BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/02/2007

Gay Groups Unite in Belarus

MINSK, February 25, 2007 - Representatives of most gay and lesbian groups have agreed to work together where possible in joint projects. Unpublicised, the meeting was said to have been a "great success".

The agreement was reached at a meeting this month in Minsk at the suggestion of Amnesty International Belarus LGBT Network.

Other groups attending the meeting were Belarusian Initiative of Young Gays, Lambda Belarus, Volunteers without Borders, HIV/Aids groups,and administrators of Belarusian LGBT websites gayby.net, britva.gay.ru. The Polish gay activist Lukasz Palucki also attended.

After presentations on their activities by the individual groups, discussions were held on the problems faced by Belarusian LGBT movement.

Mr. Palucki, of Equality Foundation and invited to attend by Amnesty International Belarus, told participants about achievements and problems of Polish LGBT movement.

"Being at least 10 years older than ours, the Polish movement has faced problems well familiar to us - from excessive ambition of leaders to rigid competition for financial resources," said a spokesperson from the TEMA LGBT Information Centre.

"A recent example is a dispute around a project of monument [in Warsaw] to commemorate gay victims of Nazi concentration camps. Nevertheless, Poles can brag of a high degree of unity when it comes to such serious matters. Last year's Warsaw Equality parade was a stunning success and involved 15 000 people.

"Yes, there is a lot to learn from our nearest neighbours," the spokesperson said.

Other aspects discussed included the opportunities of joint projects, an information exchange (magazines, bulletins, web-sites, blogs, networks, Yahoo! groups, a web-community, etc.), creation of positive image Belarusian LGBT movement inside the country and at the international level, cooperation with governmental structures, and promotion of LGBT culture..

"Despite obvious differences, both the registered organisations and informal groups developed a lot of variants of possible cooperation," the TEMA spokesperson said.

"These range from advisory support to mutually advantageous use of resources. . Participants noted that it is possible to do many things without 'official' registration.

The representative of the Belarusian Initiative of Young Gays spoke about the "successful experience of work" with strictly homophobic organizations like Belarusian Popular Front and Belarusian Nationwide Union of Youth.

He said that he managed to publish a number of articles on LGBT problems in pro-government media.

Great attention was given to information exchange. "We decided not be isolated in our own narrow-design purposes, and to cooperate constructively, searching for innovative approaches to wider audiences," said TEMA.

Perhaps the major achievements of a meeting was the agreement on maintenance of a positive image of Belarusian LGBT movement inside the country and abroad - and on collective responsibility for actions in this connection.

"In particular, we talked about unacceptability of use of 'black' PR ventures against each other," the spokesperson said.

"In the short term, we intend to develop strategic approaches with a view of cooperation with state structures, business and civil society sector

"Without exaggeration, the meeting can be called a historic step in development of LGBT movement in Belarus. We hope, that the first step will be followed by the second. At least, it is already known, that the next meeting of leaders of Belarusian LGBT movement is planned for April," the spokesperson said.

Source:

http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/07/Feb/2502.htm

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