Cherisse Halsall stopped by for the walk-through and spoke to the organization's founders on the importance of this safe space.

August 10th is the Day Belize and the Western Hemisphere for that matter celebrates PRIDE.

And to mark the occasion the women of the Organization called Petal or Promoting Empowerment Through Awareness For Les/Bi Women opened what they call a "safe space."

It's a space that functions as a shelter but it's much more than that. Really a place where Les/Bi women can come to relax, enjoy themselves and enjoy judgment-free self-expression in a society that doesn't always welcome them.

We heard more about the purpose of Petal house and it's previous iterations from president Charrice Talbert.

Charrice Talbert, President, PETAL
"It's very important that we continue to be able to have safe spaces for women and safe spaces doesn't always have to be a shelter, safe spaces in terms of everybody needs to be able to have a space that they can unwind, everybody needs to be able to have a space where they can feel that they belong, you know that they come to this space and you have a clear head, you come to this space and your able to get solutions in terms of what you're looking into. So not just safe space in terms of a shelter, but yes it's very important that we are able to continue to provide these spaces for women."

And adorning the wall of this space are the memories, pictures of moments of impact that have made PETAL the organization that it is.

Simone Hill, Founder/ Vice President, PETAL
"That was what started, that was really why I started. I went to a conference in the Caribbean and they were saying that women were not at the table, especially lesbian and bi-sexual women were not represented at the table and so I said oh this is not unique to Belize, it's happening in the Caribbean also and out of that international dialogue that I had attended the women there were talking and that was was how that yearly conference began and I am proud of that one. It came to Belize in 2018 and our then secretary did a great job of lobbying for it to come to Belize, so that is one feature on the wall."

And that's a hope born of experience because Simone and Charrice's advocacy comes from personal experiences with discrimination:

Charrice Talbert, President, PETAL
"We had a first of many things and one of them being the annual PETAL herscape Gala, we were at the love FM activity, the dance and I recall we were on the dancefloor and somebody said like I don't know why they need to be in our space."

Today the man synonymous with PRIDE in Belize was singing Petal's praises.

Caleb Orozco, Executive Director, UNIBAM
"PETAL represents that long history of transformation which is a valuable part of our development. Deeper than that PETAL has been shaped and influenced by the work or the experiences of the United Belize Advocacy Movement and what they have done is to specialize in an area that UNIBAM could not have done by itself. What PETAL has done show the power of women and the way they contribute to development. PETAL also highlights the innate, productive capacity of ordinary people to challenge the state, to do better in the delivery of services and do better in addressing the issue of what inclusive governance and equality looks like in this small country of Belize. It's part of a process of hope and inspiration for the future."

Simone Hill, Founder/ Vice President, PETAL
"Continue the fight, continue to stand up for what you believe in, continue to stand up for who you love and for the values. Standup for your children, standup for the future and while you are doing be prideful about it."

"The time that it takes some people want action now, but things like law reform and getting the Belizean society or the Belizean country, the country of Belize to that space where you want LGBT citizens living per say free like in North America, it takes work and it takes years of working and some people are not built for the long haul unfortunately, but I would like to say to each on every person that is not built for the long haul - that perhaps don't that is not interested in being an activist or an advocate and doing all those things, that please send us the funds, that type of resource, that is necessary because we have allies who send other type of resources, not only money, but also other resources like man power and do capacity building with us and things like that. But I ask the Belizean LGBT community to send the funds, it goes a long way. It will help us when you're talking about lesbian and bi-sexual women to continue the safe and brave space that we are creating."