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.
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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

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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.