Protection Briefing: Protection Challenges and Advocacy Engagement for LGBTQ Refugees in Gorom Refugee Settlement, South Sudan
Prepared by: Trans Initiative Gorom
Period Covered: May 2025 – Present
Purpose: To highlight protection concerns, advocacy engagement, and priority needs of LGBTQ refugees
1. Executive Summary
Since May 2025, LGBTQ refugees in Gorom Refugee Settlement have experienced increased protection concerns linked to changes in settlement arrangements and heightened community tensions. These developments have contributed to fear, instability, and uncertainty regarding safety and access to protection. Through advocacy, documentation, and engagement with UNHCR and international partners, LGBTQ refugees and community advocates have sought protection-oriented responses and durable solutions. While engagement has helped reduce some immediate risks, significant protection gaps remain.
2. Background and Context
LGBTQ refugees in Gorom Refugee Settlement have faced long-standing vulnerabilities related to discrimination, visibility, and social exclusion across refugee settings over several years. These challenges have affected access to services, safety, and overall well-being.
Following arrival in Gorom, proposals were made to relocate LGBTQ refugees to alternative locations, including remote camp settings. Community members raised concerns regarding isolation, limited access to information, and potential protection risks in such environments. Advocacy and dialogue with UNHCR and other relevant actors emphasized the importance of protection-sensitive approaches and individual risk assessments.
As a result of this engagement, relocation to remote settings was paused, and individual-level processes were initiated. While challenges persisted in Gorom, these efforts reduced immediate exposure to heightened protection risks.
3. Engagement on Durable Solutions
Given the prolonged protection challenges faced by LGBTQ refugees, community advocates engaged UNHCR to explore durable solutions. Many LGBTQ refugees have experienced repeated insecurity across multiple displacement contexts, highlighting the need for long-term protection pathways.
In 2024, some cases were referred for resettlement consideration through established UNHCR processes. However, during the Trump administration, the United States refugee resettlement program was suspended, resulting in the interruption of these resettlement pathways and increased uncertainty for individuals already facing heightened protection risks.
4. Recent Developments and Protection Impact
In early 2025, new settlement-level directives affecting LGBTQ refugees contributed to increased fear, instability, and concerns about safety. These developments resulted in disruptions to daily life, increased movement, and heightened anxiety among LGBTQ refugees.
The situation underscored the need for:
Protection-sensitive programming
Non-discriminatory access to services
Individualized protection assessments
Continued engagement between UNHCR and affected communities
5. Advocacy and Community Engagement
LGBTQ refugees and community advocates prioritized advocacy, documentation, and engagement with UNHCR, international partners, and humanitarian actors to raise awareness of protection needs. These efforts focused on constructive dialogue, visibility of protection concerns, and strengthening community-based protection mechanisms.
Advocacy contributed to increased attention from international actors and reinforced the importance of inclusive and protection-centered approaches within the broader refugee response.
6. Ongoing Protection Gaps
Despite continued engagement, key challenges remain:
Limited availability of durable solutions for LGBTQ refugees at heightened risk
Persistent fear and uncertainty regarding safety
Insufficient access to safe and inclusive shelter options
Limited availability of specialized psychosocial and protection support
7. Priority Recommendations
We respectfully encourage UNHCR, donor governments, and humanitarian partners to:
Expand resettlement opportunities for LGBTQ refugees facing heightened protection risks
Increase protection-focused funding for inclusive shelter, psychosocial support, and community-based protection
Ensure non-discriminatory protection practices across all refugee assistance and services
Strengthen protection monitoring and community engagement mechanisms
Continue dialogue with LGBTQ refugee-led groups to inform protection responses
8. Positive Developments
We acknowledge and appreciate the engagement of resettlement countries, including Canada, in providing protection pathways to some LGBTQ refugees from Gorom. These examples demonstrate the life-saving impact of targeted protection interventions and the importance of expanding such opportunities.
9. Conclusion: A Shared Responsibility
The situation of LGBTQ refugees in Gorom highlights both ongoing protection challenges and the value of sustained advocacy and engagement with UNHCR and international partners. Continued support is essential to ensure safety, dignity and access to durable solutions for LGBTQ refugees facing heightening risks.
Donor governments supporting the humanitarian response in Gorom play a vital role and can further strengthen protection by expanding resettlement slots for LGBTQI refugees most at risk. UNHCR remains central to coordinating protection responses and advancing durable solutions through continued engagement with affected communities.
Donors and humanitarian partners can support flexible, protection-focused funding that prioritizes safety, shelter, and psychosocial support. Activists and civil society can continue to raise awareness responsibly, amplify refugee voices, and advocate for inclusive protection pathways. Together, these actions can help ensure that LGBTQI refugees are not left without options for safety and dignity.
Memory is not enough. Attention is not guaranteed. Justice must be demanded.
World AIDS Day is not just a memorial. It is a challenge.
