PHILIPSBURG:--- St. Maarten/St. Martin Alliance For Equality (SAFE), a LGBT organization founded on December 10, 2013, has had a busy first half of 2014.
The foundation, which has as its core objectives, the empowerment of LGBT people and the full inclusion and participation of LGBT people in St. Maarten/St. Martin society, has held several activities meant to bring LGBT persons from both sides of the island together.
Lysanne Charles-Arrindell, President of SAFE, said that thus far the response to the organization has been overwhelmingly positive, both from within the LGBT community and from the wider island community.
"Since we started with our activities we're received a lot of well-wishes from people across all segments of society and have been told that it was high time that such a foundation was organized. People recognized that this organization grew out of local indications that the time was right and ripe for such. So we, as the board of SAFE, really appreciate each one of the people who have reached out to us and offered their support, whether they are LGBT persons or even Allies," Charles-Arrindell said.
Charless-Arrindell said that thus far the organization had held several meet & greets, hikes, general meetings, radio interviews and community outreach meetings with other foundations. Monthly educational discussion meetings are also about to start this week.
"The board of SAFE has been really busy with these events for the first half of the year and also with the Pink Orange Alliance (POA) conference scheduled for later this year in collaboration with our Dutch counterparty COC, but of course there is still much more to come. So we encourage those who are interested to get in contact with SAFE and to come out and learn more about the organization and its objectives. We also urge LGBT people and allies who have ideas about how SAFE can better serve the community to contact us and share their thoughts with us," Charles-Arrindell said.
She said that SAFE looks forward to future collaborations between LGBT persons on the French and Dutch sides of the island and also cooperation between SAFE and ally organizations on the island and across the region. She also said that the organization would be moving ahead with a full schedule of event for LGBT persons and their allies and encouraged people to visit their facebook site or webpage for more information.
"We're always looking for ways to reach out to LGBT persons and also to the island community and the regional community, so we look forward to any and all dialogue as we move ahead with our goals," Charles-Arrindell said.
Those interested can reach SAFE via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.safesxm.com, www.facebook.come/safesxm or +1-721-550-4221.
