QFU Relief Fund

Due to mismanagement at the organization, Outfest has permanently laid off all members of Queer Filmworkers United, the Outfest workers union. To support the laid off workers during this extremely difficult time — some of whom live paycheck to paycheck and have lost critical health insurance with extremely short notice — we have created the QFU Relief Fund and call on our community to help in any way they can.

On September 28th, Outfest laid off four QFU members: Hansen Bursic, Daniel Crooke, Alex Gootter, and Gabi Grossman. Their health insurance policies were ended two days later. Two weeks later, on October 12th, Outfest placed six QFU members (Tymothie-James Bergendahl, Wilmer Gonzalez, Gillian Horvat, Kieran Medina, Sheryl Santacruz, and Lynny Van Trieste) on a mandatory two week unpaid leave of absence without providing any assurance these leaves would not be extended.

On Friday October 27th, the Co-Presidents of the Outfest Board of Directors Nii-Quartelai Quartey and Bil Bertini permanently laid off all remaining staff at Outfest via a mass email. This included remaining QFU members Tiffany Naiman and Kahea Kiwaha, as well as the staff members already on leave (who were given less than two hours notice before the end of the work day). Staff were suddenly locked out of their Outfest email accounts, and informed that their health care benefits would expire in four days.

In all cases, Outfest gave less than 48 hours notice when informing staff of their layoff and/or unpaid leave.

Because of Outfest’s actions and their ongoing lack of transparency, many of us who have been living paycheck-to-paycheck on non-profit pay are struggling to afford rent and other necessary expenses, such as health and car insurance, medical costs, prescription drugs, food, pet care, and more. Outfest continues to treat the dire financial ramifications of their decisions on staff as an afterthought while for us it is a reality we must live with.

We are asking for our community’s support during this extremely difficult and uncertain time as we struggle to keep ourselves financially stable as we advocate for a fairer, more equitable workplace. Make no mistake: we are fighting for the very survival of Outfest as an organization.

Every dollar you donate will go directly to QFU members to help them get back on their feet. We are so deeply grateful to the community for the support you have shown us throughout these stressful weeks — your solidarity has given us strength to keep fighting and for a queer film community that reflects the world we want to see. Any help you are able to offer us will help us to stay afloat as we fight for a fairer workplace.