Queer Perspectives on UBI
UBI Lab LGBTQ+ was the fourth non-geographical Lab in the Network.
From the extortionate price of privately medically transitioning, to the safety and security of LGBTQ+ people, to the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the LGBTQ+ Community, UBI Lab LGBTQ+ see a need for drastic change, and see a UBI as being key to this change.
They will be doing a week long takeover of the Blog this week ahead of their event.
Here are some of the co-founders and those involved:
David Rozental-Devis (they/them)
David is a final year undergraduate student of Politics with Human Rights at the University of Essex. Since February 2019 they have been an advocate for UBI, founding the UK Yang Gang and International Yang Gang groups in support of ex US Presidential Candidate and current New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, for whom UBI is a core piece of his campaigns.
Interested in joining a UK-based advocacy group, David joined the UBI Lab Network in August 2020, joining UBI Lab Youth and Co-Founding UBI Lab LGBTQ+ that same month. As someone interested primarily in human rights, and more specifically LGBTQ+ Rights worldwide, David sees UBI as having potential to be a central part of the global LGBTQ+ Rights movement.
Sam Gregory
Sam is a journalist and feature writer at Sheffield's Now Then magazine, focusing on music, culture and local politics.
Why am I passionate about a Universal Basic Income?
I think a Universal Basic Income would fundamentally change our relationship with work, and with it, how we perceive and value time. Modern capitalism has tricked us into thinking that our time isn't truly ours - that it can be bought, sold and rented out like any other commodity.
A Universal Basic Income would begin to address this by tilting the scales in favour of ordinary people. It would empower us all to decide how we spend our time, and make it easier for us to say no to people and companies who want to exploit us. As the late David Graeber pointed out, "the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently."
A UBI would also begin to address inequality, which, in western societies, has become obscene. A generous Basic Income, paid for by highly progressive taxation, would start the overdue process of redistributing wealth from the super rich to the rest of us.
Wilkinson & Pickett have demonstrated that extreme inequality is toxic for any society, no matter how rich that society is overall. A primary objective of a Universal Basic Income should be not only to abolish poverty but also get rid of the obscenely rich.
“I think a Universal Basic Income would fundamentally change our relationship with work, and with it, how we perceive and value time. Modern capitalism has tricked us into thinking that our time isn't truly ours - that it can be bought, sold and rented out like any other commodity.”
“The pandemic has shown us that we urgently need to create and economic floor that no-one can fall beneath.
The introduction of a UBI could not only reduce poverty and growing inequalities, but provide a springboard for more fulfilling lives.”
Alex Culvin
Alex is a University lecturer in business studies at the University of Salford and has a PhD in social policy. Interested in people and ideas. Striving for a more equal, ethical, sustainable society for all.
Why am I passionate about a Universal Basic Income?
A Universal Basic Income is a transformational idea that has the capacity to change the lives of women across the world. I live in Liverpool, a city, like many others that has been torn apart by austerity measures. A city where young girls have less opportunity just by the location of their birth. A Universal Basic Income could be part of a solution where opportunity is not defined by money, or location. The decisions being made now will have ramifications for our future.
Women are most likely to be in low paid, precarious employment [1]. On average women carry out 60% more unpaid work than men [2]. Meaning they own less, earn less and are more likely to live in poverty. A UBI is only part of the solution, but through providing women with economic freedom we can imagine another way. A system rooted in equality, solidarity and humanity.
Gareth Lewis Shelton
Gareth is Chair of the LGBT+ Liberal Democrats. Gareth is also an entrepreneur in the creative industries and holds a Masters in Political Economy of Europe from the LSE.
Find them on Twitter at @GarethlShelton.
Helena Hyatt
Helena Hyatt born in England now lives in South Wales and has worked in the legal sector for ten years whilst gaining her undergraduate and postgraduate law degrees. She has a keen interest in reading, preferring science fiction and fantasy genres which led her to thinking about Utopias and from there UBI.
She is now putting theory into practice and is a member of the UBI Lab network Womxn's, LGBTQ+ groups and is a co-founder of the Caerphilly Lab.
The ‘Poverty: It's a sin - a roundtable on UBI and the LGBTQ+ community’ is on the 28th of February 2021 at 16:00hrs GMT.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a regular and unconditional payment given to everyone in society regardless of their income, wealth or work.
It guarantees a basic level of financial security for everyone, and makes sure nobody in society falls through the cracks.
But how would a UBI help the LGBTQ+ community specifically, both in the UK and around the world?
Join UBI Lab LGBTQ+ for an informal roundtable discussion. After a short introduction to the basics of UBI, we'll be asking:
- How would a UBI help you where you are?
- How would it have helped in the past?
- How will it help you in the future?
Free, all welcome. To register - Book HERE