2nd IDAHO CELEBRATED in SWEDEN

Press Release May 18, 2006

Stockholm – Demonstrations, musical performances, speeches and seminars took place in different cities and towns all over this Nordic nation on May 17th – IDAHO -- the International Day Against Homophobia – saluting the WHO decision to abolish the classification of homosexuality as a disease.

At a concert and seminar at a café gallery in the Swedish capital , a moment of silence was held in collaboration with IDAHO colleagues around the world to honor persecuted, harassed and murdered LGBT people over the centuries. The gathering was organized by the Nordic Homo Council, Tupilak (Nordic organization of lesbian & gay cultural workers) the ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) and Nordic Rainbow Humanists.

IDAHO Recognition, Nordic Rainbow Monuments?

The meeting also launched a campaign to ask all Nordic governments to follow the example set by Belgium and France to give official recognition to IDAHO and also to take steps to help create rainbow monuments in Nordic cities such as those already existing in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and elsewhere.

“I’m afraid our request to Nordic sections of Amnesty International to take the initiative to beef up support for LGBT issues world-wide did not succeed in ‘breaking this silence.’ Amnesty regards ‘rainbow work” as voluntary – and some groups such as in Russia and elsewhere ignore this while other human rights groups join the LGBT battles,” says Bill Schiller of the Nordic Homo Council. “We’ll keep on trying.”

At the IDAHO gatherings, Tupilak announced the winners of this year’s Golden Tupilak for outstanding international achievements going to the Palestinians and Israelis working together for Jerusalem World Pride in August and the internationally-minded Toronto Pride 2006. (IDAHO founder Louis-Georges Tin won the 2005 award).

Other Stockholm events included a demonstration in a downtown square and the Stockholm Gay Choir giving a musical salute to IDAHO from the stage.
___________________________________________

Principal supporters of the Nordic Homo Council:

Launching World ILGCN, IDAHO Conferences, Moscow Pride 2006 NORDIC RAINBOWS FOR MOSCOW

Press Release April 13, 2006

Stockholm -- Nordic rainbow art, music, film, seminars and performances will characterize the “Nordic Rainbow Lights in Moscow -- A cultural & Human Rights Festival” on May 25 -- helping launch the year’s first stage of the ILGCN world cultural conference and the first world IDAHO conference for the International Day Against Homophobia – as well as the first Moscow Pride – banned by the mayor and condemned by homophobic religious leaders encouraging violent attacks against homosexuals.

“We are very pleased that the Nordic Council’s Cultural Fund has given us support and made it possible to have a region-wide Nordic participation – from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,” says Bill Schiller of Tupilak, the Nordic Homo Council, the ILGCN and the Nordic Rainbow Humanists.

“We’re very proud of our Russian colleagues who are defying the mayor’s office and the religious fanatics whipping up dangerous homophobia – as some human rights groups join in to protest while others remain embarassingly silent,” Schiller adds, “And we’re proud to join those who have made IDAHO an outstanding global event.”

Nordic Co-operation with Eastern Europe

“Of course part of our festival will focus on Nordic co-operation with colleagues on other Eastern European rainbow barricades – such as in Poland facing a new wave of homophobic politicians and churchmen and especially in the dictatorship of Belarus. These will be our special guests at the ILGCN event in Moscow.” Schiller concludes.

The 2nd stage of this year’s ILGCN world cultural conference is scheduled in Jerusalem as part of World Pride.

This year’s session of the Nordic Homo Council will take place in the western Swedish city of Gothenberg in September -- on the sidelines of the giant Gothenberg Book Fair – with a special focus on Nordic co-operation with Russia, Belarus, Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Uppmuntrar er att komma med:

Tupilak, ILGCN (Information Secretariat - Stockholm), Nordic Homo Council & Nordic Rainbow Humanists

REGNBÅGAR för BELARUS

Sista Riksdagens Politiska Partier-initierad månadsdemonstration före ”Valet”
i Öst Europas sista diktatur: Vitryssland.

