ORAM

Earlier this month, the Q***r Forced Displacement Network (QFDN) officially launched in Bangkok through Rainbow Railroad’s Q***r Forced Displacement Initiative.

The launch followed nearly two years of global consultations. ORAM co-organized the Kenya consultation in October 2025 and participated in the Mexico City consultation, bringing regional perspectives into the network’s development.

At the QFDN launch, ORAM’s East Africa Program Manager, Winfred Wangari, spoke on a panel and shared insights from Kenya on the need for community-led, coordinated action led by displaced LGBTIQ people themselves.

“The findings showed Kenya as a place of both safety and contradiction: a place where people fleeing SOGIESC-related persecution seek protection, only to encounter new forms of persecution, invisibility, and exclusion,” Winfred shared.

These insights show why networks like QFDN are critical: LGBTIQ refugees face violence and exclusion across systems that too often fail to recognize or respond to their realities.

Read Winfred and Steve Roth’s reflections on QFDN, further insights from the Kenya consultation, and how ORAM can support the network here: https://www.oramrefugee.org/post/q-a-oram-s-insights-on-the-q***r-forced-displacement-network

***rForcedDisplacement

IDAHOBIT’s 2026 theme — At the Heart of Democracy — reminds us that during conflict, political instability, and shifting regimes, LGBTIQ refugees face heightened risks and are often excluded from traditional humanitarian response.

Join ORAM for an Instagram Live discussion on Protecting LGBTIQ Refugees in Times of Crisis.

ORAM’s Director of Programs, Anja Limon, will be in conversation with Communications & Development Coordinator Kyle Kvamme about how global crises impact LGBTIQ refugees — and what grassroots and refugee-led organizations have identified as critical support through ORAM’s Inclusion Program.

📅 May 20
⏰ 9:00 AM EDT / 3:00 PM CEST
📍 Instagram Live on

Follow ORAM and tune in to learn more about strengthening protection and support for LGBTIQ refugees.

Please join us in welcoming Louis Sidigu, ORAM’s new Inclusion Officer in Kenya! 🇰🇪

Louis brings more than seven years of experience in humanitarian and community-based programming, with expertise in gender, protection, and advancing the rights of marginalized communities, including refugees, persons with disabilities, and LGBTIQ people.

He has also worked with several ORAM partner organizations, including UNHCR, HIAS Refugee Trust Kenya, and Pema Kenya Trust.

Louis’s experience and commitment will strengthen ORAM’s work to protect and empower LGBTIQ refugees in Kenya — and advance their inclusion in communities, workplaces, and support systems.

Welcome to ORAM, Louis. We’re so glad you’re here!

ORAM Germany Program Manager Ollie Dougherty recently spoke on a panel as part of the EU Diversity Voices project, supported by our partners at NGO Nest Berlin.

The conversation explored q***r lived experiences in Europe, media representation, and what safety and inclusion mean for LGBTIQ refugees navigating displacement.

Ollie shared insights from ORAM’s work in Germany, including our short-term housing support and community-building programs, which help LGBTIQ refugees access stability, connection, and belonging.

“As a small organization with direct contact with the LGBTIQ refugee community, the community-building work we do in Germany is such an important element in helping q***r refugees overcome social isolation,” Ollie shared.

Thank you to Ollie for representing ORAM’s work supporting LGBTIQ refugees in Germany and to NGO Nest Berlin and the University of Europe for Applied Sciences for creating space for this important conversation.

Together, our community raised over $90,000 to help keep ORAM strong.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who stepped up during this campaign. This one-month effort was an extraordinary show of support for LGBTIQ refugees and for ORAM’s future.

The Keep ORAM Strong campaign is not just a moment — it is part of a broader effort to protect the long-term sustainability of ORAM’s work.

As anti-LGBTIQ laws and hostility grow globally, violent conflicts and climate disasters intensify, and resettlement opportunities shrink, more LGBTIQ refugees and asylum seekers are turning to ORAM for support at a time when resources remain deeply constrained.

This campaign may be closing publicly, but the need has not gone away.

Thank you for standing with ORAM and with the LGBTIQ refugees we serve in Kenya, Mexico, Germany, and beyond.

If you would still like to support this work, you can make a gift here: https://give.oramrefugee.org/campaign/777747/donate

We are fighting back.

Thanks to Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Jacky Rosen, Grace Meng, Rep. Lois Frankel, Congresswoman Diana DeGette, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Representative Sara Jacobs, and Gregory Meeks for introducing the Protecting Human Rights & Public Health in Foreign Assistance Act to block the dangerous expansion of .

The Trump administration’s expanded now applies to all non-military U.S. foreign aid, including humanitarian relief and development programs, the United Nations, U.S.-based organizations, and even other governments. This is an unprecedented and dangerous shift that weaponizes foreign aid as a part of this administration’s agenda of power and control, and it will put millions of lives at risk.

This new bill would and ensure U.S. foreign assistance reflects people’s needs, not ideological politics.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters, we’ve raised nearly $85,000 through the Keep ORAM Strong campaign.

This campaign is critical to sustaining ORAM’s life-changing programs for LGBTIQ refugees in transit countries.

Your support helps ensure we can continue providing emergency housing, skills training, seed funding, and business mentorship to LGBTIQ refugees — people who are too often left out by traditional humanitarian systems.

LGBTIQ refugees are often among the first excluded from services because of the layered discrimination they face based on their country of origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.

Supporters like Brad and Mark have stepped up to help protect the future of this work.

Swipe through to hear from Brad — and help us reach $100,000 by April 30. https://give.oramrefugee.org/campaign/777747/donate 🫶

Happy 🌱

Since 2023, ORAM has supported LGBTIQ refugees and asylum seekers in Kakuma Refugee Camp and Nairobi in establishing kitchen gardens through agricultural training and financial support.

Last year alone, 84 LGBTIQ refugees in Kenya successfully established kitchen gardens — including in Kakuma, where the environment is harsh and access to water is limited.

Pictured is *Trevor, a gay asylum seeker from Uganda living in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Through ORAM’s kitchen garden program, he grows spinach, collard greens, beans, and other crops — improving his diet, sharing food with neighbors, and regaining a sense of control over his daily life.

Programs like this are now at risk. ORAM is facing a $300,000 funding gap that threatens initiatives like our kitchen garden program.

If you’re in a position to give, please step up today and support the Keep ORAM Strong campaign to help ensure this work continues.

🔗 https://give.oramrefugee.org/campaign/777747/donate



*Trevor’s name has been changed to protect his safety.

Join us tomorrow for the ORAM Community Briefing to hear what’s at stake.

We’ll be joined by Dominique Jackson, ORAM leadership, and global experts — and also by Emelda, a bisexual refugee who has participated in ORAM’s programs.

Emelda will share what this support has meant to her. Her voice is a powerful reminder of why this work matters — and what’s at risk right now.

Without closing a $300,000 funding gap, ORAM will be forced to scale back programs that LGBTIQ refugees rely on for safety, stability, and support.

📅 Tuesday, April 21
🕔 5:00–6:00 PM ET
📍 Zoom

Register here: https://alight.zoom.us/meeting/register/BM1RTk8jQx6Bfnq7XOXplA #/registration

If you’re not able to join, please consider supporting the Keep ORAM Strong campaign. 🫶

https://give.oramrefugee.org/campaign/777747/donate