This post is a challenge between the past and the present silence that endangers lives. It honours those lost, confronts ongoing injustice, and insists that we remember not only what happened, but what continues to unfold. From Melbourne to Kampala, from memory to moral action, our imperative to care must be honoured.
Early badge from VAAC (Victorian AIDS Action Council – later VAC and now Thorne-Harbour Health)
In a recent social media post, people were asked for their recollection of the 1980s and 1990s. Most of them happily recalled musicians or musical groups, movies, videotapes, the arrival of home computers, or generally reminisced about “the good old days” before the arrival of modern-day stresses.
My recollections are somewhat different.
The 1980s marked my arrival into young adulthood. Work. Freedom. Autonomy. Meeting others and developing my first extended family outside of my biological one (like Mary Anne Singleton and Mouse from “Tales of the City”). But the times also featured the insidious arrival of a terrible epidemic that started attacking and killing many of my friends.
The next fifteen years were frantic, full of illnesses and deaths, of stigma and discrimination, of angst and activism. There were days and months full of pain and fear and people living in a double closet: homosexuality and HIV.
Very few people nowadays seem to either know about (or recall) those days when a whole generation of young men (and others) was effectively decimated. How quickly we forget, especially because there are lessons we can learn a generation later. It seems the stigma of AIDS lingers a generation later.
This is not just an academic exercise. I recently learnt of the death from HIV/AIDS of an African Facebook friend. The dangers and outcomes are still very real.
Over forty years later, the virus still claims lives; not in the same neighbourhoods, perhaps, but in communities across Africa and Asia where silence and stigma persist. The difference now is not ignorance, but indifference. We know what works. We know what saves lives. And yet, we ignore.
In Uganda and Kenya, millions live under laws and social norms that stigmatise or criminalize their existence: laws shaped not by local tradition, but by imported hate. In 2023, Uganda passed one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws, introducing the death penalty for so-called “aggravated homosexuality.” These laws were seeded by decades of lobbying from U.S. evangelical groups, exporting their hate under the hypocritical guise of “pro-life” and “pro-family” agendas.
The consequences are devastating: queer Ugandans are hunted, HIV-positive individuals fear seeking treatment, and human rights groups are silenced. In Kenya, similar pressures have led to rising violence and legal crackdowns. This is not just a moral failure, it’s a public health catastrophe. It’s part of a Third-World War.
In July 2025, the U.S. Congress passed the Rescissions Act, slashing $7.9 billion in foreign aid. PEPFAR was spared, but only narrowly. The broader rollback has disrupted HIV care in over 70,000 programs across 50 countries. A Lancet-backed study warns that nearly 500,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa could die from AIDS-related causes in the next five years if PEPFAR funding collapses.
“Silence = Death.” — ACT UP
“The opposite of forgetting is justice.” — Geoff Allshorn
“We are not post-AIDS. We are post-attention.” — UNAIDS advocate
World AIDS Day is not just a memorial. It is a challenge. If we forget the past, we risk repeating it; not in San Francisco or Sydney, but in Kampala, Nairobi, Dhaka. The virus is still here. So must we be.
One of my efforts in past years was helping to start a Star Trek club. Although it officially celebrates its fiftieth birthday next year (2026), many of its foundations were laid the year before… fifty years ago this year.
Over the last half century, people have thanked me for founding a club that, in their own words, literally saved their lives. It gave them networks of support, extended families, and lifelong friends and partners. I remember fans rallying to secure medical care that saved a young woman’s eyesight. I joined letter campaigns advocating for the space shuttle and for medical research funding. Clubs and individuals supported annual telethons and charities for cancer, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, animals, a children’s hospital, and homelessness. Conventions continue to run auctions for charity.
These communities also organized care networks for those on the spectrum, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people living with disability; decades before diversity, equity, inclusion, or multiculturalism became mainstream. Inspired by the principles of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations and Let Me Help, they formed living communities that reflected the utopian ideals that first inspired them. I look forward to more charity as a practical expression of the difference that fandom can make.
Before modern fandom became a constellation of hashtags and conventions, it was a quiet network of zines passed hand to hand, club meetings in school rooms or church halls. Long before social media allowed modern forms of networking, fans were organizing by snail mail to achieve justice: raising funds for disaster relief, publishing charitable anthologies, and responding to global crises with speed and compassion.
What follows is a necessarily incomplete list of fandoms and activism, dating back longer than we imagine.
Before Fandom Had a Name
Art by Copilot AI
Before fandom revolved around cosplaying Hercules, Loki and Thor, it revolved around cosplaying earlier incarnations of Hercules, Loki and Thor. Ancient cultures didn’t gather around franchises or conventions; they gathered around legends. From the cult of Osiris in Egypt to the Epic of Gilgamesh in Mesopotamia, stories were not just told, but reenacted in festivals, temples, and seasonal ceremonies.
