Report compiled from press releases from Nash Mir, Ukraine, and GayRussia.ru
 

More than 150 gay activists from central and eastern Europe are calling on their respective governments to outlaw discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and to implement legislation for “registered partnerships” for same-sex couples.

Attending the “Our World – Extending the Borders” conference in Kiev, Ukraine, at the weekend were delegates from 16 countries – Armenia,  Belarus,  Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kirghizia, Lithuania, Macedonia,  Moldova,  Poland, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.  Also attending the conference, organised by Nash Mir Gay and Lesbian Centre, were diplomats from the Spanish and Dutch embassies in  Kiev.

The “Joint Appeal” issued at the conclusion of the conference (see below) called for governments to not only recognise NGOs working in the LGBT arena, but also to create positive dialogue with them.

During the two-day conference, Russian professor of sexology and sociology Igor Kon talked about historical evolutions of attitudes towards gays and lesbians.  He represented a very conservative wing saying that any activist initiatives should be taken in the socio-political context of a particular country.

He said that while he remained very sceptical about gay pride initiatives in Eastern Europe he would not judge the proposed 2006 Moscow Pride until it was over.

Many activists from all over Eastern Europe gave their own examples of fight for LGBT rights, particularly the organisation of Gay Pride marches.  There were many countries where problems with Prides were experienced this year.

Head of GayRussia.ru, Nikolai Alekseev gave a strong speech appealing for “a revival of gay activism in Europe as the only tools of reaching progress in the current circumstances”.  He said that Moscow gay festival and the first conference of IDAHO in Moscow will go ahead and that “we will do all to make it a global success”.

Maxim Anmeghichean, the recently-appointed programmes director of ILGA-Europe, conducted a seminar of his organisation’s plans in Eastern Europe in the wake of the Association's annual conference in Paris that will take place at the end of October.

“It is very important that activist meet from time to time and discus their problems,” Anmeghichean said.  “We share a common heritage, but sometimes we can be quite remote from each other.”

Delegates also had an opportunity to work upon problems of development of the lesbian community, counteractions to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS spreading, using mechanisms of the European organizations for lobbying of the interests of the gay-community of the region.

The conference attracted considerable media attention, main TV channels in Ukraine reporting the event.

But this coverage failed to spark any protests.  There was no one demonstrating outside the Hotel Bratislava where the conference took place and no homophobic incidents happened during the entire Kiev event.

“The Nash Mir organisers did a great job,” commented Alekseev.  “I must admit that we did not even know that so much is being done in some countries from where we hear almost nothing in our everyday work.”

LINKS

Nash Mir website
ILGA-Europe website
GayRussia website

END OF CONFERENCE JOINT APPEAL

To the Governments, administrations and

Parliaments of Central and Eastern

European countries

We, the representatives of the GLBT community of Central and Eastern Europe: Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kirghizia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Tajikistan and Ukraine -

·           having gathered at the international conference in Kyiv, Ukraine under the auspices of “Our World: Expanding the Borders”;

·           having considered at plenary sessions, as well as in working groups, relevant questions in the GLBT sphere;

·           resulting from the common position in relation to the state of affairs in the GLBT sphere and coming to agreement on the necessity, at the state level, in all countries of the region to take further wide-reaching measures to consolidate the social equality of members of the GLBT community;

·           noting the role of non-governmental organizations working in the GLBT sphere in our countries in the progress in the area of the maintenance of the legal rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons;

recognize that:

1)        the formation of a democratic civil society in which the rigorous maintenance and effective protection of the legal rights of members of the GLBT community continues to be, in the countries of the region, one of the highest priorities of its representatives;

2)        the social standards in the GLBT sphere in the countries of the region are at a much lower level than in the countries of Western Europe which are our benchmark;

3)        the resurgence in the countries of the region, over the past few years, of neo-conservative tendencies, which affect political, cultural, religious and other spheres of social activity and negatively affect the state of affairs in the GLBT sphere, and are a matter of fundamental concern to GLBT organizations;

4)        gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons consist of a distinct social group, comprised of not less than ten percent of the adult population, regardless of the country in question, and requiring a distinct approach from governments in the protection of their legal rights and interests;

5)        despite the outlawing of discrimination on any grounds confirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other international treaties in force in the countries of the region, as well as the existence of the same in the constitutions of the countries of the region, - anti-discrimination legislation in our governments being either extremely weak or completely undeveloped - ;

therefore put forward the following requests and proposals to the heads of state, administrations and parliaments of the countries of the region:

1)        the creation, under government auspices, of national committees on the question of the GLBT problematic with the aim of fast-track implementation in the countries of the region of a higher level of social standards in the GLBT sphere, as well as for the implementation of an integrated approach to the GLBT problematic at the state level;

2)        the institution of legislative norms forbidding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the spheres of labour relations, education, public health care and other areas of public life;

3)        the monitoring of national legislation with the aim of eliminating still-existing (in a number of countries in the region) normative legal regulations that unlawfully restrict or impact the rights of members of the GLBT community;

4)        the implementation of the institute of registered partnerships for same-sex couples who have the natural and healthy desire to legalize their relationships;

5)        the development and implementation of integrated measures (including educational and formative programs) to fight homophobia with the aim of preventing manifestations of homophobia in society as a whole, as well as in all social and governmental spheres - law enforcement agencies, educational institutions, the military, the judiciary;

6)        the provision in state information policies of directing the consolidation of societal tolerance and the good-natured, peaceful treatment of homosexual persons on the part of their fellow citizens;

7)        the maintenance, on a permanent basis, of constructive, regular dialogue with non-governmental organizations working in the GLBT sphere with the aim of formulating and implementing government policy in corresponding social areas;

8)        the cooperation with non-governmental organizations working in the GLBT sphere in particular by the provision of grants and subsidies from state and municipal budgets for the carrying out of various social programs;

9)        the systematic delegation of official representatives of the state at awareness events organized by non-governmental organizations on GLBT topics.

We are convinced that in the next few years, with our joint efforts, we will make significant progress in solving the range of problems in the GLBT sphere, which will positively reverberate in the continuing process of democratization and the building of civil society in the countries of this region.

Kyiv, Ukraine
October 2nd, 2005