Gay Professional Network: Micro Rainbow

Dear Jean-Francois

This June we turned 10 years old! We are proud of our growth over the years and to have supported almost 6,000 LGBTQI people fleeing persecution so far, of which 1,000 were in 2021 alone. Have a piece of cake in our honour to celebrate our anniversary.

This milestone comes at a time when we, as many others, are facing some serious challenges:

we are still managing the impact of COVID-19 on our services, which resulted in a 50% increase in the number of people we support;
the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan poses life-threatening risks to LGBTQI people. Some are reaching the UK and we are doing our best to support them with one-to-one case work, a dedicated helpline, workshops and much more;
as a result of the war in Ukraine many wonderful LGBTQI British people have offered their homes to LGBTQI Ukrainians, and we are working closely with our partners to match them through the “Home for Ukraine” sponsorship scheme;
Lastly, we cannot not mention the elephant in the room: the recent Nationality and Borders Bill and its cruel Rwanda policy which will penalise LGBTQI asylum seekers severely. Find out more from our CEO, Sebastian Rocca, who addressed some of the challenges with Pink News on World Refugee Day.

These crises are testing our capacity, but we are thankful to our allies and institutional donors who are helping us to expand our team to help as many people as possible.

In typical Micro Rainbow style, we will end on a hopeful note. Here are a few reasons to be grateful (and yes, we were determined to make sure they were more than the challenges!):

read this moving account of the power of our social inclusion programme in creating connections, safety nets and friends for life, like family;
it’s Pride Month! We have been raising awareness and speaking at dozens of events which gave us a real buzz. You still have time to support us, become an ally or chose an item for our safe houses from our Amazon Wish List;
We have now reached 16 safe houses for homeless LGBTQI asylum seekers despite the hostile environment and the increasing cost of living (and utility bills!);
We gave Channel 5 exclusive access to one of our safe houses. They talked to four LGBTQI people from Brazil, Russia, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan. In this 5-minute documentary they spoke bravely about their stories changing people’s hearts and minds;
Last but not least, we were named one of the top 100 social enterprises in the UK for the second year running; we are thrilled to see our work being externally recognised.

We hope you enjoyed reading our updates. We certainly enjoy sharing them with you and going through the Micro Rainbow journey together.

The Micro Rainbow team
#ChangingLGBTQiLives

P.S. Still looking for a way to mark Pride Month 2022? Become an ally! It is the best way to support our work all year round from just £10 a month.