When Cool Hand Movers sought to work with queer comedian and fellow native-New Yorker, Ashley Gavin, we saw an opportunity to do more than advertise. Over a four-week sponsorship of her breakout hit comedy podcast, We’re Having Gay Sex, Gavin introduced her listeners not just to Cool Hand, but to our friends at The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP). Together, we encouraged listeners to subscribe to Gavin’s platform for as little as $1 a month by matching their subscriptions with a donation to QDEP.

In the end, we doubled our expected outcome and ended up donating $1000 to this vital organization which provides a range of services to queer and trans folks recently detained by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York City. QDEP has worked with folks from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Jamaica, Tunisia, India, Pakistan, Malawi, St. Vincent, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Brasil, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Trinidad, Burkina Faso, Georgia, Russia, Iraq, and more.

Ways to contribute to QDEP:

• Donate to fund advocacy, commissary funds, rent assistance and more.

• Volunteer your talent, passion, skill or time.

• Sign up for their pen pal program.

• Click here for more ways to contribute to QDEP.

Where to follow Ashley Gavin:

• Patreon

• Podcast

• Sunday Sqool

• Tour dates
  

The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) assists folks coming out of immigration detention in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal, and emotional support and services. They work to organize around the structural barriers and state violence that LGBTQIA TS & GNC detainee/undocumented folks face related to their immigration status, race, sexuality, and gender expression/ identity. They are committed to assisting folks in building lives outside of detention, to breaking down the barriers that prevent folks from building fulfilling and productive lives, and to keeping queer families intact by demanding an end to deportations/ detention/ policing. They believe in creating a narrative of thriving, not just surviving.

Ashley Gavin is a comedian, actor, and writer best known for her top charting podcast We’re Having Gay Sex. Her viral comedy and sketch videos on TikTok have earned her 500k followers, over 30 million views, and the occasional free smoothie. Ashley and her podcast have been mentioned in People, Forbes, Us Weekly, Out, and was named a 2020 best comedy podcast by Paste Magazine. Ashley’s stand up has been featured on AXS TV Live at Gotham, Laughs on Hulu, and SiriusXM channels including Comedy Central and Netflix is a Joke.