Dear John,

OutRight's annual global convening for the human rights of LGBTIQ people, OutSummit, will be taking place virtually on December 9-11. We are pleased to announce that one of our keynote speakers this year will be Hamed Sinno, lead singer of the Lebanese-American indie-rock band Mashrou' Leila.

The band believes in change through music, and their songs tackle themes ranging from sexuality to police brutality, corruption to war, politics to immigration. Formed in 2008, the band has become a symbol of creative activism for the LGBTIQ movement in the Middle-East. Openly gay himself, Hamed Sinno unfurled a rainbow flag during a concern in Byblos, Lebanon. In 2017 during a concert in Egypt, members of the audience raised the rainbow flag resulting in their detention, torture and imprisonment. One of them, Sarah Hegazi, took her own life earlier this year due to the hate speech and persecution she continued to experience even in exile in Canada. Hamed Sinno wrote a beautiful tribute to her in the aftermath.

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic prevents us from meeting in person this year, the urgency of OutSummit has only grown. The pandemic, surrounding containment measures and consequent economic fallout has had a disproportionate impact on LGBTIQ people. Meanwhile, the right-wing governments which attack gender and LGBTIQ equality have also continued to be on the rise, many taking advantage of the pandemic to pass restrictive legislation. A ban on abortion in Poland, constitutional changes extending President Putin's power and banning same-sex marriage in Russia, banning of legal gender recognition in Hungary, are just a few of the regressive events from the past year. By the time OutSummit takes place we will know the outcome of the Presidential election in the US, the results of which will have enormous implications for LGBTIQ people around the world.

As such, the need to come together to share insights, strategize across civil society, State and private sector boundaries for the human rights of LGBTIQ people is urgent and important.

Our plenary sessions will focus on:

• Movements for Liberation: LGBTIQ Activism and Racial Justice
• Resistance and Resilience: OutRight and the LGBTIQ Movement over 30 Years

Workshop sessions will include:

• Let's Talk Media With the Media
• Corporate Purpose & LGBTIQ Human Rights
• LGBTIQ Legal Progress and Unfinished Business
• COVID-19 Eight Months Later: The State of LGBTIQ People World-Wide

Find out more about OutSummit here (new details are added every day), and register to participate here. The conference is open to all!

We hope you will join us!

With warm regards,

Jessica Stern
Executive Director, OutRight Action International