Anti-gay funding from extremist movements is pouring into Africa to mobilize hate speech and lobby governments to introduce harsher punishments for LGBTQIA+ people, like we have seen introduced in Uganda. Minority groups have suffered persecution throughout global history and so we must learn from these past lessons. Queer people in Africa have often been excluded from long running all-encompassing aid programs because of stigma, bias and cultural homophobia and now LGBTQIA+ people are facing mounting persecution and abuse. The only way for us to change this narrative is to empower queer individuals directly through economic empowerment and changing our funding models to support this.
The Queer & Allied Chamber of Commerce Africa (QACC Africa) had been established to create an ecosystem that facilitates and promotes commercial relationships and widen supply-chains between queer owned and/or operated businesses, entrepreneurs and their allies, in nations throughout Africa, to nurture and build the pink economy.
QACC Africa’s approach is that “economic advocacy”, promoting economic inclusion, leading to economic development, will ultimately achieve economic justice and societal integration for the LGBTQIA+ community, and allow LGBTQIA+ people to sustain their own lives, health, security and education, without relying primarily on outside support, restoring a sense of human dignity.
We need your financial support now to allow QACC Africa to scale up programs and activities across the continent, showcasing that true freedom and equality means economic empowerment for all: this will directly save queer African livelihoods.