Normalmstorg, Stockholm 15.30
torsdagen 16 mars

_____________________________________________________________

OBS: Vi bjuder Belarus kolleger till ILGCN's världskultur konferens i Moskva
25 mai i år (en del av IDAHO världskonferens och Moskva Pride).

Vi planerar en ILGCN konferens i Minsk på hösten --
trots varningar och hot från regimen och neo nazister.

(Vår tidigare internationella konferens och festivaler i Minsk har varit
angripna av polis, stängde och förbjudna.)

Förra året hade vi "Moonbow Festival in Exile för Belarus" i Stockholm
och London med kolleger från Belarus. I år planerar vi "Moonbow Festival
in Exil för Belarus" i Polen och Sverige.

Välkomna med regnbågsflagor för Belarus i Stockholm och utomlands!

Tupilak
www.tupilak.se

ILGCN
(International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network)
http://www.tupilak.ilgcn.se/

SWEDISH GAYS PROTEST ON BEHALF OF COLLEAGUES IN BELARUS

Stockholm: Members of Tupilak (Nordic homo cultural workers) and the
Nordic Homo Council join Swedish politicians and representatives of
human rights organizations in a downtown protest demonstration in the
Swedish capital on the eve of rigged elections coming up on Sunday March
19 in Belarus -- the last dictatorship in Eastern Europe -- where
opposition voices are silenced with threats, beatings and arrests.

Tupilak and the Nordic Homo Council are helping a representative
from the gay movement in Belarus come to the Moscow stage of the ILGCN
(International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) world cultural conference
in May and to the giant "Right to be Different" conference in Montreal
in July, as well as to future "festivals in Exile" for Belarus planning
in Sweden and in Poland later in the year.

Photos by: Paul-Peter Hallberg








Photo 1: Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds on the other side
of the rainbow flag, speaking to the demonstrators.










Photo 2 Tupilak's Bill Schiller with a rainbow scarf

STOCKHOLM JOINS INTERNATIONAL PROTEST OVER MAYOR OF MOSCOW BANNING PRIDE IN MAY

Press Release March 3, 2006

Joint actions in London, Warsaw, Vienna, Paris:

Stockholm -- “Moscow Needs a Gay Pride!” “Homophobic religious leaders in Moscow calling for violent attacks on homosexuals endanger Russia’s international reputation!” and “Tchaikovsky, Diagliev, Nijinski, Eisenstein and many others… the mayor of Moscow is insulting your memory!” were the slogans of the demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy in the Swedish capital on March 2.

Arranged by Tupilak (Nordic organization of lesbian & gay cultural workers), the Nordic Homo Council, and ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) Information Secretariat in Stockholm, the event was also attended by a representative of the youth section of the national Swedish LGBT rights organization, RFSL. It was part of an international protest requested by IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) against the mayor of Moscow banning Pride and was part of an international action carried out the same day in London, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw and other cities.

Russian Embassy Silence

There has been no response to an earlier Tupilak letter to the Russian ambassador requesting a dialogue especially concerning the safety for Nordic delegations to be sent to the 1st stage of the ILGCN world cultural conference scheduled for Moscow on May 25 – helping launch the 1st IDAHO world conference and the Moscow Pride on May 27th.

The only sign of life from the embassy was the appearance of a security official who asked the police monitoring the demonstration to move the protestors, their posters and rainbow and Nordic flags further down the snow-covered street – away from the embassy gate.

Passers-by praised the demonstration and sent greetings to homosexuals in Moscow. The demonstration was covered with live broadcasts both on local and national radio – including the mentioning of the appreciation e-mailed by Moscow colleagues -- and photos appeared in two of Stockholm’s morning newspapers the next day.

