Subject: [euroletter] SEMINAR "COMBATING SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION"
From: "Steffen Jensen" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 17:26:29 +0200

INVITATION TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SEMINAR 
"COMBATING SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION" 
ORGANISED BY ILGA-EUROPE IN VIENNA FROM 21 TO 25 JUNE 2000
(A SEMINAR IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EU FUNDED PROJECT "STEPPING 
STONES AND ROADBLOCKS")

Dear friends,

As you probably know already, ILGA-Europe is carrying out the partnership
project "Stepping Stones and Roadblocks" with two other European NGO
networks: "United for Intercultural Action", a network to fight racism,
fascism, and nationalism, and "Mobility International", a network to fight
discrimination against disabled people. (At the beginning of this year, all 
ILGA members in Europe received, from United, the leaflet presenting the
project; there was also an article about the project in the ILGA Bulletin #
1/00; on 3 April, we sent an invitation to participate in the two first
seminars of this project via a couple of mailing lists.)

Today, we would like to invite you to apply to participate in the above
mentioned seminar in Vienna. Please, read the following information. If you
are interested, please, fill in and send us the attached form by 31 May 2000
at the latest. If you have any further query, please, don't hesitate to
contact us at the following e-mail address: [email-masked]

Best regards

The ILGA-Europe Executive Board

THE PROJECT BACKGROUND
The three partners have decided to work together in this project because
they feel that anti-discrimination work will benefit from exploring both
similarities and differences between the anti-racism movement, the movement
for equal rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people
and the movement for the equal rights of disabled people. The project
started in December 1999 and will be finished by December 2000. It includes
three seminars, each led by one of the movements. The seminars led by 
Mobility and United have already taken place. The ILGA-Europe seminar will
take place next month. The results of all three seminars will be published
in conference reports which will be widely distributed. The second half of
2000 will be dedicated to further research into good practice. A final
report for the whole project will be published in November 2000. All reports

will be published in English, French and German.

THE SEMINAR BACKGROUND AND AIMS
The seminar is planned for around 40 participants. We have around 25 places
to offer for participants from ILGA-Europe members in EU Member States. (Due
to the funding constraints of the project, we can only cover the costs of 
participation for people residing in the EU.) Five participants will come
from the United, five from the Mobility network (the two other seminars were
arranged in an analogous way: the host network "dominated" with around 25
participants, each of the other networks had up to five participants). There
will also be some experts presenting examples of good practice.

The aim of the seminar is to reflect on the main issues in the struggle
against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, and to find
links with the fight against prejudice and for equal rights for disabled
people, and the fight against racism. The seminar will be a unique
opportunity to learn more about successes in the struggle of these three
movements, to learn from each other, to exchange information about good and
best practice and successful working methods. It will also be a unique
occasion to discuss with representatives from the other two movements how we
can co-operate and fight together in the future. The seminar will also 
consider the prejudices that exist within our movements, and the necessity
to raise awareness of the diversity of the LGBT communities.

The seminar's way of working will include presentations, plenary sessions,
workshops, informal and panel discussion. The emphasis will be on practical
(net)working.

The conference language will be English. Participants are expected to have
at least basic knowledge of English. But don't worry: English will be almost
nobody's mother tongue.It is also planned to join the weekly Thursday
demonstration against the new right/extreme right Austrian government.

PARTICIPATION DETAILS 
The seminar will bring together participants who represent organisations
active in different fields. Priority will be given to

- nominations from ILGA member groups of delegates who are active in support
of more than one minority,

- nominations of disabled people, black people and those from minority
ethnic communities,

- nominations of people who work in the fight against discrimination of GLBT
people and, therefore, could pro-actively contribute to discussing good
practice in areas concerned (f. ex. education, health, lobbying, law reform,
campaigning, networking, awareness raising, etc. etc.), and even may be able
to give a presentation at the seminar or contribute to the research part of 
the project.

Please, specify your working background, your experience and any of the
aspects referred to above in the "registration of interest form", and, if
appropriate, state your proposal for a presentation.

ILGA-Europe will try to also guarantee gender balance and a good
geographical distribution among participants.

The selection of participants will be done immediately after the 31 May.
Therefore, don't miss the deadline! We will inform everybody by 4 June
whether she/he has been selected to participate or not. Those selected will
also receive further details and a draft programme of the seminar.

For the participants chosen, ILGA-Europe will pay the travel costs,
accommodation on a double room basis including full board. (Accommodation in
a single room may be possible at one's own expenses - extra costs: ATS 890
per night.) Since it is a very small seminar, we expect participants to take
part in the whole seminar. The seminar will start on Thursday (22 June) in
the 
morning and end on Sunday (25 June) at noon. Accommodation will be provided
from Wednesday through Sunday. Participants, therefore, are expected to
arrive on Wednesday or on Thursday before 9 a.m. at the latest. Travel cost
will be reimbursed according to the following rules: up to 800 km: train 2nd
class or bus (all reductions obligatory: special weekend tickets etc.); over

800 km: APEX weekend flights.

IMPORTANT: Due to the tight time schedule, we recommend that people who
register their interest for the seminar already now try to tentatively
reserve their flights and don't wait for the results of the selection: It
might be difficult to book convenient flights after 4 June which will only
be two weeks before the seminar (and for some cheap APEX tickets you have to

book two weeks in advance!). However, don't commit yourself financially:
just make a reservation. ILGA-Europe CANNOT reimburse any costs for booked
flights that will have to be cancelled because people will not be selected
for the seminar.

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************

REGISTRATION OF INTEREST FORM
(Deadline for registration: 31 May 2000)

ILGA-EUROPE SEMINAR
COMBATING SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION

in the framework of the EU funded project
”STEPPING STONES AND ROADBLOCKS”

Vienna, 21 - 25 June 2000

I apply to participate in the above mentioned seminar:

Name:
Sex: 

Organisation:

Postal address: 

Email:

Phone:
Fax: 

Address to which conference documents should be sent (if different from
above address):

Special diet needs (vegetarian, etc.):

Other special needs (please, specify also if you use a wheelchair, need an
”accessible” room, if you bring a personal assistant, need sign language
interpretation, etc.):

Motivation and aims for participating:

Working/Organisational/Personal background:

I propose to give a presentation on the following subject:

Other remarks:

Probable Arrival day/time:

Probable Departure day/time:

Probable travel costs (please, note conditions in the invitation letter): 

Please, send this registration form by 31 May 2000 to:

Kurt Krickler, Blechturmgasse 7/8, A-1050 Vienna, Austria

or fax it to the following fax number: +43-1-545 13 10

or PREFERABLY e-mail it to: [email-masked]

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