Charlene Yum 🦄

Why I’m Sweating with Pride

Hi friends, for the month of June I’m taking on Sweat with Pride to raise money for our rainbow  communities!

Our schools, workplaces, and doctors’ offices are still not safe places for many rainbow folk and it’s putting lives at risk.

Almost 3 million Australians identify as LGBTQIA+. However, despite significant progress, our communities are far from equal. Our communities have the highest rates of suicidality compared with any other populations in Australia, and less than 50% of rainbow youth feel safe at school. Things need to change.

And working in the philanthropic sector in my day job, it is disheartening to learn that only 0.4% or only $1.5M of the $374.5M in philanthropic funding in this country went to LGBTIQ+ specific projects, of which $1.4M (93%) was dedicated to the marriage equality campaign - if we are really going to achieve sustainable and longstanding change and equality for queer folks and our communities, this needs to shift! (source/learn more here: https://www.ourcommunity.com.au/innovationlab/LGBTIQ+funding)

So, this June I’m fighting discrimination with perspiration, and I've committed to exercising for at least 21 minutes EVERY DAY (Dolly's will be holding me accountable! 💪) to raise money to support Australia's LGBTQIA+ communities.

If you have the capacity to chip in (no matter how big or small) to help me reach my fundraising goal, I would be so grateful. But also, please know that your continued support / cheering from the sidelines means the world to me already!

Thank you so much ❤️

Char