Helem

Location: Lebanon

Focus: LGBTQI community building and human rights

Website: https://www.facebook.com/helemlebanon/

Helem are Lebanon’s largest national LGBTQI rights organisation and the oldest Arab LGBTQI organisation in the region. They are a community centre, social service provider, legal aid clinic, and activist organising centre.

Lebanon criminalises sex between men and the gender expression of trans people. However, since their vocal participation in the anti-corruption revolution of October 2019, the LGBTQI movement has seen some progress. The revolution restructured the playing field and has ushered in advantages for the movement, such as a new public narrative of citizenship that centres feminism, diversity, and rule of law, and introduced new political players who have the highest acceptance rate for LGBTQI individuals in Lebanon according to Helem’s data. 

On 4 August 2020 a stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of Beirut exploded, causing hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, and billions in property damage. An estimated 300,000 people were made homeless. Located just 700 metres from the blast epicentre, Helem’s community centre sustained major damage, with windows and a wall knocked out. Nevertheless, Helem continued to provide emergency humanitarian relief in the form of food boxes and micro-loans for temporary shelter to LGBTQI blast survivors and those made vulnerable by the pandemic, while also trying  to rebuild their office. In 2021, GiveOut’s grant will support Helem’s core costs, as the community rebuilds following the blast and the continued impacts of the pandemic.

GiveOut is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registered Charity Number 1176434).