Lesbian Visibility Week
A Message from Lady Phyll:
I’m thrilled to have been asked to be part of Lesbian Visibility Week, powered by DIVA, and even more excited that we will be putting Black women and non-binary people front and centre as we celebrate our amazing lesbian community.
Long before UK Black Pride became the world’s largest celebration for LGBTQI+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American and Middle Eastern-descent, its origins were in Black Lesbians in the UK (BLUK), a sisterhood of Black women who wanted to come together, be seen and celebrate our queerness. The incredible diversity, power and visibility of UK Black Pride today stands on the shoulders of BLUK.
That desire to be seen, when the world tries so hard to make Black LGBTQI+ people invisible, still burns bright within me. That’s why I’m asking you to help turn the spotlight on the Black lesbians you know who exemplify leadership, positive influence and support within our community. UK Black Pride’s ‘We Will Be Heard’ survey found that 82% of LGBTQI+ people of colour don’t feel represented by queer media. UK Black Pride is working with DIVA to change that. Nominate a Black lesbian who inspires you now, and help to ensure our amazing community is seen in all its diversity this Lesbian Visibility Week.
Photo credit: Jonathan Phang
Lady Phyll appointed Chief Executive of UK Black Pride
● UK Black Pride is thrilled to announce that UK Black Pride co-founder and executive director Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (Lady Phyll) has been appointed Chief Executive, effective 1 January 2024.
● She leaves her role as Executive Director of international LGBTQI+ human rights charity Kaleidoscope Trust, where her strategic vision, leadership and fundraising has sustained the charity during global funding cuts for civil society organisations working to uphold LGBTQI+ human rights.
● As Chief Executive of UK Black Pride, Lady Phyll will grow UK Black Pride’s year-round offering, including programmatic and funding interventions to uplift, empower and support the UK’s diverse LGBTQI+ communities.
Thursday, 16 November 2023 – UK Black Pride, the world’s largest free Black pride celebration, today announces that Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (Lady Phyll) has been appointed the organisation’s first-ever Chief Executive. Lady Phyll’s leadership and stewardship of UK Black Pride over 18 years as executive director has been a voluntary and unpaid commitment. The decision to create and fund the role of full-time Chief Executive comes after tremendous and sustained growth of UK Black Pride’s annual pride celebration, and in response to UK Black Pride’s communities asking for the organisation to offer more year-round events, spaces and opportunities for connection. She takes up the role of Chief Executive of UK Black Pride from 1 January 2024.
Already a highly-respected leader with a formidable resume, Lady Phyll has spent the past five years as the Executive Director of international LGBTQI+ human rights charity Kaleidoscope Trust. Since taking on the role, the team at Kaleidoscope Trust has more than doubled in size, and the charity has increased its reach to support more than 45 organisations in 36 countries working to ensure freedom, safety and equality for LGBTI+ people. Under her leadership, Kaleidoscope Trust grew even during the Covid-19 crisis, during which the charity distributed over £300,000 in grants to LGBTQI+ civil society organisations to keep their vital equality work going at a time of increased uncertainty and alarming increases in homo- and transphobic violence – in the UK and across the Commonwealth.
Lady Phyll: “The decision to leave Kaleidoscope Trust, a charity I believe is leading the way in supporting LGBTQI+ civil society across the Commonwealth, is a difficult one, but I am energised and enlivened to have the backing of UK Black Pride’s Board and volunteers to direct my energy, expertise and skills towards the continued growth of UK Black Pride. Today marks an overdue and exciting shift in UK Black Pride’s structure, governance and mission to help us better meet the needs of our communities. Our inaugural community survey, We Will Be Heard, revealed that LGBTQI+ Black people and people of colour in the UK face enormous and structural barriers to their equality, safety and joy, and I believe that UK Black Pride has a responsibility to be a force for change beyond the safe and celebratory space we provide at our annual pride celebration. I have learned a lot during my time at Kaleidoscope Trust and I am excited to focus my 20-plus years of professional experience fighting for equality on UK Black Pride’s future.”
Moud Goba, Chair of UK Black Pride’s Board: “After 18 years of volunteering her time, the UK Black Pride Board is thrilled to be able to pay Phyll a salary to lead the organisation she co-founded. Around the world, Black women continue to lead the way in building and sustaining movements for equality and change, and on behalf of the Board and UK Black Pride’s volunteers, I would like to thank Phyll for her unwavering commitment to create safe and celebratory spaces for our communities. It is only right that we meet Phyll at her commitment and provide the support – fiscal and otherwise – for her to usher UK Black Pride into its next chapter.”
Media enquiries
andre@ukblackpride.org.uk