Links/ länkar

Belarus LGBT Group
amnesty@tut.by

Estonian Gay Planet
http://www.gay.ee/

Gay Latvia
http://www.gay.lv/

Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association
http://www.galha.org/

GMX Toolbar
www.gmx.net/info

Hallongrottan
http://www.hallongrottan.com/ info@hallongrottan.com

Helsinki Human Rights Committee-Sweden
http://www.shc.se/

ILGA (International Lesbian & Gay Association)
http://www.ilga.org/

ILGA-Europe
http://www.ilga-europe.org/

ILGCN-Berlin
ilgcn.culturenet@pride.de

ILGCN - Poland
ilgcn.gej.net

ILGHRC (International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission)
http://www.iglhrc.org/

Lambda Warsaw (Lesbians and Gays in Warsaw, Poland)
http://www.lambda.org.pl/

LBL Denmark (Lesbians and Gays in Denmark)
http://www.lbl.dk/

LGL (Lesbians and Gays in Lithuania)
http://www.gay.lt/

LLH (Lesbians and Gays in Norway)
http://www.llh.no/

Panbladet
http://www.panbladet.dk/

NEWSMIX
http://www.newsmix.nu/

Queer Dykes Vi är en idéell queerfeministisk kulturförening som har samarbetat med Tupilak ett par gånger och gör det gärna igen. Vårt fokus är på homo/bi-tjejer, men vi välkomnar alla. Vi anordnar kulturkvällar, utställningar, konserter, fester, festivaler m.m. samt säljer medlemmars hantverk. På hemsidan kan man förutom info om oss och våra aktiviteter få aktuell info om feministiska /queera evenenang, seminiarier, grupper, kafén, klubbar m.m. i hela landet men främst i Stockholm. Dessutom har vi en diger länklista, tips på böcker, tidningar, film, musik m.m, en shop där man kan köpa medlemmars hantverk, tröjor m.m. samt en avdelning med texter skrivna av medlemmar. Välkommen att bli medlem!
E-post: queerdykes@hotmail.com
Hemsida: http://www.queerdykes.com/

Seta Finland (Lesbians and Gays in Finland)
http://www.seta.fi/

Rex Wockner World news
www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html

Russian GLBT
www.gay.ru/english

This Way Out (international radio)
http://www.planetout.com/

Ukraine - Our World
www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/2118/

Stipends & awards/ utmärkelser & stipendium

Golden Tupilak
-- for outstanding achievements for lesbian and gay rights and culture on the international scene.


Sowelu
-- for a Nordic woman or women’s group making an outstanding contribution to lesbian culture (named after the letter of the runic alphabet for light and the sign of a ‘spiritual warrior.’)


Thor’s Hammer
-- for a Nordic man or men’s group making outstanding contributions to gay culture.


Polar Bear
-- for outstanding achievements with lesbian and gay films in the Nordic region or beyond. (Announced in February at the same time of the Berlin International Film Festival -- where the prize was born as part of the Golden, Silver and Gay Teddy bear family.)


Bifrost
-- for a Nordic hetereosexual individual or organization helping create bridges between the homosexual and heterosexual communities. (Named after the rainbow bridge of Norse mythology linking the world of the gods and the world of the humans.).


Heimdahl
-- for outstanding contributions in the mass media in the Nordic region or beyond. (Named after the Norse god of Viking mythology, who stood at the edge of the rainbow bridge and blew the horn to herald the end of the old world and the birth of the new one).


Phobia
-- for infamous discrimination and violation of lesbian and gay rights within the Nordic region or beyond.


Loke
--annual support for the travels of a Swedish lesbian or gay cultural worker to an Eastern European Tupilak or ILGCN event (named after the ancient and touble-making Norse god able to change form and sex and constantly challenging authority).

-- priority given to a performing or graphic artists able to sing, dance, play music or display art or photography to increase visibility and give a Swedish touch to the local program.

-- priority given to a member of Tupilak


Loke´s sisters
annual financial support for a rainbow cultural project in Sweden OUTSIDE of the major cities.

-- priority given to those working together with other organizations,
festivals, exhibitions, etc. to increase the ties between communities, organizations and individuals.

