First World Conference on Gay and Lesbian Culture, 1998

Delegates from 24 countries gathered in Stockholm (Sweden) for the historic first world conference on gay and lesbian culture - attending seminars, viewing international art and film exhibits and applauding music and dance performances accompanied with prize presentations. Wouldbe delegates from another dozen countries from Nigeria via India to Nicaragua, unable to attend due to the lack of money for travel grants - sent greetings of solidarity. The Yugoslavian delegate - one of the few able to obtain a grant, from the Soros Foundation, was refused a visa by the Swedish Embassy in Belgrade despite pprotests in that city and Stockholm.

Participating in the conference were both veteran and newly-appointed cultural ambassadors - professional musicians, dances, actors aand painters from Greece, portugal, Finland, Iceland Norway and other countries. The conference combined the categories of ILGCN, ILGA-world and ILGA-Europe ambassadors into one: ILGCN.

Conference seminars covered the homosexual cultural scene in southern Africa, the Mediterranenan, Australia, Latin America, and the the Nordic region, as well as lesbian and gay culture in different professions and contributions to the world's cultural heritage. Conference proposals also called for greater co-operation with human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and the Humanists to increase visibility and to promote the use of homoculture to combat homophobia.

Two new ILGCN cultural awards were announced - the Grizzly Bear going to the 1st homo cultural event in Murmansk and the Blue Russian to pioneering Russian graphic and performance artists, Oleg Maslov and Viktor Kuznetsov of St. Petersburg.

Tupilak, the organisation of lesbian and gay cultural artists in the Nordic area, and one of the conference organisers, presented its annual Polar Bear - honouring the organisers of the 1st lesbian and gay cultural festival in Eossos, Greece.

Speaking at the inauguration of the conference, the head of the Swedish Left Party ( one of the strongest advocates of gay rights in the Swedish Parliament), Gudrun Schuman, told delegates that such a conference highlighting homo-culture is "of vital importance not only for lesbians and gays but for all of society. Ulf Holm, an EU parliamentarian for the Swedish Green Party, also underlined his party's support for equality for homosexuals and the importance of the gathering in Stockholm.

During one of the evening performances two male conference organisers got married in the presence of the Swedish Minister of Culture, who was present to receive an award on behalf of the Swedish Prime Minister.


Projects approved include a Nordic tour of the Greek lesbian play, "Lesbian Blues" which faced censorship and bomb threats against the theatre and death threats against the director in Greece, and the first ILGCAN gay CD with musicians from the Faroe Islands to Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The conference also approved a number of new co-ordinators and some cultural good-will ambassadors, such as from Russia, Denmark, Australia the USA, Germany and Latvia.

The next conferences planned are in the cultural and linguistic "twin" cities of Lisbon (second half of 1999 and Rio de Janeiro (middle of 1999), others planned - Rome/Bologna (2,000), Berlin (2,001) and Sydney alongside the Gay Games in Australia in 2,002 - had for a variety of reasons to be abandoned

ILGCN Press Release November 14, 1999

2nd World Homo Cultural Conference in London - second stage after Rio de Janeiro, 1999

London - Delegates at the 2nd stage of the 2nd ILGCN World Conference on Lesbian & Gay Culture in London, November 9-14, 1999 called on authorities in Belarus and Ukraine to permit the legal registration of gay organizations, appealed to the Ugandan president to withdraw his order to arrest homosexuals in his country and urged increased co-operation with other international organizations to use culture as a weapon against homophobia and silence.

The conference -- a follow-up to the 1st stage held in Rio de Janeiro early in the year - also approved proposals to send a delegation to Romania, where gays and lesbians still face prison sentences -- and to investigate the possibilities of assisting future cultural events in Greece, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Murmansk.

A Nordic proposal was approved to send another Love (is a basic human right) Tour to Eastern Europe in July, 2000 -- to Warsaw, Minsk and Kiev. Proposals were also approved for a Nordic gay and human rights film festival and a Nordic journalism conference in Estonia and Latvia in the spring of 2000.

