C/O Tupilak: http://www.tupilak.se/

Part of EuroPride 2005 Oslo

Oslo/Stockholm – The annual Nordic Rainbow Humanist award for 2005 has been presented to Norwegian humanist and pioneer lesbian and gay rights activist, Kim-Karen Kristine Friele, during the Europride-Oslo celebrations in the Norwegian capital in June.

Honored also with the unveiling of a bust of her to be placed in a public space, the 70-year-old Norwegian activist described in her speech called “Changes and Challenges” the early years of the Norwegian and Nordic homo struggle and the internal fears and guilt feelings that hindered so many from being active.

“We have long neglected the question of international rainbow solidarity – and should give much more support to this now,” Kim Friele said in her speech in an Oslo Euro Pride tent during the Nordic Rainbow Humanist event there.

Other events arranged jointly by the Nordic Rainbow Humanists, the Nordic Homo Council and Tupilak (Nordic organization of lesbian and gay cultural workers) on the sideline of Euro Pride and held at the Humanist House included seminars, films and art exhibits on Nazi & neo Nazi persecution of homosexuals, Nordic and international solidarity.

Rainbow Flag Flying at Oslo’s Humanist House

“We were very pleased to have been given facilities at the large and beautiful Humanist House in Oslo,” says Bill Schiller, Stockholm-based international secretary of the Nordic Rainbow Humanists. “We were also very proud to see the downtown Oslo building fly a large rainbow flag from its façade – visible in all directions and a solid confirmation of the decades-long support given to homosexuals around the world by the global humanist movement in the face of homophobic pressures from all religions.”

“We are also very thankful for all the crucial support given to these events by Norwegian rainbow humanist, Rolf Solheim,” Schiller adds.
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Earlier winners of the ‘Happy Rainbow Humanist’ award include George Broadhead, founder of the London-based GALHA international gay and lesbian humanist organization, and Carl-Johan Kleberg, former chairman of the Swedish humanists, and long-time member of Tupilak and the Nordic Rainbow Humanists.