These early fandoms built identity around shared stories:
Egypt (c. 2500 BCE): The cult of Osiris held annual festivals reenacting his death and rebirth. They included public grain distribution and burial rites for the poor, especially during the Khoiak festival. Temples in ancient Egypt served as a focus of community well-being and economy: managing land, storing grain, and hosting festivals. These events included public feasting and burials for the poor, echoing humanitarianism before modern welfare institutions.
Mesopotamia (c. 2100 BCE): The Epic of Gilgamesh circulated across city-states, inspiring temple performances and civic duties. Temples functioned as economic and ceremonial centres: managing grain, hosting seasonal festivals, and offering employment.
Indus Valley (c. 2500–1900 BCE):
Though textual evidence is scarce, archaeological finds in Mohenjo-daro and Harappa suggest community granaries and advanced water systems. These imply coordination and shared resource management, which may have supported seasonal gatherings and celebrations. Such support networks hint at shared care that echoes today’s fandoms.
Shang Dynasty China (c. 1600 BCE):
Ancestor veneration in Shang Dynasty China involved resource pooling. Clans funded burials, elder care, and community feasts. They were built on tradition and kinship.
Medieval Rudimentary Fandom: Ritual, Storytelling, and Benevolence
A morality play unfolds in a castle courtyard, watched by monks, knights, and townsfolk. A Hospitaller knight stands beside a noblewoman, while a bard prepares to recite. The scene evokes medieval forms of fandom, where myth intersected with community care. Its costumes and rolepay were strikingly reminiscent of a modern-day convention. Art by Copilot AI.
Long before fan clubs and ficathons, medieval Europe cultivated early forms of fandom through stories, theatrical performance, and acts of community solidarity.
In the Society for Creative Anachronism, medieval lore is relived. Members cosplay knights, bards, and monarchs drawn from mythic archetypes, reviving the age of chivalry and storytelling. Echoing the guilds of yore, local chapters often host fundraising tournaments and feasts, with charitable efforts documented in outlets like the East Kingdom Gazette, a modern chronicle of pageantry, service, and aid.
Morality Plays as Aid
From the 12th century onward, morality plays like Everyman and The Castle of Perseverance were staged by guilds to raise funds for hospitals, leper houses, and burial societies. These performances were often tied to Corpus Christi festivals, blending religious allegory with civics.
I recall visiting an old UK church many years ago, and reading a medieval honour roll above the doorway that listed ancient community tithes: how many crops or oxen or pennies or hours of volunteer time that each community member had pledged annually to help the poor. Although the list was some centuries old, its documentation of medieval village life was reminiscent (to me) of modern fandom: recording community, documenting their efforts, acknowledging the difference that each individual had made for the collective good. Adjusted for modern times and contexts, this listing could easily pass as an honour roll on a convention website or club newsletter – people acting positively as a reflection of the ethics and inspiration they found in their community stories.
What began as medieval community building now appears at conventions and charity networks.
Chivalric Orders and Story-based Support Systems
Military-monastic orders like the Knights Hospitaller and Order of Saint Lazarus enacted chivalric ideals through organized charity. They provided care for pilgrims, ransomed captives, and operated hospitals across Europe. According to the Catholic University of America Press, the Order of Saint John “sheltered pilgrims, tended to victims of skin diseases, and cared for orphans and the sick.” A discussion on Reddit’s Medieval History forum adds that these orders “were monks as well as knights,” forming a dual role of ritual and service.
Noble Patronage and Literary Devotion
The court of Marie de Champagne, patron of Chrétien de Troyes, helped promote Arthurian myth and the ideal of courtly love. Though not directly linked to charity drives, her court supported religious institutions and civic stability.
As described by the Renaissance English History Podcast, Marie “played a pivotal role in fostering the concept of courtly love,” inspiring iconic works like Lancelot. Meanwhile, World History Edu notes that Chrétien’s romances “reshaped Arthurian legend from historical epic to moral narrative.”
These courts functioned as early forms of fandom.
Early Modern Fandoms: Literary Devotion and Abolitionist Networks
Long before fanfic and filking, fandoms formed around salons, concert halls, and pamphlet presses. Shakespearean societies, Mozart devotees, and abolitionist circles built supportive communities through performance, correspondence, and civic activism.
Shakespeare: By the 18th century, Shakespeare’s works were ritualized in annual festivals, public readings, and theatrical replays. The Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, founded in 1824, organized commemorative events and supported local education and preservation efforts.
Mozart: Devotees of Mozart formed early musical societies that hosted benefit concerts for hospitals, orphanages, and civic causes. The Mozarteum Foundation, established in Salzburg, preserves this legacy while supporting music education and humanitarian outreach.
Abolitionist Networks: Literary fandom promoted moral actions in the 18th and 19th centuries, as readers of Olaudah Equiano, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Frederick Douglass formed correspondence circles, hosted readings, and funded anti-slavery campaigns. These early fandoms used story as blueprint, encouraging adherents to act. The American Memory Project documents how pamphlets, speeches, and serialized narratives became tools of abolitionist organizing.
