Protest, solidary and radical love. GayIceland’s Yaz Duncan sits down with powerhouse political activist and co-founder of UK Black Pride, Lady Phyll, who is taking part in Reykjavík Pride this year.
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, known as Lady Phyll, co-founded UK Black Pride twenty years ago, during that time she has worked tirelessly in her intersectional approach to furthering racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ equality in the United Kingdom and around the world. Asked about her upcoming participation in Reykjavík Pride, Lady Phyll says she’s super excited because she’s never been to Iceland.
“So I think it’s going to be interesting to see how other organisers work, how people mobilise and galvanize others, and get them engaged,” she says.
Lady Phyll will be speaking at the Rainbow Conference, a program of talks and workshops at Reykjavík Pride. “From the human rights perspective, it really brings to life the importance of how we look at things from an intersectional lens and what global queer solidarity looks like, especially given that UK Black Pride is on this twenty year journey,” she says.
“This particular climate feels a little bit fraught and turbulent given all that’s happening not just in Europe but around the globe.”
What does pride and protest, celebration or resistance, really mean for people in Iceland?
One thing she does want to get from Reykjavik Pride is ‘what does pride and protest, celebration or resistance, really mean for people in Iceland?’
“And how is that displayed throughout all of their activities and engagements,” she adds.
On the theme of global queer solidarity, the hostile climate towards trans and non-binary people in the UK continues, following the recent UK Supreme Court Ruling on the ‘definition of a woman’. Speaking about the situation and what Iceland can learn from the UK political climate, Lady Phyll says ‘it’s devastating to say the least and we’re all kind of enraged’.
“I think we’ve seen so much around what progressive LGBTQ+ rights do look like, but we’re also seeing the regression of them.
What the Supreme Court ruling shows us is that it’s not just a legal matter, it’s a cultural war on trans and nonbinary people’s lives. It’s driven by dominant scapegoating of marginalised communities, which we’ve always seen.
It’s also driven by the right who are incredibly well organized, because they have resources, funding, and the ears of others who have power and influence to be able to sway them into their own thinking. They have become bloody emboldened to really do what we consider as real harm to our communities.”
Lady Phyll says that when we talk about resistance, we’ve got to do it collectively.
“Iceland can think about what collective work, what creative work, what courage really looks like, and how we show up for trailers and not like people that are under threat.”
What the Supreme Court ruling shows us is that it’s not just a legal matter, it’s a cultural war on trans and nonbinary people’s lives.
Alongside that resistance, Lady Phyll stresses the importance of intersectionality – a framework for understanding how different aspects of someone’s identity work together to shape their experience.
“You can’t talk about trans and non-binary people as if they’re a monolith. There might be disabled trans people, working class, migrants. You’ve got to think about how they are at the heart and soul of communities.
We’ve got to place resources to make sure they support the most vulnerable in our communities, and ask how we protect them when they’re going through an enormous amount of vitriol and hate.”
pride as protest and intentional solidarity
Lady Phyll has been committed to and has seen the necessity in an intersectional approach, since she co-founded UK Black Pride twenty years ago. Speaking about the organisation’s upcoming 20th anniversary, she says that just knowing that we’ve actually arrived at a 20-year landmark tells us that there’s this need.
“There’s an appetite, there’s hunger, there’s a first for us being in spaces that where we are around like minded people.
I normally say we find our tribe, when you find your tribe, then the people closest to you, whether it’s a chosen family because we’ve been rejected, maybe by our own families – it’s powerful.”
As an organisation UK Black Pride upholds the purpose and intention of pride as protest and intentional solidarity. Currently working on managing a Community Action Fund (CAF), they are awarding grants to keep grass roots queer organisations going.
“The CAF covers a wide range of the UK and it also covers different diverse projects. You could have a black queer girl, skater group that want to meet up but don’t have the resources. You’ve got the POC queer lesbian group, or we’ve got something around health or migrants, refugees and those seeking asylum and we subgrant them the money to sustain their organizations and think about how they can continue to do the really necessary and important work,” Lady Phyll explains.
“I think this is for us, radical love, and the distribution of power and resources which often sits in one place.”
UK Black Pride also works to mark awareness days including Trans Day of Remembrance and Black History Month. “We make a very clear distinct link about what it means to be black and queer bringing in other things around faith, religion and belief, because each individual has many different facets to who they are and we just don’t want to leave anyone behind,” Lady Phyll points out.
We’ve got to place resources to make sure they support the most vulnerable in our communities, and ask how we protect them.
Supporting LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum
In addition to her work with UK Black Pride, Lady Phyll is also a proud patron of Micro Rainbow, a charity which provides practical support to LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum.
“This is something so near and dear to my heart when I think about queer people that are leaving their countries of birth to find safety,” she says, adding that Micro Rainbow does incredible work, providing safe housing, looks at employment support and the safety of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and helps them through that journey of seeking asylum through those legal interventions.
“When you come to a country, which is not your own and, you know nobody, but you had to run from your country through fear of being criminalized you need somewhere to lay your head down. It’s about making sure they will seek when they feel heard and held.”
Anyone can make a donation to Micro Rainbow, and provide direct support by purchasing items from an Amazon list that are delivered to people that need it.
After a quick detour to talk about Lady Phyll’s trip to the Blue Lagoon, she offers a final reflection on Pride.
“I think there’s something about Prides and understanding that it’s born out of protest, and each country will have a different challenge. I think I want to understand the pulse of Iceland’s queer community and if there are black and brown voices in that space, how can I give sound concrete advice there.”
Reykjavik Pride takes place on 5-10 August 2025.
More about the Rainbow Conference at Reykjavík Pride here.
You can find out more about Micro Rainbow here
Micro Rainbow – Changing people’s lives, one at a time