New ILGCN Co-ordinators, Ambassadors

The conference appointed a number of new ILGCN co-ordinators and cultural ambassadors - from Australia, Britain, Bulgaria, Japan and other countries. Special ambassadors were appointed to increase ties with the Gay Games, ILGA, Amnesty International and ICON LYC International.
Delegates also expressed hopes for a mutual exchange between the ILGCN and the London Arts Festival, to increase the participation of Nordic and Eastern Europeans in future British festivals and to see Arts Festival colleagues present at international events in these areas.
Warsaw was selected as the site for the 3rd World Cultural Conference (July 9-16, 2000).The 4th conference will take place in Berlin (December 6-9, 2001) and the 5th in Sydney (2002).

The conference expressed special gratitude to the Gay British Humanists and the British Ethical Society for providing facilities at Conway Hall, and to the Central Station pub for providing space for meetings and film screening.

2nd World Conference - London: Decisions

1. Approval of conference protest letter to Uganda's presidential order to arrest homosexuals.
2. Approval of appeal to Belarus and Ukrainian authorities to legalize gay organizations (permitting them also to work officially with the coming ILGCN/Nordic Tour) and not to close Belarus's only gay publication, "Forum Lambda" in Minsk.
3. Appointment of new ILGCN co-ordinators for Belarus*, Britain*, Bulgaria*, Ukraine*, Poland, Japan, Latvia* Cuba, southern* and northern Australia, northern* Russia. (* new nation)
4. Appointment of new ILGCN ambassadors of Latvia*, Poland.(*new nation)
5. Appointment of special ILGCN ambassadors to Gay Games, ILGA, Amnesty International and ICON YLC International.
6. Approval of 1999 Grizzly Bear award to 1st Pride and Cultural Festival -- Minsk, Belarus (September, 1999).
7. Approval of 3rd World Conference site of Warsaw, (July 9-16, 2000). The 4th conference: Berlin, (December 6-9, 2001). The 5th: Sydney (2002).
Copenhagen is a candidate for a future world conference.
Stockholm is a candidate as a back-up conference, requiring at least 6 months notice.
8. Approval of World Conference Procedures from Stockholm and Rio de Janeiro world conferences (including new additions from Berlin).
9. Approval of conference reports from Stockholm and Rio de Janeiro.
10. Approval of ILGCN-Nordic project, "Nordic Light" - Nordic Gay and Human Rights Film Festivals, Nordic journalist conferences in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia and Riga, Latvia (April, 2000).
11. Approval of ILGCN-Cuba proposal to study the possibility of sending an ILGCN cultural delegation to Cuba in the future.
12. Investigation of progress on ILGCN assistance to a future international film festival in Zimbabwe.
13. Investigation of progress on ILGCN assistance to international cultural events together with the severely harassed Greek theater group, "Lesbian Blues" in Athens.
14. Approval of Tupilak-Sweden proposal to assist with an international cultural event in connection with the ILGA-Europe conference in Bucharest (autumn, 2000).
15. Approval of co-operation with Barents Conference (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia) for international cultural event in Murmansk, (2000).
16. Approval of ILGCN-Denmark proposal for a Nordic "Tupilak" Cultural Brigade Tour to Poland, Belarus, Ukraine (July 2000), along with other ILGCN members.
17. Approval of ILGCN-Nordic proposals to contact Dutch Amnesty, AI's special liaison for "gay issues" and AI-London Secretariat for participation in the 3rd World Cultural Conference and the next ILGCN Love (is a basic human right) Tour to Eastern Europe.

Note: Because of the last minute change of conference sites from Lisbon, some proposals, progress reports, etc. from some ILGCN co-ordinators and others had to be submitted by phone, fax, post and e-mail.

Special Thanks:
The London conference gives a special thanks to Gay British Humanists and British Ethical Society for vital support by providing facilities at Conway Hall. ,,, And a special thanks to the London pub, Central Station, for providing space for meetings and film screenings.

