heartlandalliance.org.

Our help for these efforts around the world is not only expressed by our financial contributions. People—and government leaders—in those countries are influenced when we, often as people with familial ties to their countries, actively support human rights outside our borders.

It shows that we care, that even during evolving and uncertain times one thing never changes: Our commitment that justice includes each and every one of us, wherever we are. Pride is coming up—do something, however small, for one of these groups today and give yourself a reason to be more proud this time around.