BHM 2021: Black LGBT+ Lives Around the World
Channel: Staff Pride Network
Date: 2021-11-24

A panel discussion with speakers from around the world, discussing their experiences with being Black in the international LGBTQ+ community.

To celebrate Black History Month, we invited a panel of speakers from around the world to discuss their experiences with being Black in the LGBTQ+ community around the world. The LGBTQ+ experience is vastly different in other countries, and in many places coming out as any queer identity is still taboo, or even illegal. In particular, BAME communities can still experience much of the stigma and oppression that white or Western LGBTQ+ folks can sometimes see as a thing of the past. Despite this, so much of modern queer culture stems from the queer expression of Black and PoC communities – from the clothes we wear, to the music we listen to, to the way we speak. We hope to share some of these experiences of coming out, finding community, and expressing LGBTQ+ identities as Black individuals in a range of global contexts, to highlight the intersectional joys and struggles our community has faced and continues to face.

If you are able to, please make a donation to our chosen charity Saheliya (http://www.saheliya.co.uk/saheliya/) in lieu of a ticket fee. 
Click here to donate with PayPal or debit/credit card: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=97W8YUTNTS3H6&source=url 

SPEAKERS:

Char
Char (also known by her art name Oillustration) is an artist and a dreamer. She is a Black woman who draws Black women and women of color. This art shows the full range of our emotions, our experiences and our lives. She hails from the Caribbean and love talking about tacos, enjoy fighting for what’s right and supporting my LGBTQIA+ community.

Char's website: https://www.oillustration.shop/ 

Paulmarq Francois
Paulmarq Francois (also known as “Archangel Paulmarq”) is the owner and operator of PMQ Spiritworks, where he works as a channel, healer, teacher and mentor for others on their spiritual journeys. Paulmarq has studied divination for many years, specializing in Oracle Cards and Dowsing, and is a Reiki Master in the Usui tradition. He is 2 Spirit, and welcomes the use of any pronouns. He is part Blackfoot and Cherokee, and his spiritual gifts are connected to his indigenous ancestry. Paulmarq lives in Arlington, TX in the unseated lands of the Comanche.

Billie Bryan
Billie Bryan, affectionately known as ‘Bee’ is an ethical graphic designer, web developer, artist, musician, activist and vegan. Having worked with or volunteered for animal advocacy groups, her clients consist largely of like-minded eco-conscious or vegan non-profits and solopreneurs. She is also a pansexual, polyamorous, transgender woman advocating for the representation and visibility of her LGBTQIA+ community. Born and raised in the Cayman Islands, Billie hopes to radically reshape the prevalent conservative mindset of her country and create a bold and visible community for the LGBTQIA+ people of the Caribbean and Latin America through the work of Colours Caribbean, the nation’s first LGBQIA+ non-profit organisation that she founded in 2018. When she’s not writing HTML and pushing pixels, Billie enjoys running, snorkelling, video games, fantasy novels, listening to EDM and jazz or curling up on the couch for the night with a good horror film.

Bee's website: https://colourscaribbean.com/

Edinburgh Race Equality Network (EREN): https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/edi-groups/race-equality-network 

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00:00 SPN into by Jonathan 
01:27 Zahra Intro
02:04 EREN intro by Emily
04:13 Appeal for support for Saheliya 
05:35 Start of Panel Discussions 
06:05 Char's Introduction
07:21 Paulmarq's Introduction
11:24 Bee's Introduction
14:10 Experiences growing up...
43:54 Audience Q&A