Fandom’s Historic Heart: A Legacy of Kindness
Long before Luke wielded a lightsaber or Spock raised an eyebrow, Arthur’s Excalibur and Sherlock’s logic were already shaping myth and ethics for millions. From Victorian sleuths to medieval legends, historic fandoms have long inspired acts of organized kindness.
Sherlock Holmes: The First Modern Fandom
Sherlockians formed one of the earliest organized fandoms, and their charitable legacy reflects that. The Baker Street Irregulars, founded in 1934, and its global scion societies have hosted charity dinners, auctions, and literacy drives. The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, founded in the 1960s, challenged gender discrimination, supporting women’s education and literary employment.
In 2013, the Sherlock Holmes Charity Game Bundle raised funds for Children of Ukraine, offering digital Holmes games and donated 100% of proceeds. Sherlockian societies continue to support libraries, literacy programs, and historical preservation, especially in London and New York.
Robin Hood: Myth Versus Real-World Impact
Robin Hood fandom may not gather at conventions, but its mythology has inspired major philanthropic activism. The Robin Hood Foundation, founded in 1988, is one of the largest anti-poverty charities in New York City. Though not a fandom group per se, its name and ideals are explicitly drawn from the credo: “taking from the rich to give to the poor.” It has raised over $3 billion for housing, education, and disaster relief.
The Foundation’s annual Robin Hood Gala is one of the world’s largest single-night fundraisers, featuring performances by artists like Lady Gaga and Beyoncé.
King Arthur: Ritual, Resistance, and Revival
Arthurian fandom is more diffuse, but its mythos has inspired charitable and educational efforts. The Quondam et Futurus Wiki catalogs Arthurian legend and encourages community contributions to preserve mythic heritage. Arthurian societies often support educational charities, medieval studies, and peace-building initiatives, echoing Camelot’s ideals.
Even the Teachers’ Charity Carnival featured in the PBS series Arthur implicitly references how Arthurian ideas promote charitable viewpoints inside children’s media.
Lord of the Rings: Myth into Method
Tolkien fandom has built some of the most robust charitable activism in fandom. The Tolkien Trust, founded in 1977 by Tolkien’s children, supports disaster relief, refugee aid, environmental causes, and education. Major grants have gone to Médecins Sans Frontières, UNICEF, Oxfam, and BirdLife International.
The Tolkien Society (UK) is a registered educational charity that hosts seminars, publishes journals, and supports literacy scholarship. In the US, the Mythopoeic Society, founded in 1967, supports academic work on Tolkien, Lewis, and Williams, and hosts Mythcon, often with charity components.
Tolkien fandom builds real-world opportunities for healing and hope.
Fandom and Charity: From Activism to Zines
Fandom has always been more than escapism. Across decades, fans have organized charity drives, published benefit zines, and built clubs that channel imagination into real-world activism. From AIDS activism in the 1990s to Palestine in the 2020s, these efforts show how storytelling communities become beacons of hope.
AIDS and Fandom
During the height of the AIDS crisis, fandoms rallied to support affected communities. Conventions like Zebracon, Revelcon, and Friscon hosted charity drives for organizations such as the Pediatric AIDS Foundation[Fanlore].
David Gerrold, writer of the shelved Star Trek: TNG script “Blood and Fire” sold the script to raise funds for AIDS Project Los Angeles. (I purchased a copy directly off him at a Melbourne convention in the early 1990s, being one of many fans learning how to put kindness into practice).
U.F.P. Australia, a Star Trek RPG club, raised money for a local PWA centre supporting people with AIDS.
Charity Zines: Several fan-published zines donated proceeds to AIDS-related causes, blending creative expression with activism.
Fanworks also explored AIDS as a theme, especially in slash fiction, reflecting both grief and advocacy.
Gaza Solidarity in Fandom
“Fandom responds — art, fic, and care in the face of crisis. Art by Copilot AI
In response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, fandoms launched coordinated charity efforts. The Gotcha for Gaza initiative, begun in June 2024, organized multifandom fundraisers, fic commissions, and charity zines to support aid efforts.
Fans donated to vetted charities and received custom fanworks in return: art, fic, cosplay, and more.
Support came from volunteer creators across fandoms like Tian Guan Ci Fu, Marvel, and Undertale.
Proceeds supported causes such as evacuation aid, medical supplies, feminine hygiene kits, and pet care.
These efforts showed how fandom can respond with speed and creativity to a crisis like Palestine.
Conventions, Fanzines, and Clubs
Beyond crisis response, fandom has long built networks for charity and community:
Conventions: Events like MediaWest*Con and Escapade have hosted charity auctions, raffles, and donation drives, including scholarships.
Clubs: RPG groups, cosplay circles, and fan societies have raised funds for local shelters, libraries, and health clinics.
Fandom as Aid
Fandom’s charitable legacy has enabled fans to create zines that fund survival, auctions that support health clinics, ficathons that turn grief into action.
