ACT UP FOR LOVE! Stonewall Uprising Trip

Aim

African Rainbow Family celebrates and pays tribute to Stonewall Uprising liberation for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender movements

The 28th June 2016 is the 47th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising! "The event largely regarded as a catalyst for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) liberation movement for civil rights", It's astonishing therefore, that consensual same-sex relationships amongst adults are still widely criminalised in about a third of the world's population. About 75 countries criminalise homosexuality, 53 of these are from the Commonwealth where all of African Rainbow Family members flee from following the wave of homophobia whipped against them.

As a result of this, African Rainbow Family has teamed up with ACT UP LONDON to commemorate and celebrate:

ACT UP FOR LOVE! - CELEBRATING STONEWALL UPRISING AND RADICAL LGBTIQ RESISTANCE, LOVE AND UNITY in London on 28th June 2016. Details of event here.

Our members really want to celebrate Stonewall Uprising which saw lesbian gay bisexual transgender intersex queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+ ) community standing up and shutting down state repression, homophobia, transmisogyny and racism. The legacy, that we all enjoy today; but we are struggling with meeting travel costs.

Can you help? Will you chip in as little as £5.00?

Our members are predominately LGBTIQ asylum seekers who are not allowed to work, live on £35.00 weekly subsistence; hence it is incredibly difficult for us to meet travel and logistics costs from Manchester to London and be part of history not to let fall the passion, resistance and bravery of our brothers, sisters, siblings who fought for the rights we enjoy now! They demanded "equality for homosexuals", "Gay Power" and "Freedom Now"!

ACT UP FOR LOVE demands that THe Prime Minister, David Cameron and his government, The Foreign Office and Department for International Development (DfID) should as a matter of urgency put their words into practice and act thus:

• Make available Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) nationwide to people who wish to have access to it; as promised by David Cameron.
• Protect LGBT asylum seekers, grant them sanctuary in the UK and shut down detention centres.
• Use their influence in engageing with the 40n out of the 53 Commonwealth countries that still criminalise consensual adult same-sex relationships to repeal such laws as the first step in changing cultural attitudes towards LGBT people.
• Adopt the recommendations of the newly published inquiry report into The UK's stance on international breaches of LGBT rights by The All Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT Rights (APPG LGBT).  

We want to take their message of love, solidarity and struggle and ACT UP FOR LOVE in Trafalgar Square. Build a community committed to radical grassroots protests and empowerment for the whole community as all injustices are connected. "No single issue-struggle" - Audre Lorde.

We will REALLY appreciate if you can sponsor one or more members of African Rainbow Family on this trip to celebrate diversity through song, dance, spoken words and sequins whilst challenging outdated perceptions, xenophobia, healthcare austerity and bigotry! We continually fight for justice and building a strong contingent to counter LGBT discrimination, austerity HIVphobia, gender based violence, anti-black racism, double standards of political and religious leaders and LGBT xenophobia that still continue to attack our community.

The £500 raised will help 17 people out of our 30 desperate members whom indicated their desire but have no means at all to attend the event; covering their coach return tickets (Manchester-London) and light refreshments.

Please donate generously, ask one or more of your friends to do same. Make it happen for us to:

• Pay tributes to founders of true radical LGBTIQA+ liberation
• For us to have a feel of how liberation as LGBTIQ people was made a dream come true!
• Unite in a joyful protest to send good tides to homophobic, repressive and draconian governments of countries where people are still criminalise for LOVE. 
• Spur our members who come from countries with repressive draconian laws against LGBTIQ people to think of how they can influence change in their different countries and one day achieve their liberation and freedom to be whom they are and equal before the laws of their lands.
• Raise awareness and retell the story of the historic Stonewall Uprising once again in our communities in the UK.
• Attract the media, encourage schools to engage in how the freedom of equality we enjoy today in the UK came about through video recordings of the event that would be posted on our social media outlets and also taken to schools for awareness raising and learning resources!

Thanks,

For enquiries and media interests please contact: 

[email protected] or www.africanrainbowfamily.org

This project successfully funded on 25th June 2016