Barents Conference representatives were invited to present the results of the gathering at a seminar at the 2nd World Conference on Lesbian & Gay Culture in Lisbon, 9-14, 2000. They were also invited to Stockholm for the Solidarity Evening for Russian Homosexuals on October 9, '99 (Teater Lido).

Norway to host 1st "Nordic Light" Film Festival

On the sidelines of the Barents conference itself, representatives of the Norwegian lesbian and gay rights group, LLH Tromso and the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network (ILGCN-Nordic) agreed to hold the 1st Nordic Light - the Nordic lesbian and gay film festival, in Tromso, December 4- 5, 1999.

(The Nordic homo film festival earlier scheduled to take place in Tallinn-Tartu, Estonia in 1999 will take place in the spring of 2000 and be the 2nd Nordic Light Festival - which is to rotate annually between Nordic nations).

Representatives of the Murmansk lesbian and gay organization, The Circle, and ILGCN-Nordic also agreed at the conference to host the 1st Murmansk Lesbian & Gay cultural event in this northern Russian city in September, 2000. (This pioneering event has al ready received symbolic economic and moral support from the ILGCN at the 1st World Conference on Lesbian & Gay Culture in Stockholm, July, 1998.)

"Arco Nordica" prize to RFSL-Piteå and LLH-Finnmark

Honouring Nordic organizations making outstanding achievements over the past year in international homo cultural work, ILGCN-Nordic at the conference awarded the 1999 Arco Nordica (Nordic rainbow) prize to RFSL-Piteå and LLH- Finnmark for taking the initiative for the 1st Barents Conference and for ensuring that the event was enriched with homo film, art, photography, music, live cabaret and discussions on the importance of lesbian and gay culture for "building bridges and opening doors."

Colin de la Motte-Sherman