-- priority given to a member of Tupilak

5th ILGCN World Conference

Monday, July 29
11.45 World homo cultural conferences: a presentation – Bill Schiller, Tupilak & ILGCN-Nordic co-ordinatorGreetings from the Swedish National Cultural Council & Left Party

12.00 Nordic Lesbian Cultural Festivals -- Vira Hepolampi, Helsinki

12.30 Homo Culture in Estonia -- ILGCN co-ordinators - Tallinn

13.00 A Homo Publishing Collective in London - Ian Stewart, Canada/UK

13.30 Tribute to Charlotte von Mahlsdorf - international panel

14.00 Rainbow Culture & the ILGA (International Lesbian & Gay Association) -- Kursad Kahramanoglu, ILGA secretary general

14.30 Intermission

15.00 Commercial Homo Culture -- Jon Voss, QX publisher, Sweden

15.30 Jordanian Rainbows -- Onadeem Mansour, Amman

16.00 Rainbows in the Military: EU project - Krister Fahlstedt, HOF (Homosexuals in the Swedish Military)

16.30 Silent Rainbows-Unseen Colors - Homo Culture for special needs

17.00 Nordic Rainbow in Jerusalem - Nina Boström, ILGCN envoy

18.00 Reception - including ILGCN-Nordic "Arco Nordica" award
____________________________________________________

Tuesday, July 30 at Salong Katakomb
12.00 Brazil's Rainbow Culture -- Anders Ödvall, ILGCN-Rio de Janeiro

12.30 Homo Culture in Latvia -- ILGCN co-ordinators, Kjell Rindar

13.00 Swedish Parliament Homo Group -- Tasso Stafilidis, Left Party

13.30 Rainbow Culture & Nordic Homo Council -- Nordic panel

14.00 Iranian Homo Culture at Home and in Exile -- Homan-Gothenberg

14.30 Intermission

15.00 Homo Culture & World Humanists -- Nordic Rainbow Humanists; Carl-Johan Kleberg, chairman - Swedish Humanists

15.30 Gay Composers -- Colin de la Motte-Sherman, ILGCN-Berlin

16.00 Greece: "(W)rightful" authors organization, "Feminist Series" - Christiana Lambrinidis, ILGCN-Athens

16.30 Nordic Homo Art & Photography -- Marie-Louise Landén & Nina Boström (ILGCN cultural ambassadors - Sweden)

17.00 Conditions for Homo Artists & Performers: "To Hell and Back" -- international panel

17.30 Rainbow Films -- Erica Eaton, ILGCN ambassador - New York; etc. Evolutionary Girls Club Film screenings.
______________________________________

Wednesday, July 31
12.00 Rainbows in Austria -- Helene Grübl, HOS-Linz

12.30 Homo Culture in Lithuania -- ILGCN representatives - Vilnius 13.00 Rainbows vs. HIV/AIDS -- Nordic panel

13.30 Homo Culture in Belarus/5th ILGCN world cultural conference (stage: 2 September 5-7, 2002), Forum Lambda - Minsk

14.00 Rainbows in the Barents Region: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia -- Jonas Hansson - RFSL-Piteå

14.30 Intermission

15.00 Homo Culture & Amnesty International -- HAI (Homo Cultural workers in Nordic Amnesty)

15.30 Rainbow Culture & Europride/EPOA (European Pride Organizers Association) -- Jens Petring, Europride-Cologne 2002

16.00 Rainbows vs. Nazi/ Neo Nazi Persecution -- International Panel

16.30 Homo Music - Anna Rosén, Katarina Berglind (Sweden), Stockholm Gay Chorus, etc.

17.00 Final Plenary (approving new ILGCN co-ordinators, ambassadors, projects proposals, future conference sites, etc.)
___________________________________________________

Closing ceremony & ILGCN 10 Year Anniversary Party:
(ILGCN "Grizzly Bear" and "Orfeo Musica" awards)

