LGBT Organizations from 20 Countries are at the 3rd Regional Network Meeting
The participating countries of the 3rd meeting are Albania, Algeria, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, France, Georgia, Greece,
Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Montenegro, Palestine, Serbia, the Nedherlands, Tunisia,
Turkey and the United States.
Regional Network Against Homophobia meeting that was initiated by Kaos GL in May
2011 and February 2012 is now being organized in the Balkans. The host of the meeting
is the organization Queer Zagreb and the dates are April 25-29, 2012.
The establishement of a Regional Network in the Midle East, Balkans and Caucasia has
been the dream of Kaos GL since its early years of the 90s, and is now rapidly growing
and being embraced by the neighboring countries in such a small time period. The main
meetings will be held annually in Ankara, however one of the main goals has been to
organize sub-regional conferences in all the 3 regions.
The aim of organizing sub-meetings is to support local events, bring more participation
and attention to the activities of the host country and to empower the local
organization(s). The 3rd Regional Network Meeting coincides with the 10th Queer
Zagreb Festival. The theme of the Festival is “The End”, and the network members will
have opportunity to see in depth how Queer Zagreb festival is functioning and what was
the festival’s impact in the last 10 years on improvement of LGBT rights in Croatia and in
general Balkan region. (For the full program:
http://www.queerzagreb.org/?page_id=549)
The participating countries of the 3rd meeting are Albania, Algeria, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Iraq,
Israel, Lebanon, Montenegro, Palestine, Serbia, Tunisia and Turkey. Since the
Network Meeting coincides with the Zagreb Festival, there will also be participants from
the US, France and the Nedherlands.
The opening will be done by renowed queer theorist Prof. Dr. David Halperin from
Michigan University, who was also a key speaker in the 5th International Meeting Against
Homophobia held by Kaos GL in Istanbul. The outstanding titles of the Network Meeting
will be;
“Ends and beginnings of LGBT activism in different contexts”
“What is unique in our actions? Culture, friendships, rights…”
“‘Pinkwashing’ discussions in Balkans, Arab world and Caucasia”
“LGBTIQ – Are those letters enough? Is someone missinng? Whati is L, G, B, T, I
Q in our context?”
“ Developing modeles of possible coolaborations within network members in 3
categories: culture, rights, friendship”
“Articulating common network actions”
The Network at the moment has a vision to function as a platform of mutual learning and
supporting with no ambition for formalizing it. It aims to create a solidarity shelter
for the regional organizations living under homophobic, transphobic, nationalist
and sexist policies. A plan for joint support will be developed and bilateral and
multilateral cooperations between organizations will be defined and established
depending on organizations profiles and preferences.
The list of participants is created with those who show interest in participating in the
meetings by replying to each call. Those who are interested in taking active part in the
network shall e-mail to both addresses below:
Gordan Bosanac - gbosanac@zamir.net – Queer Zagreb
Nevin Öztop - nevin@kaosgl.org - Kaos GL