As we celebrate our history this month, we shouldn’t lose sight of the injustices still faced by some of our community in the UK today.
Right now LGBTQI+ people are being held in immigration detention, with no idea when they might be set free. We know that LGBTQI+ people face bullying, harassment and abuse in detention, but still this government won’t recognise that they should not be detained.
Instead, they plan to increase the use of detention – leading to even more LGBTQI+ people being locked away, and for longer periods.
Here are three ways you can help make sure LGBTQI+ people in detention aren’t forgotten this LGBT+ History Month:
1. Educate your friends about immigration detention. We have made a 1 minute video explaining the issue – would you share it with 3 friends who might not know about LGBTQI+ people in detention?
2. Get your community involved. Going to an LGBTQ community centre or venue this month? Why not take some No Pride In Detention flyers and ask them to display them – just let us know you want some and we’ll send them in the post.
3. Write to your local paper. Sending a short letter to the editor of your local paper is a great way to raise the profile of an issue. Our online form makes it really easy to do – you just need to edit the copy to show why you personally care about LGBTQI+ people in detention.
Whichever way you choose to help, thank you for your solidarity with LGBTQI+ people locked up in immigration detention.