Stockholm * The Nordic Rainbow Humanists have once again joined forces with their traditional allies (Tupilak * Nordic rainbow cultural workers, Nordic Rainbow Council and the International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network * Information Secretariat, Stockholm) in a number of LGBT events over the last year in Sweden, elsewhere in the Nordic region and Eastern Europe.
This includes presentations, spreading NRC leaflets, displaying photography and art work and answering questions from the audiences -- some very astounded to learn that there are others criticizing religious
oppression and not just the communists, especially in the East where the different religions are regarded as heroic survivors of Soviet times.
At this year*s Stockholm Pride, the NRH had special presentations both at the Pride House and at a city theater cultural day, hosted by NRH member Rolf Solheim from Norway and attended by Nordic Rainbow
Humanist award winner, Carl-Johan Kleberg, formerly head of the Swedish Humanists.
We were also present with rainbow participation at the international solidarity events in Visby on the Swedish Baltic island of Gotland and at the giant International Book Fair in Gothenburg.
Other Nordic events and discussions took place on Finland*s Åland Islands (between Sweden and Finland,) the 1st Baltic Pride in Riga (we include Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in the Nordic *family) and the
Tribade Festival in Helsinki.
Events in Eastern Europe included the ILGCN conference stages in Bucharest (where we also presented the 2009 Nordic Rainbow Humanist award to the newly-formed Romanian Humanists for their support of the
Romanian LGBT movement), Budapest and St. Petersburg.
(We really missed participation * especially in our Eastern European events * with British and other GALHA members and hope we can arrange joint forces in the year to come!)
Nigerian Award Still Waiting
We have also continued our discussions with the Swedish and Norwegian humanist organizations about bringing a member of the Nigerian Humanist Association (honored with the NRH award) to Scandinavia to
receive the award (alas only a diploma * no cash) in person and to hold a seminar about their support for the hard-pressed LGBT movement in that African country. (Perhaps we could make this a
Swedish-Norwegian-British tour to help share the large travel costs?)
Our next event will be on November 9th *Kristall Nachten* as part of the international memorials marking this date when the Nazi regime launched its violent, window-smashing attack on Jews in Berlin
and signalling the beginning of the extermination of Jews, Roma, homosexuals, dissidents and others in the concentration camps. The event will include discussions of our joint solidarity events during the
year, the recent and historic LGBT conference in Belarus and our special art exhibit, *Nazi & neo Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals.*
Bill Schiller, international secretary
Note: The NRC regards itself as an informal network and as a *northern outreach* of GALHA, and is open to LGBT humanists in the Nordic region. There is no membership fee and members are
encouraged to be paying members both to GALHA and their national humanist association.
