The COVID-19 pandemic showed on a global scale that LGBTQI people are disproportionately affected in crises, a reality that is continuing in the face of the climate emergency. Forced to the fringes and already vulnerable, it is little surprise that when an emergency strikes, LGBTQI people are among the most at risk.

As well as being at increased risk during emergencies, LGBTQI people are often excluded from humanitarian relief efforts and post-disaster recovery programmes, and are therefore more likely to struggle to access food, medicine and shelter. Even during a disaster, prejudice still exists – in some contexts, LGBTQI people cannot use emergency shelters because of the discrimination they will face.

Sometimes our community is disproportionately impacted by crises affecting everyone; and sometimes LGBTQI people are in the eye of the storm – we are directly targeted. Extremist individuals and groups target us with hate and violence, attacking our LGBTQI spaces; and in the worst cases, anti-LGBTQI forces take control and subject LGBTQI people to arrest, reprisals and even execution, as in the case of Afghanistan.

GiveOut established the LGBTQI Emergency Fund to ensure that in times of crisis, we and our supporters can be there when our community needs us most. We pool donations to the Emergency Fund, putting aside funds to provide support when it is most needed. When one of our grant partners alerts us to an emergency and the need for support, we are in a better position to provide an emergency grant from the Fund, alongside the long-term support we already provide. We may also complement this grant with a fundraising appeal as we did for
Afghanistan, Ukraine, East Africa and West Africa.

Through this Fund, when an emergency hits, we are well-placed to ensure that the resources that are desperately needed are immediately in the hands of well-networked groups, embedded in their local LGBTQI communities.

We have responded to emergencies across five continents in the last two years alone. Whether that has been our support for LGBTQI communities through COVID, the emergency response and rebuilding of LGBTQI spaces after a volcanic eruption in Tonga, or the emergency support and evacuation provided to LGBTQI people in Ukraine and Afghanistan, our Emergency Fund has supported our partners to protect LGBTQI people and save lives.