“My name is Phyll Opoku-Gyimah. I identify as a mother, a black woman, a lesbian, a trade unionist, a lover.”
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, also known as Lady Phyll, is one of the UK’s most prominent black lesbian activists. Lady Phyll is the co-founder and Executive Director of UK Black Pride, a trustee of Stonewall and Head of Equality at the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union. She was listed as one of the top 100 most influential LGBT+ people in the Independent’s Rainbow List 2015.
As a British Ghanaian, Lady Phyll also lobbies for LGBT+ rights in Ghana, and in countries across the African continent. In 2016, she famously refused an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List, explaining that she could not accept the award while LGBT+ people across the world were still suffering under laws put in place by the British Empire.