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Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 17:30
- We've donated £1,000 to Pride organisers in Georgia's capital city following recent anti-LGBTQ attacks and encourage readers to give what they can.
This week's attack on the headquarters of LGBTQ+ activists in Tbilisi is an urgent reminder for the dance music industry to protect and support queer communities.
Ahead of a planned Pride march on Monday, far-right protestors broke into the office of Tbilisi Pride, the organisers of gay rights events in the Eastern European city, and injured at least 20 journalists in addition to burning a rainbow flag. Monday's march was cancelled due to the incident, and the US, UK and European Union countries have all condemned the violence.
"Hate groups attacked our office, they climbed the window and destroyed everything we had," Tbilisi Pride told Resident Advisor. "The wallpapers are torn down, the devices are broken, the furniture is broken. Later, because pride organisers were not in the office, they were chasing us all across the city."
LGBTQ+ groups have been the heart and soul of electronic music from day one and it's imperative for our scene to help and uplift them in any way. That's why RA has committed £1,000 to Tbilisi Pride and we encourage our readers to donate what they can.
"We need money to organise safe private transportation for our activists and employees, to renovate our office and buy furniture," said the organisation, which has recently set up a fundraising campaign to cover those costs. "Please help us to spread this information to the world!"
Tbilisi Pride is currently accepting donations via PayPal. Their account is [email protected].
RA is committed to being transparent in its community support. We've long pledged funds to grassroots organisations (visit our Community page for more information), but we will now continually update our audience on the contributions we've made. We're also accepting suggestions on ways we can better support independent networks across the globe.
To learn more about Monday's attacks, read the Guardian's report. For a deep dive on the history of club culture's queer roots, revisit our 2014 feature, An Alternate History Of Sexuality In Club Culture.