Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Save Poppy Fundraiser tonight!

If you are London-based then please please please come to this awesome fundraiser tonight!

The event: all-female cabaret show featuring former nationwide "Funny Women" winner Debra-Jane Appelby, cabaret star Bunny Morethan, singer/singwriter Becky Rose, plus character comedy from Susan Harrison as Mina the Horse and Aussie star comedienne Celia Pacquola and hosted by feminist comedienne Kate Smurthwaite. Tickets £15 regular, £12 concessions. At The Comedy Pub, 7 Oxenden Street near Picadilly Circus. Doors 8pm, show 8.30pm. [footnote, venue is 18+ and not wheelchair accessible though we will try to help if we can in any way!]

The cause: The Poppy Project is the only dedicated organisation in the UK helping victims of trafficking for sexual purposes. They just lost ALL their government funding which is instead being given to homophobic, anti-choice, fundamentalist Christian organisation The Salvation Army. It's an almighty mess. We urgently need to sort it out!

How to book: go on to the just giving page and make a donation equivalent to (or more than!) the ticket price you want. Either put your name(s) in the "encouragement" box or send us an email telling us your Just Giving username and what tickets you want (you can email me here: smurfjapan@yahoo.com). We're doing it this way to avoid paying the 9% fee most ticket-sales websites take. But don't worry you really will be on the guest list!!

There might in theory be a few tickets left on the door but please book now if you want to come to make sure you get a ticket and so we know you're coming!

2 comments:

gkbarnes said...

The Salvation Army "fundamentalist?" This wouldn't be the same organisation that clothes the naked, feeds the hungry, shelters the homeless, works to stop human traffiking (in partnership with the "stop the Traffik campaign), and has women preachers, or am I thinking of someone else.

Cruella said...

Yes the same organisation that shelters the homeless but recently refused to shelter a homeless man unless he ended his relationship with another man. That would be the EXACT definition of fundamentalism - putting religious principles ahead of human rights work. This case was widely reported you can look it up.

Just because they do some good stuff, doesn't mean everything they do is worthwhile.

The same organisation is overtly anti-choice and opposes abortion in almost all cases. It openly says it would only allow a woman in it's care to have an abortion if she had been raped (how do you prove this when you're a victim of sex traffiking?) AND after a lot of prayer. Forcing women seeking vital services to pray - regardless of their actual religion or lack of religion - is definitely fundamentalist.

AND they openly state that one of their main objectives is to convert people. The "Stop the Traffik" campaign is a new thing that seems to have sprung up right around the time there was some money being made available.

The fact is taking victims of of sex traffiking, telling them homosexuality is wrong, denying them abortions and trying to covert them to Christianity is definitely unacceptable. Or does that fact that some of their preachers are women cancel that out for you?