For the third consecutive year, we are delighted to be partnering with Macquarie, The Funding Network and Consortium, for City for LGBT+.
This year, City for LGBT+ will be chaired by Iain Anderson, the UK’s first LGBT business champion, with the event opening with Sheldon Mills, Executive Director at Financial Conduct Authority and Chair of Trustees at Stonewall, in conversation with Baroness Liz Barker, member of the House of Lords.
This virtual live crowd funder is a unique event bringing together our community and corporate allies to support the global struggle for LGBTQI human rights. This year we want to show our community’s support for LGBTQI refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants, and in particular platform the vital work of our grant partners PASSOP, who will be sponsored by Goldman Sachs Gives, and Rainbow Migration, who will be sponsored by Travers Smith.
PASSOP
People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) are a community based, non-profit human rights organisation advocating for the specific needs of LGBTQI asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants in South Africa since 2007.
Millions of immigrants live in South Africa. PASSOP caters for and considers specific needs of LGBTQI refugees and immigrants, recognising their vulnerability to persecution and the pervasive criminalisation of their existence throughout Africa. Fleeing their countries to seek asylum in South Africa, many struggle on arrival to find a safe place to stay and to access food, face an incoherent and confusing immigration policy, and are often victims of hate crimes and xenophobic aggression. When xenophobia is compounded with homophobia, it leaves many LGBTQI immigrants in conditions not unlike those they fled in the first place.
PASSOP advocates for the rights of all LGBTQI refugees, assisting asylum seekers and immigrants with paralegal advice, raising awareness and building vital solidarity networks, and providing emotional support and counselling. Furthermore, PASSOP monitors the South African government’s performance in the asylum-seeker and refugee determination processes to ensure that it is true to its commitment to LGBTQI refugees.
“We seek to provide a voice for the voiceless – to empower immigrant and refugee communities through activism, community participation, integration, and education. We believe that the struggle of immigrants and refugees is a global one, and we seek to build international solidarity around issues affecting migration, documentation status, and refugee rights.”
— PASSOP
Rainbow Migration
Rainbow Migration are a charity that supports LGBTQI people through the asylum and immigration system in the UK. For almost 30 years, they have helped thousands of LGBTQI people live safe and fulfilling lives.
Rainbow Migration offer practical and emotional support for LGBTQI people seeking asylum to help improve their confidence and self-esteem, as well as reduce isolation. They also provide vital specialist legal information and advice, and campaign to improve the treatment of people seeking asylum. Their overarching goals are towards an asylum and immigration system that treats LGBTQI people fairly and with dignity, and ultimately for LGBTQI people who need protection to be granted leave to remain.
“Our vision is a world where there is equality, dignity, respect and safety for all people in the expression of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
— Rainbow Migration
We would love for you to join us on Wednesday 13 October at 6pm for an inspiring evening where you’ll have the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of LGBTQI individuals and communities in the UK and around the world. Please register for the event here.