Third World Conference on Gay and Lesbian Culture, 2000
Report: An Award or Insult ?[i]

Participants from the 3rd World Conference on gay and lesbian culture journeyed to the former concentration camp Auschwitz to present the Orfeus Iris, a statuette of a prone man by Danish gay sculptor Lars Dynes, to the Vice-director of Auschwitz Memorial Camp, Maria Oleksy. The award made in front of TV cameras was in recognition of the fact that although few gays were incarcerated in Auschwitz where millions including Poles, Jews, Sinti & Roma - were murdered, homosexuals were not ignored or forgotten in the permanent exhibition.

The author was interviewed in Auschwitz and asked if the award was not an insult to the Polish people since most Poles are anti-homosexual.

The Polish Zjednoczenie Chrzescijansko-Narodowe (National Christian Union) chose to use the award as part of the campaign for the presidential elections by arguing the award was an insult to the Polish people. They demanded answers to the questions

1. are you for gay marriages
2. are you for adoption possibility for gay marriages?
3 are you for artificial insemination for lesbian marriages?
4 are you for teaching in school on homosexuals?

.... from all the candidates for the election.

They have been using word "marriage" everywhere - to frighten the good Catholics. President Kwasniewski hasn't made a statement, but his minister answered that gays and lesbians are citizens like everybody and they deserve the same rights as other. This statement is considered a step forward.

In 1999, the ILGCN awarded Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial Site the Orfeus Iris award as recognition of the use of gay culture in ceremonies to honour the gay victims, and generally for its recognition of the prisoners with a pink triangle.

The 3rd World Conference on gay and lesbian culture initiated by the International Lesbian and Gay Culture Network (ILGCN) ended July 16th after a week of seminars, performances by artists from Poland, Sweden, Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine. Seminar topics ranged from the films of Bruce la Bruce, Paul Lee and Jurgen Bruning, to amnesty international and homophobia.

The Prostitution Plays written by John Roman Baker were also warmly received. The plays without sentimentality and with a dark sense of humour, acted by the Aputheatre (Amsterdam), explore the lives of four young men from different Eastern European cultures living and working illegally as prostitutes in Amsterdam, give an insight into their experiences of life in "freedom city".

In the seminar on amnesty international Colin de la Motte-Sherman spoke about the origins and structure of the organisation since these make the methods and scope of the organisation of ai easier to understand. Founded in London, where the International Secretariat is situated, each section (country-wide association) is legally independent. and basic decisions for the world-wide organisation are taken at the International Council Meeting held every two years. In 1991 it was decided to regard homosexuals who were solely imprisoned for consensual acts in private as prisoners of conscience.

The basic principles of amnesty are political neutrality; no money is accepted from governments; well-founded research into cases, and to be accepted as a prisoner of conscience, the person must neither have used violence nor called for its use. However, even for people who have advocated or used violence, amnesty demands a fair trial.

The president of Poland's amnesty international addressed the final session, along with a representative of the Heinrich -Boell-Foundation.
The 4th World Conference is due for December 2001 in Berlin.

A final statement, adopted by the conference:
"The participants of the 3rd World Conference on Gay and Lesbian Culture held in Warsaw, Poland, wishes to express its thanks to the organisers and to all sponsors and people who have worked to make the conference possible.
The success of the conference has helped to build bridges and develop contacts between citizens of Central and Eastern Europe and citizens of countries which are already in the European Union. Seminars and cultural events have given a great chance to share experiences between participants of the conference. We would like to mention that the democratic changes which were started in 1989 thanks to the positive attitude among others, of the Catholic Church made it possible in the long run to hold the conference in Warsaw.

We want to thank all those people, organisations and institutions that helped to start the democratic changes in Eastern and Central European countries. As Poland and other countries move towards entering the European Union, we hope that the expansion will lead people to learn to respect the human rights of all minorities, including sexual ones."

Colin de la Motte-Sherman
August 2000

[i] A preliminary and unofficial report.

Below is the English version of the closing statement of the conference. I consciously brought it with to Berlin so that the ILGCN had a copy.

Colin de la Motte-Sherman