Help this youth worker put on a Christmas event for young Black LGBTQ+ people in London

Christmas can be a difficult time of year for young queer folk. Heading home to families who don’t support your identity can turn a joyous dinner into one that feels lonely, isolating and potentially dangerous. It’s something that youth worker Tanya Compas has experienced, and in 2019, she was faced with her first Christmas estranged from family. 

To recreate Christmas for herself and other Black LGBTQ+ people, Compas came up with Queer Black Christmas: a safe space for young people to enjoy festivities without hiding their true selves. She launched a crowdfunder, raised more than £7,000 in donations and ran the first event with food, games and workshops for 30 queer Black people. It was a huge success. 

Despite the various obstacles created by the pandemic, Queer Black Christmas ran again in 2020. Compas launched another crowdfunder, and this time raised more than £100,000, allowing her to create Exist Loudly, a programme dedicated to supporting Black LGBTQ+ youth from London.  

The importance of Compas's work is immeasurable: without a supportive network of people, LGBTQ+ youth are at a much greater risk of homelessness (a 2015 study by charity AKT found that nearly a quarter of homeless people aged between 16 to 25 identified as LGBTQ+, and that three quarters of those felt that coming out to their parents played a part in their homelessness). 

Now, Queer Black Christmas needs your help. For the last few weeks, Compas has been working with a partner to make 2021’s event even more special. According to Compas, the partner had ‘promised the world and back, provided a team of people, a huge budget and more’. But a month after they began talks and less than a week before the event, the partner pulled the plug, leaving Queer Black Christmas without external funding, with just days to go. 

Determined the event will go ahead as planned, today Compas has launched a GoFundMe. So far, it has raised more than £10,000 in donations. To help save Queer Black Christmas and to support its vital work, please donate as much or as little as you can here.

To find out more about Queer Black Christmas, follow Exist Loudly on Instagram, here.