Bold Joe doubles fundraising target for Birmingham LGBT Centre

If you took part in the Campus 3K during this year's UoB Xtra, you may already be familiar with Bold Joe, PhD student Clem Atkins' alter ego and drag persona...

Dressed head to to toe in Old-Joe inspired drag (iconic), Clem ran the 3K on Wednesday 11 June complete with heels to raise money for local charity Birmingham LGBT Centre. 

We caught up with Clem, who is also a Student Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador, and asked about his inspiration for running the Campus 3K as Bold Joe and why he chose to fundraise for the Birmingham LGBT Centre...

“After the Supreme Court ruling on single-sex spaces, myself and many members of the LGBTQ+ community have felt increasingly vulnerable in public spaces. I wanted to channel my sadness into something productive, and I decided to fundraise for Birmingham LGBT— a local charity who has provided me a lot of support over these last years. To celebrate my love of Birmingham and of my community, I decided that turning the University's iconic Old Joe Clocktower into a drag look would be a great way to raise funds.”

“Initially, I teased on my fundraising page that I would complete a 3K run as Bold Joe in heels to get my fundraiser to hit its target of £400. I wasn't expecting at the time that it would go as high as £930! This wouldn't have been possible without support from my community."

“My friend Tristan Houchin lent me his sewing machine and guided me on making my first dress, and Rosa Alaluf showed me the ropes of doing drag makeup for the first time. My manager, Alex Ferranti, has kept me hyped—and was the person who first suggested entering the Campus 3K as Bold Joe!"

“And, of course, my partner Dan Foley has been amazing throughout, even taking holiday off work to come and take photos of the race (I think he did twice as much running as I did).”

Alongside Bold Joe’s incredible fundraising efforts for the charity, Birmingham LGBT Centre also partners with UoB to deliver LGBTQ+ Wellbeing Drop-In sessions throughout the year on campus.

Open to all, you can drop in for wellbeing support, rapid sexual health tests or just to chat to some of the friendly Birmingham LGBT Centre team at their confidential space. 

Look out for LGBTQ+ Wellbeing Drop-in dates for the next academic year on the student intranet. During Welcome Week, the charity will also be on campus for a chat and to hand out freebies.