Phyll Opoku-Gyimah

Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah (born November 1974),[1] also known as Lady Phyll,[2] is a co-founder, trustee and executive (formerly managing) director of UK Black Pride,[3] which "promotes unity and co-operation among all Black people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American descent, as well as their friends and families, who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender."[4]

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah at the Southbank Centre in March 2014
Born
Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah

November 1974 (age 46)
Islington, London, England
OrganisationUK Black Pride

With Rikki Beadle-Blair and John R Gordon, she is the editor of Sista!, an anthology of writings by LGBT women of African/Caribbean descent with a connection to the United Kingdom, released by Team Angelica Publishing in 2018, which includes work by 31 writers, including Yrsa Daley-Ward and Babirye Bukilwa.

Career

Opoku-Gyimah was appointed trustee of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights charity, Stonewall in January 2015 but resigned three years later when the charity announced it would partner with UK Black Pride.[5] Opoku-Gyimah publicly refused an MBE in the 2016 New Year Honours.[6]

She entered the Labour Party internal contest to replace Heidi Alexander as Member of Parliament for Lewisham East when she stood down to work for the Mayor of London. She left midway through the race and Janet Daby was selected as the candidate and elected to UK Parliament in the by-election on 14 June 2018. [7][8]

The prominent figure has is well known amongst the trade union movement. She served on the Trades Union Congress (TUC) race relations committee and was Head of Equality at the Public and Commercial Services Union until June 2019.[9][10] In May 2019, Opoku-Gyimah was appointed Executive Director human rights charity the Kaleidoscope Trust. [11]

Awards and recognition

References
  1. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  2. "The IoS Pink List 2012". The Independent. 4 November 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  3. "Phyll Opoku-Gyimah", UK Parliament Week.
  4. "Phyll Opoku-Gyimah", UK Black Pride.
  5. "Stonewall trustee update". Stonewall. 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  6. Broomfield, Matt (5 January 2016). "Black lesbian activist Phyll Opoku-Gyimah turns down MBE in protest at LGBT persecution by 'colonial regimes'". The Independent. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  7. "UK Black Pride exec Phyll Opoku-Gyimah confirms run for Parliament". PinkNews - Gay news, reviews and comment from the world's most read lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans news service. 2018-05-09. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  8. "HuffPost is now a part of Verizon Media". consent.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  9. "From the chair". Public and Commercial Services Union. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  10. Gilfillan_1, Scott (2019-08-22). "Trade unionists led the fight for LGBT rights, but the struggle for an equal world continues". www.tuc.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  11. "Lady Phyll has been apppointed as executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust". Attitude.co.uk. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  12. "The IoS Pink List 2012". The Independent on Sunday. 4 November 2012.


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