From the earliest fan clubs supporting cancer telethons to more modern fic commissions funding tsunami relief, fandom has organized; not because they’re asked to, but because their stories have taught them how to care.
These networks often precede institutional response. When disaster strikes, fans are already mobilizing: vetting charities, coordinating creators, and distributing aid.
As fandoms grow more intersectional, their mutual aid expands too: queer fans supporting trans youth shelters, K-pop fans funding flood relief, speculative fiction fans defending literacy and climate justice.
Fans don’t just imagine better worlds; they build them, one story and one donation at a time.
Octavia Butler seeded scholarships for marginalized writers through the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, administered by the Carl Brandon Society. Her legacy also lives on through Pasadena City College scholarships for first-generation students, ensuring futures she never lived to see.
Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future inspired real-world climate policy discourse, including proposals for a carbon coin tied to carbon mitigation. The idea draws from Delton Chen’s Global Carbon Reward initiative, and Robinson describes the novel as a “cognitive map” for post-capitalist futures.
Fandom and LGBTQ+ Charity
Fandom has long been a sanctuary for queer expression, and a launchpad for LGBTQ+ activism. From slash fiction to convention fundraisers, fans have organized to support queer lives, challenge media homophobia, and raise funds for equality. These efforts reflect fandom’s role as both cultural critic and activist.
Zines for Queer Advocacy
Charity Zines: Fan-published zines have raised funds for LGBTQ+ organizations, including Lambda Legal, The Trevor Project, and Trans Lifeline. These often coincide with Pride Month or respond to political flashpoints [Fanlore].
Slash Fandom: Historically, slash zines were sold at conventions with proceeds supporting queer youth shelters and HIV/AIDS clinics.
Conventions and Campaigns
Escapade: A long-running slash convention in California, Escapade has hosted charity auctions supporting LGBTQ+ causes, including local trans support groups and legal aid funds.
LGBT Fans Deserve Better: A fan-led campaign in response to the death of Lexa on The 100 raised over $170,000 for The Trevor Project and other queer charities, while sparking industry-wide conversations about representation.
Digital Solidarity
Online fandoms have mobilized ficathons, art commissions, and livestreams to support LGBTQ+ charities—often in response to anti-trans legislation, media erasure, or community grief. These decentralized efforts turn fandom into a rallying space.
For Lorie: A multifandom ficathon supporting Ovarian cancer research.
Stream for Good: Livestreamers raising funds for LGBTQ+ health and rights.
Embryo Digital: Pride-inspired art commissions supporting akt, a charity for homeless LGBTQ+ youth.
Queer Fandom as Infrastructure
Queer fandom as infrastructure, zines as lifelines and grief-related activism. Art by Copilot AI.
From zines to hashtags, queer fandom has built a moral infrastructure that honors identity, funds survival, and challenges injustice.
LGBT Fans Deserve Better: A fan-led campaign that raised over $170,000 for queer charities after Lexa’s death on The 100.
Britannica on Queer Zines: Zines as tools of civil disobedience and survival during the AIDS crisis.
Centre Pompidou: The political journey of queer zines from underground press to mythic archive.
GlobalGiving: How mutual aid networks support queer survival during crises.
Fandom Forward: Organized Kindness
Modern fandoms are no longer passive audiences. From K-pop’s ARMY to the Harry Potter-inspired Fandom Forward, fans have raised millions for disaster relief, education, healthcare, and human rights.
K-pop’s ARMY: Global Mobilization
BTS’s fanbase, ARMY, has become a philanthropic force. In 2020, fans matched BTS’s $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter in under 24 hours [NPR]. But their activism spans continents and causes:
Food Drives: ARMY Singapore raised funds for Food Bank SG, distributing 136 bundles of food to disadvantaged communities.
Environmental Action: Korean fans adopted whales through WWF in RM’s name, including a Beluga and Narwhal.
Medical Aid: ARMY Peru supported leukemia research; ARMY Russia donated $15,000 to Gift of Life for children with cancer.
Disaster Relief: Fans in Nepal organized nationwide collection points for flood victims.
Fandom Forward: From Hogwarts to Haiti
Founded in 2005 as The Harry Potter Alliance, Fandom Forward turned magical allegory into civic action. Their campaigns tackled genocide, climate change, book bans, and labor rights:
Helping Heal Haiti: After the 2010 earthquake, fans raised $123,000 for Partners in Health, chartering five planes of medical supplies, each named after Harry Potter characters.
Even as Fandom Forward closed its doors in 2024, its legacy lives on in fan-led chapters and campaigns worldwide.
Myth into Method
These fandoms don’t just imagine heroism; they become them. Whether it’s gifting rice in honour of a K-pop idol or defending literacy like Hermione Granger, fans enact the values they admire. Fandom becomes a way to dream forward, together.
Fandom Responds to the Wave: Tsunami Relief and Aid
Fan calendars as humanitarian clocks… aid across Asia. Art by Copilot AI.