Nazi persecution of homosexuals

and the fate of lesbians and gays in the Holocaust

Swedish women at Wall of Execution in Auschwitz
during the visit of the international homo delegation

from the 3rd World Conferenceon Lesbianand Gay Culture, July, 2000.
Photo by Paul Peter Hallberg, Stockholm......aims at increasing information aboutthe "forgotten holocaust"and the fate of lesbians and gays in the Nazi death camps. The 1st "Persecution of Homosexuals "event took place in Stockholm at Noak's Ark-Red Cross and at the theater local, Salong Katakomb in January, 2000

-- on the sidelines of the Swedish government's international Holocaust Forum.
Special guests speakers were German Professor Günther Grau and
Swedish historian and researcher, Fredrik Silverstolpe, as well as
Swedish parliamentarians Yvonne Ruwiada of the Green Party and Tasso

Stafilidis of the Left party,and now head of the Swedish parliament's
Homogruppen.
The event included a memorial concert with the Women's House
Chorus, the Stockholm Gay Choir, singers and musicians Eva Hansson,
Jan Hammarlund, Anders Jonsson, the duo Venus Passagen,
Sexodus -- all of Sweden - and dancer Timo Loponen of Finland.

At the event, the "Orfeo Iris" prize was announced - going to the
Auschwitz Memorial Museum for its work in documenting and
illustrating that homosexuals also perished at this and other Nazi
camps. (The prize was handed over in July during the 3rd world
conference on homo culture.)

The 1st stage of the 2nd "Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals " in 2001 has taken place in Stockholm, January 28

-- on the sidelines of the Swedish government's
International Forum Combating Intolerance. The 2nd stage will take place in Vilnius, May 26-27 -- part of the FIFE International Cultural Forum in the Lithuanian capital .

The 3rd "Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals " in 2002 will take place in Linz, Austria in May (the anniversary of the liberation of the Matthausen concentration camp) -- organized by HOSI-Linz

Note: Tupilak, ILGCN and HAK (Homo cultural workers in Nordic Amnesty) are co-operating with the organizers of the events and have a large collection of appropriate art work, posters, photographs and films to the event.

Contact us if you are interested in participating in any of our events,
if you have homo cultural material to add to our collection or if your organization would like to host a future event of this kind .

NORDIC LIGHT

-- Nordic Homo Film Festivals

..... rotating annually between Nordic nations

..... focusing on lesbian and gay films and film makers from the Nordic area

..... bringing Nordic homo film makers in contact with festival audiences

..... highlighting special international human rights films

Some of our films:

"The Night is Mine" - the music and art-filled Swedish television documentary

of the turn-of-the-century painter, Eugene Jansson, his blue paintings of Stockholm by night and his later works portraying his lover and other visitors to the city's outdoor baths. By Sweden's Olle Holm.

"HARU - the island of lonely people" -- A Swedish/Finnish television

production on the famous Swedish-Finnish writer and mother of the

Moomintroll, Tove Jansson, and her woman, on their island in the Finnish archipelago.

"I Love Who I Want to Love" - a documentary of young Norwegian

lesbians and gays proudly coming out and dealing with homophobia .

by Norwegian film director, Trond Winterkjaer and Ronny Kristoffersen.

And such non-Nordic specials as:

Beautiful, wordless prize winning short films, "Thick Lips, Thin Lips"

and "The Offering" of Paul Lee, ILGCN-Toronto.

"Breaking the Silence" and "Outlawed" -- moving, global

documentaries from the Dutch section of Amnesty International.

"Kissing Girls Made me This Way", "Warsaw and the world homo cultural conference stage" etc. -- C. Eaton, USA

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The 1st "Nordic Light" Lesbian and Gay Nordic Film Festival took place in May, 2000 in Tallinn, Estonia.

The 2nd "Nordic Light" is scheduled to take place in Riga, Latvia in September, 2001 as

part of the first stage of the 4th ILGCN World Conference on Lesbian and Gay Culture.

Interested in hosting a future "Nordic Light".?

Interested in borrowing "Nordic Light" films for a film evening, seminar or discussion?

Contact us!

HAI -- homosexual culture workers in Nordic sections of Amnesty International

.....using films, books, dance, theater, poetry, art and photographyto focus on Amnesty International 's work against homophobia and theviolation of human rights for lesbians and gays.

