AFFILIATION: RAINBOW INTERNATIONAL LGBT ACTIVIST SOLIDARITY FUND

At this year’s AGM the following resolution was passed unanimously:

“This Conference notes the important work of the Rainbow International LGBT Activist Solidarity Fund to provide vital financial assistance to frontline, grassroots, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists under attack or threat in the countries where being LGBT is illegal, and where people face discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.

This Conference also notes that:

• Being gay remains illegal in 76 countries across the world, and in 10 of these is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
• In February 2014, Ugandan President Museveni signed a bill into law criminalising LGBT people and punishing anyone who supports LGBT equality with life imprisonment.
• In Russia, it is now illegal to speak in public about being LGBT, and Putin’s draconian anti-gay laws have led to an upsurge in homophobic vigilantism.
• In January 2014, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan approved a law prescribing 14 years imprisonment for LGBT people. Since the signing of this law, there has been mob violence, many arrests, and the Nigerian LGBT community is living in fear.
• Gambian President Yahya Jammeh recently said, “We will fight these vermin called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes”

This Conference shares the vision of the Rainbow International LGBT Activist Solidarity Fund of a world of true equality, justice, sexual liberation, and working class unity – free from any form of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.

This Conference calls upon the RMT to:

• Affiliate to the Rainbow International LGBT Activist Solidarity Fund.
• Encourage all RMT Regional Councils and Branches to affiliate.”

I am acting in accordance with this resolution and do indeed encourage all RMT Regional Councils and Branches to affiliate. The local rate is £50 and regional rate is £100.  More information can be found on their website http://www.rainbow-international-fund.org/affiliate-with-us

Yours sincerely,

Mick Cash

General Secretary