When the Indian Ocean tsunami struck on Boxing Day 2004, it wasn’t just governments and NGOs that mobilized. Fandoms responded with speed, creativity, and kindness.
Reach Out to Asia, a charity born from the disaster, auctioned a guitar signed by 19 rock legends (including McCartney, Clapton, and Page) which sold for $2.7 million, effectively transforming a fan artifact into one of the most valuable single humanitarian tools ever wielded.
Anime Detour, a fan convention in Minnesota, redirected its entire 2011 charity auction to the Red Cross for Japan tsunami relief, raising over $36,000. Their charitable fundraising has continued since 2005.
K-pop fandoms in Indonesiaraised nearly $100,000 in 2021 for flood and earthquake victims in South Kalimantan and Sulawesi. These weren’t isolated donations. They have supported Black Lives Matter and criticised political crises.
Fandom for the Planet: Environmental Activism
Environmental activism has become a major focus in fan-led movements, especially in K-pop and speculative fiction communities.
Kpop4Planet, founded by fans of EXO and BTS, campaigns against coal expansion, deforestation, and climate inaction. Their digital petitions and tree-planting drives have reached tens of thousands, proving that fan networks can rival NGOs in reach and impact.
In 2021, Blackpink’s COP26 campaign video urged fans to act on climate change, reaching nearly 60 million subscribers.
Youth 4 Climate Action, a fan-rooted Korean movement, sued their government for climate inaction.
Fandom for the Planet: Global South Perspectives
Global fandom (symbols of care supporting the planet). Art by Copilot AI.
Fandom’s ecological imagination isn’t confined to East Asia or Western speculative fiction. Across Africa and Latin America, fans have mobilized for climate justice with creativity and passion.
Whether through cosplay protests, ficathons for reforestation, or zines that highlight climate justice, fans in the Global South are transforming ecological grief into creative resistance. Their activism is rooted in local storytelling traditions and indigenous cosmologies.
Africa: Climate Justice as Community Ritual
In Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, fan-rooted youth movements have joined forces with African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ). These groups blend pop culture, digital storytelling, and grassroots organizing:
Fan-driven campaigns on platforms like Power to Voices amplify climate narratives using memes, cosplay, and remix culture.
Feminist fandoms in South Africa’s Wild Coast region use zines and fan art to resist environmental damage.
Young Lawyers Initiative (Nigeria) channels fandom’s enthusiasm into activism, training youth to become climate defenders.
Latin America: Resistance
In Colombia, Brazil, and Chile, fandoms have woven climate justice into cultural resistance:
Fan zines and cosplay collectives in São Paulo and Bogotá have staged eco-themed conventions, where panels on climate science sit alongside fanfic readings and art auctions for reforestation.
Living Story as Infrastructure
In Australia, First Nations creators have shaped media that blends Aboriginal lore with speculative futurism. One powerful example is Cienan Muir, a Yorta Yorta, Taungurung, and Ngarrindjeri advocate who founded IndigiNerd, a platform celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices in comics, cosplay, and geek culture. Through IndigiNerd, Muir has created safe spaces for Indigenous youth to explore identity, storytelling, and pop culture without shame. IndigiNerd hosted Australia’s first Indigenous Comic Con, spotlighting First Nations artists and storytellers.
Similarly, the TV series Cleverman, shaped by Indigenous creators including Hunter Page-Lochard, drew from deep cultural wells. Page-Lochard is the son of Bangarra’s former Artistic Director Stephen Page, and his performance connections link to Bangarra Dance Theatre.
The show inspired fan-led support through:
– Cosplay and fan art inspired by culturally grounded design, including the Hairypeople created in collaboration with Indigenous artists
– Educational campaigns on land rights and cultural survival.
Global Constellations
Across the world, Indigenous creators are building story as infrastructure:
– In Aotearoa, Māori artists like Cassie Hart and Whiti Hereaka remix speculative fiction with whakapapa and atua, creating novels and comics rooted in tikanga and ancestral lore
– Sámi creators resist green colonialism and climate injustice through storytelling, opposing projects that threaten land and reindeer herding culture.
– Queer Indigenous fans build zines and ficathons as lifelines—not just art—through collectives like Brown Recluse Zine Distro and LGBTQ Nation.
Roddenberry’s vision: a compassionate federation, where fans become the heroes. Art by Copilot AI
Star Trek and Star Wars, two of the most expansive mythologies of our time, have inspired generations to act with compassion, courage, and collective purpose. Their communities have mobilized for education, inclusion, medical aid, and planetary protection, proving that even galaxies far, far away can shape the world right here.
Although fans might suggest that these franchises focus on different mythologies (utopianism as opposed to good versus evil), both narratives present modern morality plays and promote the ultimate victory of goodness over evil; in turn, encouraging fans to live the dream.
