The Frontline

This summer in Bulgaria, as two new anti-LGBTI laws were fast-tracked in advance of forthcoming elections, a cross movement effort came together to try and stop it.

With rising levels of backlash and political scapegoating, how do LGBTI organisations relate to the greater struggle for democracy, freedom and equality? How do we avoid playing into political division in our quest for success? And in a world where there are no easy wins, what does that success look like?

In this episode of The Frontline we’re looking at discussion that took place during the ILGA-Europe annual conference in Bucharest in October, where over 400 activists joined us to look at ways forward for LGBTI activism at this critical time in the world.

For our panel on finding the courage to seek new strategies in current political contexts, ILGA-Europe’s Advocacy Director, Katrin Hugendubel is joined by Irena Moozova, Deputy Director General responsible for the International Dimension of Justice Policies, Rule of Law, and Equality in the European Commission, Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo, General Rapporteur for LGBTI rights at PACE in the Council of Europe, Denitsa Lyubenova, lawyer from the LGBTI organisation Deystvie in Bulgaria, and Magda Rakita from Fundacja Interakcja in Poland.

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In the second of a two-episode mini-series, we dive further into an important topic for LGBTI activists: what happens when concerns around wellbeing shift from the individual to the collective in our organisations.

Joining us are three expert guests who bring diverse perspectives and deep experience in this field: Nino Kharchilava from WISG, Georgia, who will share her insights on wholistic security and care management; Suranee Abesurya, the Executive Director of Rainbow Mind, UK, bringing the perspective of clinical professionals; and Elvira Meliksetyan, a wellbeing trainer from FrontLine Defenders, who brings hands-on professional knowledge in fostering organisational health.

In this part we discuss the solutions and strategies that can be implemented to foster a supportive and healthy environment for everyone in our organisations.

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In the first of a two-episode mini-series, we’re dive into a super important topic for LGBTI activists: what happens when concerns around wellbeing shift from the individual to the collective in our organisations.

Joining us are three expert guests who bring diverse perspectives and deep experience in this field: Nino Kharchilava from WISG, Georgia, who will share her insights on wholistic security and care management; Suranee Abesurya, the Executive Director of Rainbow Mind, UK, bringing the perspective of clinical professionals; and Elvira Meliksetyan, a wellbeing trainer from FrontLine Defenders, who brings hands-on professional knowledge in fostering organisational health.

In this episode, we start at the very beginning, by looking at what organisational wellbeing actually means, and exploring how we identify group wellbeing needs.

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Intersectionality is a buzz word that’s often used in the LGBTI activist movement, but what is true intersectionality and how do we fold it into the work we do? How do create the change we want to see in society, so that the less privileged within our communities are recognised, valued, included and heard, and where the specific issues that affect those on the intersections are addressed?

Over the past decade, ILGA-Europe’s staff has gone on a learning journey on how to be an organisation that truly adopts an intersectional approach in all our work. In this episode of The Frontline, we’re talking about that journey in real terms. What actually is intersectionality? How do we learn about being truly intersectional and practically put it to use? How do we open ourselves to take on board and learn from critique? And how do we learn from the mistakes we often make?

These are some of the questions in this special episode, presented by Valeria Santostefano, a former team member with ILGA-Europe who was active in the intersectionality portfolio, and who has recently joined the team to support internal learning. Valeria is joined by the former Executive Director, Evelyne Paradis, who has been part of the learning for 15 years, and the new Executive Director, Chaber who is taking the work, and the continual learning, forward.

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Although the swing to the far right predicted in the European elections hasn’t been as radical as expected, with the progressive and centre-right still holding a majority of seats, there have been seismic shifts to the right in a number of member states, including Germany, France and Austria.

 
In this episode of The Frontline we take a look at that this might all mean for LGBTI human rights in the EU over the coming years. Joining our Advocacy Director, Katrin Hugendubel to discuss the election results, the campaigns that led to them, and what the way forward might be are are co-chairs of the LGBTI Intergroup at the European parliament, freshly re-elected MEP’s Marc Angel from the Socialists & Democrats in Luxembourg and Kim van Sparrentak from the Greens/EFA in The Netherlands, alongside activists Luca Dudits from Hatter Society in Hungary and Roberto Muzetta from Arcigay in Italy.