.....co-operating with members of Amnesty International and other human rights organizations within and outside of the Nordic area aswell - such as the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the IGLHRC
(International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission).

... working with the ILGCN (International Lesbian and Gay CulturalNetwork),
Tupilak (the Nordic organization of lesbian and gay cultural workers)
and other cultural organizations in and beyond theNordic area.

.... helping complement the ILGCN/AI catalogue on Human Rights Films,
giving special emphasis to the global situation for lesbians and gays.

---

Useful Amnesty International cultural tools against homophobia --

presented/described at conferences, seminars,
film festivals, art exhibits, press conferences:

Dutch Amnesty films: "Breaking the Silence," "Outlawed"
Video of "Barbed Wire Flight" by ERI Dance Theater for Finnish/Swedish Amnesty

Amnesty International-London campaign manual,
"The louder wewill sing"

French Amnesty translation of the manual: "Plus Fort Nous Chanterons"
British Amnesty country-by-country survey, "Breaking the Silence" (also in German, Spanish)
Belgian Amnesty leaflets, rainbow candles
German Amnesty posters, leaflets, "Action News" publications
British Amnesty at Europride-Paris with street theater
Swedish "Amnesty Press" articles on homophobia in Zimbabwe, Brazil, etc.

Polish Amnesty presence at ILGCN world homocultural conference - Warsaw
Ukrainian Amnesty groups at homo rights/homoculture conference in Kiev
Greek, French and other sections producing gay and lesbian rights postcards

Nordic Amnesty members at
International Homoculture & Human Rights Day

- Stockholm, August 4, 2001

World Homocultural Conferences

ILGCN's Annual World Conference
on Lesbian & Gay Culture...

Sexodus of Sweden, performer at Warsaw and Stockholm
world conferences, to perform in Mykonos September, 2001

Swedish cabaret singer, Peter 'Sexodus' Fröberg, performing at

world conferences in Warsaw, Stockholm and Mykonos.

...highlighting homo culture in such areas as art, photography, theater, poetry, music, song, dance, choreography, films, literature, journalism, design, architecture, translation, etc..

....focusing on how to increase the use of homo culture = homo politics as a valuable weapon against homophobia, invisibility and silence.

.....discussing conditions and measures to increase support for professional lesbian and gay cultural workers - at home and abroad.

....encouraging organizers to invite ILGCN cultural ambassadors and others for performances, concerts, film screenings, art exhibits and seminars to increase international solidarity and awareness.

...working together with human rights organizations and groups such as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (New York), Amnesty International sections and groups, the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and progressive political parties from a growing number of countries.

...approving new ILGCN cultural co-ordinators and cultural ambassadors to the list already including Brazil, Cuba, Latvia, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, India, Portugal, Serbia, Italy, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Romania, Belarus, Germany, Britain, Australia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Ireland, Japan, Canada, USA, etc..

....awarding annual prizes to pioneers and others making outstanding achievements across national borders to promote homo culture as a major contribution to the human rights struggle.

'Kristallnacht' -- November 9 -- European Campaign against Intolerance

Hermans Garden Café Tuesday,
November 9, 2004 17.00 (Fjällgatan 23 a Stockholm)

Discussions: (Swedish/English)

”Nazi and neo nazi Persecution of Homosexuals”

“The Rainbow Battle of Krakow – May, 2004”

”Homo Culture vs. Homophobia”
(Stockholm to Tallinn, Minsk and beyond)

Exhibits: “Fleeing Shadows” -- Ismo Hyvärinen, Tupilak-Finland

”Voyages to Auschwitz & Krakow” -- Paul-Peter Hallberg

”1st Jerusalem Pride”-- Nina Boström (Swedish ILGCN ambassador)

Suported by:

Tupilak (Nordic organization of homosexual cultural workers)
ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network)-Nordic
Nordic Homo Council
Nordic Rainbow Humanists
HAI (Homosexual cultural workers in Nordic& East European sections of Amnesty International)