Star Trek: Take the Chair, Make an Impact
In 2024, the Star Trek franchise launched a global charity campaign called Take the Chair, Make an Impact, inviting fans to imagine themselves in the captain’s seat and chart a course toward justice. The campaign partnered with three nonprofits:
Code.org: Promoting computer science education for every K–12 student.
DoSomething.org: Empowering youth-led activism and civic engagement.
Outright International: Advocating for global LGBTIQ equality.
Fans participated through events in Chicago, Berlin, and Vancouver, and 25% of select merchandise sales were donated to these causes.
Star Trek’s ideals (diversity, inclusion, and hope) became not just celebration, but action. Fans didn’t just quote Roddenberry’s vision; they lived it.
Star Wars: Force for Change
Launched in 2014 by Lucasfilm and Disney, Star Wars: Force for Change channels fan energy into global problem-solving. The initiative has supported:
UNICEF: $4.2 million raised for children’s health and education worldwide.
FIRST Robotics: Sponsoring STEM competitions for students globally.
Children’s Hospitals: Mark Hamill and others visiting patients in costume to lift spirits.
Fans have entered sweepstakes to appear in films, bought themed merchandise for charity, and joined campaigns to support refugee relief and youth empowerment.
The 501st Legion: Villains Doing Good
The 501st Legion, a global Star Wars costuming group, has turned stormtrooper armour into a tool for kindness. With over 14,000 members, they’ve supported:
Make-A-Wish Foundation events and hospital visits.
Disaster relief fundraisers and community outreach.
Educational programs and parades promoting inclusion.
Though they dress as villains, their mission is deeply heroic: bringing joy, raising funds, and standing for hope.
Galactic Myth, Earthly Impact
Whether it’s a tricorder or a lightsabre, these fandoms wield symbols that inspire action. Through organized kindness, fans turn myth into motivation.
Time Lords of Kindness: Doctor Who and the Ethics of Aid
While Star Trek and Star Wars offer galactic visions, Doctor Who brings morality closer to home. Its fandom has long blurred the line between fiction and activism.
Charity Anthologies and Zines
Adventures in Lockdown (2020) raised funds for Children in Need, featuring stories by Russell T Davies, Neil Gaiman, and others written during the pandemic.
Time Shadows and Second Nature (2016–2018) supported charities like Enable Community Foundation and LimbForge through fan-edited anthologies.
A Pile of Good Things and The Hybrid zines raised funds for mental health and LGBTQ+ causes, blending character arcs with real-world care.
Conventions and Campaigns
Children in Need Specials have featured Doctor Who cast since the 1980s, including live appearances and donation drives.
Fan clubs and cosplay groups have organized raffles, livestreams, and charity auctions — often timed to regenerations, anniversaries, or season premieres.
Fandoms of Resistance: Babylon 5, Firefly, & Hitchhiker’s Guide
Not every fandom builds vast humanitarian infrastructure, but even quieter communities can spark compassion and kindness. Babylon 5, Firefly, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy each offer unique stories of activism.
Babylon 5: Quiet Legacy
While Babylon 5 lacks a flagship charity, its concepts of resistance and diplomacy have inspired fan-led actions. Creator J. Michael Straczynski has publicly supported causes like LGBTQ+ rights and mental health, often engaging fans in awareness campaigns. Fan forums and conventions have hosted a memorial fundraiser for cast member Richard Biggs and a tribute video for Andreas Katsulas; this last including a memorial edit requested by his widow featuring her favorite G’Kar quote.
Firefly: Browncoats Doing Good
Aiming to Misbehave. Art by Copilot AI.
Few fandoms have mobilized like Firefly’s. The Can’t Stop the Serenity initiative, founded in 2006, organizes annual charity screenings of Serenity to raise funds for Equality Now. Over $1.3 million has been raised across 124 cities.
Local chapters like the Arizona Browncoats operate as registered nonprofits, supporting community causes through events and merchandise. These efforts echo Firefly’s ideal: “Aim to misbehave… for a good cause.”
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Quirky but Quiet
Art by Copilot AI
Though less visible, HHGG fandom has flirted with organized kindness. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Foundation was registered in the UK to promote education and communication skills, especially literacy. Its current status is unclear, but the potential remains.
New Stars in the Constellation
Fandom’s humanitarian legacy continues to evolve.
Steven Universe
A fandom rooted in queer empathy and emotional literacy. Fans have supported trans youth shelters, mental health campaigns, and Pride fundraisers.
Like fandoms, the Polynesian Panther Party built emotional and logistical scaffolding through media, myth, and community care. Their posters, zines, and oral histories functioned as acts of resistance. With chapters across New Zealand and Australia, they mirrored fandom’s decentralized structure and lifelong affiliations. As NZ History notes, their motto “Once a Panther, always a Panther” echoes across fandom culture.
Fandoms Beyond Genre: Music, Sport, and Literary Legacy
Not all fandoms orbit speculative worlds. Some rise from stadiums, concert halls, and libraries, yet their networks of care are no less significant. These communities have mobilized for disaster relief, human rights, and planetary stewardship, proving that organized kindness transcends genre.