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In the almost 14 years since Evelyne Paradis became the Executive Director of ILGA-Europe it has grown to become the largest umbrella organisation for LGBTI activism in Europe and Central Asia, playing a key and essential role in resourcing and fostering the LGBTI movement, and influencing political systems towards ever greater consideration of LGBTI people’s equality, freedom and safety in decision making and legislation. The past two years in particular have been a time of unprecedented expansion for ILGA-Europe, both in terms of staff and funding, and in our capacity to support, represent and help build a strong and strategic LGBTI movement in the region. 

In this episode of The Frontline, as Evelyne Paradis hands over the reins of leadership to our new Executive Director, Chaber, we sit down with them both to talk about how ILGA-Europe has evolved as an organisation alongside the LGBTI movement over the past decades, and what’s just around the corner, both for the organisation and for the queer activist movement.   

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For the past 18 years with ILGA-Europe, 15 of which she spent as the organisation’s Executive Director, Evelyne Paradis has worked closely alongside hundreds of LGBTI activists and organisations across Europe and Central Asia. As she gets ready to hand over the reins to our new Executive Director, in this episode of The Frontline, Evelyne talks about how the LGBTI movement in Europe and Central Asia has evolved over her time leading ILGA-Europe, and how ILGA-Europe’s work to build and enhance the movement has evolved and grown too. 

What have been the rising priorities in queer activism, and how has ILGA-Europe been both supporting and helping lead the charge? What have been the pitfalls along the way and what are the challenges ahead? And as LGBTI communities and activists face growing opposition from powerful right wing forces across the region, how can the movement further harness is own power to push forward?  

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This is the first of three interviews with ILGA-Europe’s Executive Director, Evelyne Paradis as she departs the organisation, after 18 years, nearly 14 of which she spent as its leader.

With a decade and half of experience leading Europe’s largest LGBTI umbrella organisation, which is a driving force for political, legal and social change in Europe and Central Asia, Evelyne has had a helicopter view of the growing place of LGBTI rights on political agendas and how all of this has filtered down in the everyday lives of LGBTI people across the regions.

In this episode, Evelyne talks about how politics have evolved over her time leading ILGA-Europe, which included the dawn and global spreading of social media, and how Europe’s political institutions have progressed to include LGBTI people across a broad range of portfolios and initiatives. Is the current EU political system working well to shore up and promote LGBTI equality, or are rainbow rights a victim to an advancing populism across the political spectrum? And what does it take to be a great politician at this time in the world? All these questions and more are answered in this, the first of the Evelyne Paradis exit interviews for The Frontline.  

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Every year since 2009, ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map has been ranking the 49 countries that make up Europe based on the legal and policy situations of LGBTI people.  While during this time there has been much movement at the top of the map, with Spain, Finland, Greece and Moldova making big jumps this year, the countries at the bottom have largely been the same since the very first map, namely Russia, Armenia, Turkey, and at the very bottom Azerbaijan.

In this episode of The Frontline, we ask the question, if a country stays at the bottom of the Rainbow Map ranking, does it mean there's no queer activism happening there? In countries where advocacy is not possible, and where daily life for LGBTI people is often extremely challenging, what's happening in the work towards LGBTI rights and equality? And is this mostly invisible activism bringing about change for LGBTI people in the countries where it seems life is getting worse rather than better? 

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Released every May since 2009, the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map ranks the legal and policy situation for LGBTI people in all 49 European countries, on a scale between 0% (gross violations of human rights, discrimination) and 100% (respect of human rights, full equality).  

This year there was much movement on the map, with Malta holding the top spot and several countries entering the top ten. All of this has been reported across the world, but what truths lie behind the Rainbow Map rankings? Malta has been number one for eight years now, but is it a utopia for LGBTI people, or are there issues in the country that might be pinkwashed by its Rainbow ranking? Are small movements up the chart really representative of what’s happening on the ground for LGBTI people? And what’s happening in the countries that used to be at the top but are now lagging very much behind? 

In this episode of The Frontline, exploring the complexities behind the rankings in the annual Rainbow Map, we are joined by guests Robert Attard from the Malta Gay Rights Movement">Malta Gay Rights Movement, Simona Mursec from Ljubljana Pride Association">Ljubljana Pride Association in Slovenia and Sophie Schers from Transgender Network">Transgender Network in The Netherlands. We’re also joined by Mehmet Akin from the ILGA Europe team, who oversees the collection of data and rankings on the Rainbow Map and Index, and our Advocacy Director, Katrin Hugendubel, to talk about what we see happening now and in the future.  

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