Emergency in the DRC

Donate today to help fund the urgent relocation of seven trans women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are no explicitly anti-LGBT laws in the DRC, but society still holds a very negative view of LGBT+ people. Any deviation from traditional gender roles or gender presentations is often treated with hostility, violence, and persecution.

Seven women in the DRC have experienced this first-hand, after being faced with a choice of being burned at the stake or forced servitude, just because they are transgender. 

Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, a local LGBT+ organization, is trying to get the women to safety, but they need the funds to make it happen. 

Your donation will help provide a safe place to stay and food for six months.

Being LGBT+ In The DRC Is Not Easy
“In the DRC, LGBTI people face many challenges

... including arbitrary arrests by the police, humiliation by healthcare providers who publicly disclose the HIV status of LGBT+ patients in order to punish them, denial of access to care, family rejection and abandonment, and lack of access to employment that pushes a large part of LGBT+ people to live in precarious poverty because they cannot access employment because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Naly

“Society rejects me and my family does not accept me.

The population of my locality considers me a witch and nobody can approach or talk with me for fear that I will transmit my homosexuality. I have been subjected to cruel and degrading treatment by the community, I have been publicly stripped, assaulted and sexually mutilated in an attempt to get me to change my sexual orientation.”

Amanda

“My community considers my gender expression as witchcraft and Satanism.

Our traditional chiefs, community and religious leaders incite the community to hate us by asking them to put an end to homosexuals in our locality to prevent the wrath of God in our village.”

Joy