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Raise Up Rise Up: Supporting Queer Women

On Monday, we were proud to be joined by Baroness Barker in hosting a fundraising event in support of three brilliant organisations, UHAI, Pink Armenia and Tongas Leitis Association. All funds donated will be divided equally between the three organisations for them to carry on the vital work they are doing. 

“The money you will give us will allow us to bring about the world in which everybody is treated equally and with due respect”, Baroness Barker states at the start of the event when talking about the importance of giving to such groups, who later goes on to say that in a male dominated space, “tonight is our night.”

 Before we listened to the enriching stories and passionate pitches from the three organisations, we witnessed a powerful discussion about pointing positive and calling in by Lady Phyll, Executive Director of UK Black Pride and Kaleidoscope trust, and Amber Hikes, Chief Equity Officer of ACLU. Amber described the meaning of pointing positive as telling people “Where you want them to go, not what you want them to avoid”, opening the floor for an insightful discussion about sustaining our communities and the need to call in.

Kicking off the triage of pitches was Cleo Kambugu from UHAI, who spoke about how her own experiences with Ugandan laws in 2013, led her to UHAI to undo the things that made her leave Uganda. We next heard from Shoger Maria from Pink Armenia, who spoke about how she became a refugee in Armenia seven years ago, which has the third worst LGBTQ+ rights in Europe, which led to her working at Pink Armenia last year, offering her a safe space. Our final speaker was co-founder of Tonga Leitis Association, Joey Joleen Mataele, who spoke about the grave impact climate change is having on LGBTQ+ people in Tonga, and the work they are doing to combat this. 

We would like to say a special thank you to Pippa Dale, Daisy Reeves, Christel Cogneau, Louisa Flynn, and everyone else who joined the event for your support, as well as to the event sponsors BNP Paribas, BCLP and LBTQ Women. 

To see the full discussion between Amber Hikes and Lady Phyll, listen to all three pitches and hear from event sponsors Daisey Reeves from BCLP and Don Sutton from BNP Paribas, watch below. For more information about how you can help support these groups, go here.  

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