From: "Forum lambda" Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 21:21:31 +0300 Subject: Pride Day in Belarus Dear Sir or Madame, At the beginning of March a committee for organising the second Gay Pride in Belarus was established. The festival we are going to host in September 4-10, 2000 will consist of the following major parts: 1) An international conference of gay journalists. The co-organiser of the conference will possibly be the UN Development Program and IREX . 2) Gay film festival. 3) The contest "Mr Gay Belarus 2000" in one of the night clubs of Minsk, the first event of this kind in the history of our country. 4) Human rights, historic, art seminars etc. Within the festival we are also going to host photo, art and graphics exhibitions. The organisers of the festival are the Belarus Lambda League and "FORUM lambda" magazine. We are asking you to take part in our event (conference, cultural actions) and if possible to help us in organising it. The participation of your organisation and of representatives from other countries will conduce to demonstrating the variety of gay and lesbian culture and will bring alone the social tolerance in Belarus. We really need your help. We do not have funds necessary for this event yet. The budget is expected to be modest and you can help us financially. Your participation in any form will be appreciated by Gays and Lesbians in our country. We think it is very important for us to hold Gay Pride this year, the last in the millennium. Not only to represent the variety of gay culture, but also to help our society to understand Gays and Lesbians better which is an essential condition for building the open society in Belarus (which is known for rough violations of human rights). Contact us, please: gayforum@irex.minsk.by, lambdaby@mailcity.com Now we are looking forward to hearing from you, Best wishes, In the name of the committee members Edward TARLETSKI, Editor of the FORUM LAMBDA PS Press Release March 15, 2000 Sweden's Ruling Social Democrats Support Gay Nordic/Belarus Culture in Minsk Stockholm -- The ruling Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Olof Palme International Centre support Nordic and Belarus co-operation at an international lesbian and gay cultural festival in Minsk this July. "This is an important part of our new campaign to increase people-to-people contact in the fight against the dictatorship in Belarus," says the party's deputy secretary general, Urban Ahlin. "We will do what we can to support this project and to make sure that we are represented in person." "We must do more to help our own homosexual party members to work more internationally, " Ahlin adds. This is an area where we really have to become more active." The new co-ordinator of Belarus projects at the party's Olaf Palme International Centre, Natasha Alexeeva, says this human rights center will also do what it can to support the project and to have representatives in Minsk. Belarusian Historian to Attend Festival Attending a joint Stockholm press conference at party headquarters, the deputy chairperson of the Belarus opposition social democratic party and head of the party's women=E2=80=99s section, Nina Stuzinskaja - a famous historian as well - expressed support for the project and agreed to hold a seminar on homosexuality in Russian history. "This combination of Swedes and Belarusian working together - straight and gays -- is essential not only for the survival of the new homosexual group in Belarus, Forum Lambda, but for making sure that the lesbian and gay voice is part of the call for democracy, " says Bill Schiller from Tupilak, the Nordic organisation of homosexual cultural workers and the ILGCN - the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network. Both joined Forum Lambda in Minsk for its first Pride week last September "We are very pleased to hear Nina Stuzinskaya's approval of Forum Lambda=C2=B4s dream to create a gay community center, inviting local and foreign cultural workers, politicians and others throughout the year to discuss democracy, culture and human rights," Schiller adds. Tupilak and the ILGCN have promised to send Swedish lesbian and gay artists and performers to the cultural festival, and Danish, Norwegian and Finnish colleagues have already offered to come to Minsk for seminars and performances. This is to be a continuation of the Love (is a basic human right) Tour starting in Warsaw at the 3rd World Conference on Lesbian and Gay Culture - which has already received support from the Polish president.. Belarusian Journalism and Human Rights Leaders Support Festival The Stockholm press conference has come only days after another delegation of Belarus leaders from non-government organisations, political parties and labour unions visited Stockholm at the invitation of the Swedish Institute. "At this meeting," the chairman of the biggest human rights organisation, Carter`97, expressed admiration for the courageous work of the Belarus gay group and foreign colleagues coming to support them. He and others pledged to come personally or send representatives to the festival seminars in July. Another delegate, the head of the opposition Belarus Journalists Association, said with pride that the editor of Forum Lambda's monthly is a member of her association, and she offered to hold a seminar on the way homosexuality is covered in the Belarus media. She pledged assistance to Nordic lesbian and gay journalists coming to Belarus and called for a greater 2-way exchange between her country and Sweden.