VOICES: Why climate change is an LGBTQI rights issue

11 March 2021

By Rupert Abbott

Along with the terrible devastation, the COVID-19 pandemic has made many of us reflect on how the world was working before and what a “new normal” might look like. 

As part of this, like many, I have been thinking more seriously about the climate crisis and what I can do individually and together with others to make a difference. 

Personally, my partner and I have been discussing our own impact, in particular just how much international travel we have done and how much we should be doing once we are able to start flying again. 

Professionally, I have recently joined the board of Climate Counsel, a new NGO pursuing environmental justice through international criminal law and advocating for a new ‘ecocide’ law. 

Today, I am very excited to share that GiveOut, the charity I lead, has launched a world-first LGBTQI Climate Fund. This is an opportunity for our community to support LGBTQI activists working around the world to help tackle the climate crisis. 

So what’s the connection between LGBTQI rights and climate change? 

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown on a global scale that LGBTQI people are disproportionately affected in crisis situations. But the pandemic may prove to be a dress rehearsal for the greatest challenge of our time: the climate emergency. 

Research by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that people who are marginalised – including those facing discrimination – are especially vulnerable to climate change.

GiveOut projects that LGBTQI communities will be among the most vulnerable to the direct impacts of climate change. This will be the case especially for LGBTQI people in countries that are most threatened by climate change and where LGBTQI identities are also illegal or repressed.

Emme Kristi is a Consultant on Climate Justice with J-FLAG, one of GiveOut’s grant partners in Jamaica. She told us: “Climate change continues to highlight and widen disparities within society with poor people, indigenous and minority groups bearing a disproportionate burden of the impacts. LGBTQI persons, globally, have been marginalised and continue to be excluded from discourse around climate change impacts on vulnerable populations.”

LGBTQI activists have much to contribute to the climate movement 

In response to these challenges, LGBTQI organisations around the world are already: undertaking research into the impact of the climate crisis on LGBTQI communities to build the evidence base; advocating for the needs of LGBTQI people in emergency situations; and engaging with governments, international bodies, businesses, and others around responses to climate change to ensure that our communities are not left behind. 

But they need our support. Through the new LGBTQI Climate Fund, GiveOut will enable individuals and businesses to help fund this pioneering work, ensuring that activists have more of the resources they need to support their communities in the face of this crisis. 

In line with GiveOut’s model, we will pool the donations we receive through the Fund to provide grants to LGBTQI activist groups working at the intersection of LGBTQI human rights and climate justice.

A massive thank you to those individuals and businesses who have helped shape the LGBTQI Climate Fund along the way and are already providing support, including the team at ev.energy. 

I am really proud that GiveOut has launched this ground-breaking initiative. With half-a-century of experience and success, the LGBTQI movement has much to contribute to the climate movement. 

If you would like to find out more about the LGBTQI Climate Fund and how you can get involved, go to the link below.

Rupert Abbott is the Executive Director of GiveOut, an award-winning charity enabling individuals and businesses to give in one place to support LGBTQI human rights activism worldwide. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Climate Counsel and chairs the Advisory Board of the Future Forum think tank. 

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