Entertainment
Comic Relief joins forces with Sink The Pink, the largest LGBTQ+ collective in the UK to celebrate Pride month
Comic Relief X Sink The Pink.
“Comic Relief is a proud funder of projects that help promote equality and we are thrilled to be collaborating with Sink The Pink for Pride. We support the LGBTQ+ community and Pride is a time to celebrate and to shine a light on some of the great organisations we fund who support people, from every background, who have been marginalised because of their identity or who they love.” – Ruth Davison, Chief Executive of Comic Relief
Comic Relief has today announced an exciting collaboration with Sink The Pink, the largest LGBTQ+ collective in the UK, to help bring people together, while apart, throughout Pride month.
To celebrate Pride month, the collaboration will explore what Pride means and help bring people together in these unprecedented times. It will also help raise money for brilliant organisations funded by Comic Relief which directly benefit LGBTQ+ people in the UK and around the world.
Having grown from humble beginnings as a club night in a working mens club in East London, Sink The Pink now tours the world with their legendary parties, performances and immersive productions. Their dedication to freedom of self-expression, creativity, diversity and joy has attracted communities and audiences from across the globe.
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To mark the beginning of Pride month, Comic Relief and Sink The Pink are delighted to reveal new merchandise by artist Josh McKenna. The exclusive, limited edition tote bag (£12) and pin badge (free – postage fees apply), created as part of the collaboration, are available online today at comicrelief.com/pride and are a brilliant way to come together and show support and solidarity towards the LGBTQ+ community. All profits from the merchandise will go towards the funding of projects that support LGBTQ+ people in the UK and around the world – many of whom are having to adapt to the challenging circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. BBC Radio 1’s Scott Mills has already shown his support, inviting others to share on social media #proudeveryday There is also a new series of eight Pride flag videos released. Throughout the month a different member of the Sink The Pink family will explain the meaning behind one of the Pride flag’s colours, whilst exploring what it, and Pride as a whole, means to them. The first video in the ‘Behind the Flag’ series – released this afternoon on Comic Relief’s Instagram – features drag artist Asttina Mandella, who explores ‘diversity’, which is represented by the colour black and the importance of Pride. The remainder of the series will be released on Comic Relief’s Instagram throughout June |
For over 25 years Comic Relief has funded work that fights for equality and against discrimination. This includes projects that have challenged stigmas, fought for equal rights, supported those experiencing prejudice and who have been marginalised and discriminated against.
Comic Relief currently supports 16 organisations with funding amounting to more than £3.9m, that supports LGBTQ+ people on a range of different issues in the UK and around the world.
They include organisations like Yorkshire MESMAC which supports gay, bisexual and trans men in Bradford, Leeds, and Wakefield with their mental and physical wellbeing. For 84-year-old Gordon, the Older and Bolder group – an informal social support group for gay and bisexual men for over-55s ran by the project – has been a lifeline and has given him the opportunity to share his real self.
“Diversity is really important to the LGBTQ+ community and it’s really important to me. We’re all here together and yet we’re all so different, and that’s what diversity is. We walk with Pride every day. I walk with Pride every day. I don’t just celebrate it for one day or the weekend, I celebrate it every single day of my entire life, from the moment I wake up, to the moment I go back to sleep.” – Drag artist, Asttina Mandella