Music Fandoms Against Gender-Based Violence: During the 16 Days of Activism campaign, UNDP Indonesia hosted a panel titled “Calling Music Fans ‘FANDOM’ to End Gender-Based Violence”. The all-women panel spotlighted how female-led fandoms (especially in K-pop and pop music) have mobilized to challenge gender norms, support survivors, and fund shelters for women and children. Speakers emphasized fandoms as decentralized movements of empathy, often dismissed due to gender bias, yet deeply effective in raising awareness and organizing aid.
K-pop Fandoms (BTS, EXO, Blackpink): Already featured above, but worth reinforcing: K-pop fans have planted forests, funded medical aid, and matched million-dollar donations in under 24 hours.
Taylor Swift / Swifties: Swifties have organized donation drives for LGBTQ+ youth, domestic violence shelters, and education funds, often in response to lyrics, tour dates, or media flashpoints.
Football Fandoms (Liverpool, Celtic, FC Barcelona): Sport fandoms have long histories of humanitarian action. Liverpool fans raised funds for Hillsborough victims and refugee aid. Celtic supporters launched food banks and anti-racism campaigns. FC Barcelona’s foundation supports global education and health initiatives.
Author Fandoms (Pratchett, Gaiman, Le Guin): Fans of Terry Pratchett have raised funds for Alzheimer’s research and literacy programs. Neil Gaiman’s fandom supports refugee aid and LGBTQ+ causes, often through charity anthologies. Ursula K. Le Guin’s readers have mobilized for climate justice and Indigenous rights, echoing her ecological and anarchist themes.
Fandom’s legacy is one story, one fan, one act of kindness at a time.
As for me, I see that Star Trek taught us that the future is not a place we arrive at, it’s something we build together.
From the first zine passed hand to hand to the latest charity auction, fans have embodied Roddenberry’s vision not just in fiction, but in practice.
We raised funds for medical aid, defended LGBTQ+ dignity, and built support networks decades before institutions caught up.
Fanthropology 101: Dreaming and Doing in the Real World
A four-part journey through how fandom helps us imagine better futures, and build them.
Part One: Forgotten Futures How two dreamers imagined a better world, and gave us tools to build it
Published: 8 September 2025 Read Part One
Edward Bellamy and Gene Roddenberry didn’t just write stories, they sketched blueprints for justice, dignity, and shared humanity. Their utopias still shape how fans rehearse better futures.
Part Two: Dream It Forward Why fandom isn’t just fun, it’s how we practice empathy
Published: 4 October 2025 Read Part Two
From Arthurian quests to Star Trek conventions, this chapter shows how fandom helps us rehearse courage, community, and care—turning stories into solidarity, and imagination into action.
Part Three: Fandom’s Humanitarian Legacy How fans built real-world networks of care, long before hashtags and headlines
Published: 25 November 2025 Read Part Three
Ficathons, charity drives, and survivor support groups—this essay documents how fandom became a lifeline for many, offering help where institutions failed.
Part Four: From Fic to Future Fan fiction isn’t just storytelling, it’s ethical and pragmatic life guidance
Published: 31 December 2025 Read Part Four
Honouring Diane Marchant and the legacy of fan creators, this chapter explores how fandom helps us rewrite injustice, rehearse empathy, and build continuity across generations.
Introduction:
This poem was written in reflection of my own eviction — an experience shared by countless LGBTIQ+ individuals across the world who are forced from their homes simply for being themselves.
After homophobia, homelessness remains one of the greatest challenges queer refugees and individuals face.
This piece gives voice to that pain, resilience, and the hope that love, even without a roof, can still endure. – Joseph
Rainbow Sanctuary in Ruins (AI art)
They brought knives in the form of eyes,
Whispers that sliced like sharpened sighs.
My humanity — gentle, small, and true —
Branded sin on their wall anew.
The key that once unlocked my door
Now hangs useless, meaning no more.
I stand in the night with memories bare,
The stars my ceiling, the cold my prayer.
Homophobia turned my home to ash,
Hatred cloaked in holy wrath.
They called it “order,” they called it “law,”
But I saw fear, and nothing more.
I am not the only one in this storm-battered street —
There are countless others with tired feet.
Brothers, sisters, souls without a name,
Each carrying love the world has shamed.
No roof for the rainbow, no bed to lie,
Yet still we breathe with defiant chests.
Our hearts will not lose their colour’s shine —
For every colour is holy, blessed.
One day, this earth will build anew:
A world where rainbows shine right through.
Where love is home, and home is kind,
And no one’s truth is left behind.
AI art
Written by Joseph K (He/Him)
If this poem moves you, please consider helping me rebuild what hatred took away.
Your support, even a small contribution toward rent, can give an LGBTIQ+ refugee like me a safe place to call home again.
I show my respect for Elders past and present and acknowledge the Wurundjeri-Willam people, the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this blog was prepared.
