Dear John,

LGBTIQ people across the world continue to be excluded, hated, and even killed purely for who we love or the gender we identify with. In all corners of the globe we are misunderstood, ostracized, seen as somehow “other”, a threat even.

As OutRight's Senior Communications Manager, it is my responsibility to challenge and change that. How? Through stories. Stories of the horrors and the challenges LGBTIQ people face on a day to day basis, stories of resilience, creativity, and successes on the road to equality, stories of individual LGBTIQ people, their lives, ambitions, loves, all showing that we are human, just like everyone else. Only through stories can we explain who we are, establish common ground with those who may misunderstand us, or inspire action from those who may not have seen a connection between them and us.

With little time left in this calender year, consider donating today to enable ever more stories of LGBTIQ people to change hearts and minds, and edge ever closer to LGBTIQ equality.

Because storytelling is at the heart of what I do, let me tell you mine.

In the summer of 2006 the second Pride March was being organized in my hometown of Riga, in Latvia, on the backdrop of incredible hate and toxic misinformation perpetuating an image of LGBTIQ people as threatening to the family, to children, to society as a whole.

I had not yet realized my own bisexuality at the time, but my best friend was gay, so I took it very personally and wanted to be there in solidarity. My family and I went to the first event of the day – a rainbow service at the Anglican church.

Protesters arrived, and we got locked in. As we tried to exit through the back, they saw and ran at us, throwing bags of what turned out to be feces just beyond our heads.

I couldn't move. I had never been so scared in my life. Nor have I since.

From that day on all I wanted to do was to dispel the myths that led to such incredible hate.

I'm pleased to say that levels of acceptance in Latvia have grown exponentially in the years since. But the same can not be said for the majority of the world.

Please give today for a hate free tomorrow.

In peace and solidarity,

Daina Ruduša
Senior Communications Manager
OutRight Action International