LGBT Conference: Save The Shrouk With Loud & Proud
I am so happy to have had the amazing opportunity to not only attend the LGBT History Month Conference workshop but to be a feature in it.
The morning started with a variety of great speeches, ranging from school pupils to a member of Cardiff Council. There were amazing workshops to follows such as 'Gender Fluidity' and "Using theSprout website to promote LGBT equality". Time for lunch, unfortunately there wasn't much, so by the time I'd actually got to the buffet it was pretty much empty, no waste at least. To follow were organisations such as Barnardo's and the LGBT Excellence Centre.
Then came the tough bit, Shrouk El-Attar and I had our slot to fill. I interviewed her in relation to her coming out story as well as her asylum case. The interview had a good response with many people seemingly inspired and touched by my friend's words. The young gay woman had been through an ordeal, having faced death threats back home in Egypt, being kicked out of her family home and faced domestic abuse in the past. Her sexuality was not accepted by her family, yet she does find some comfort in her British friends who accept her for who she is.
The stresses of being an asylum seeker are immense, having no rights to work and having to live on as little as 30 a week for food, having to share a place to live with a stranger and the constant worry of being deported to a country in which there's significant risk attached to living her life the way she wishes. If you'd like to support her campaign the starting point would be to sign up the her facebook group 'Save the Shrouk' [Sub-Ed Note: TheSprout cannot be responsible for the content of external blogs and so forth (Terms & Conditions)].
I then did a speech. It was the most nervous-inducing thing I have ever done. I explained a lot about my life over the past two years and how I had such an unfortunate series of events, something I will come back to in future articles. The speech explained how Loud and Proud had supported me so much through this difficult time and how we as a group have achieved so much, such as currently redeveloping the same sex relationship information for theSprout and CLIC, made a Youth Zone for Cardiff Mardi Gras, worked with Truth About Youth project from Platform 51.
A few speeches followed after ours, then another round of informative and intriguing workshops. The day as a whole was amazing, so many organisations to help the LGBT community. Although my favourite piece would have to be giving a speech, yes I am starting to love the limelight.
Shrouk's petition- sign it here.
Organisations Loud and Proud: Cardiff LGBT Youth Provision
Info World, Europe, UK & Wales Visitors to Wales and Immigrants
Info Family & Relationships Being in a Relationship Same Sex Relationships
Info Family & Relationships What to do if something goes wrong Domestic violence
Related Articles
- LGBT Conference: My Experience
- Celebrating LGBT Month At TheSprout
- The Importance Of LGBT History Month
