Last Wednesday, I got the chance to visit author Lily Blunt’s blog to talk about why I began to fundraise for the Russian LGBT Network and other organizations helping Chechens at risk of arrest and worse. I talked a bit about my childhood in the Netherlands and how it shaped me:
On school and family outings we visited houses with secret rooms where families had provided refuge to Jews as they sought to escape Occupied Europe. Every summer, we would drive through northern Germany to see my cousins, and my mom would announce the sites of former concentration camps we passed along the way.
Boy Meets Boy Reviews was also kind enough to have me and two other authors involved in Readers & Writers for LGBT Chechens on their blog. We stopped by on Friday.
Adriana Kraft, one of our participating authors, talks about her motivations for getting involved: “We have a gay son who is fortunate to live in a nation where marriage equality is the law of the land, even though bias, prejudice, and discrimination still impact all our lives. This is one small way we can reach out to others whose very lives are at risk.”
And author Naomi Tajedler says, “I decided to participate in the auction because we should all strive to make sure that those men can be saved, that they are protected, that they’re not going to be slaughtered because they’re gay. I write LGBTQIA stories that show how everybody deserves happiness—deserves to live their lives to its fullest. That starts with actually being able to live without fearing for their lives.”
If you have a moment, please stop by to thank these blogs for drawing attention to the situation in Chechnya
- Boy Meets Boy Reviews: Blog Tour: Writers & Readers for LGBT Chechens
- Guest Post by Dale Cameron Lowry | Lily G Blunt
And please get involved at Readers & Writers for LGBT Chechens.