Dear Friend, 

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières bears witness to the reality that, in many places where we work, the LGBTQI+ patients we treat face significant barriers to accessing health care, and many have fled their home countries to escape persecution. In some places, our clinics are the only place LGBTQI+ people can go to receive medical care safely. 

Pride Month is a time to celebrate the work that has been done and acknowledge the work left to do. We are restating our commitment to providing nondiscriminatory care to the people who need it most—regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Paolo, a refugee from Togo in West Africa, tells a heartbreaking but familiar story for LGBTQI+ people in many countries. We spoke to him as he waited at a shelter in Nuevo Laredo at the United States/Mexico border, hoping to cross into the country legally. “In my country if you are gay, they don't accept it. People came to my house. They came to my home, they beat me, they cut me; they wanted to abandon me in the forest. . . . My country is dangerous—I can't go back there. Ever. They could kill me.” 

This Pride month, learn more about how our teams are helping people like Paolo get access to the care they need—no matter who they are or who they love.