Aritha Wickramasinghe — Equality Director at iProbono, Sri Lanka
How did you initially become involved in activism? I was passionate about human rights from a young age. Yet, I was primarily focused on child abuse and child rights — perhaps because I was a child. My activism turned towards LGBTQ issues starting around 2010 when I began working at Clifford Chance in London. Upon […]
Political Candidate Leads Attack at Rainbow Hub in Bulgaria
“This person stormed in and led a group of ten people without hiding his face or pretending it wasn’t him. This affected many people in society. Despite the lack of understanding on the topic of LGBTQI, this was beyond everything that has ever happened before,” states Lilly Dragoeva, Executive Director of Bilitis Foundation. Bilitis and […]
Alvar Ameljushenko — Tallinn Bearty, Estonia
Can you start by telling me what led to the first Tallinn Bearty Weekend? To cut a long story short, it was a few long-pondered ideas, the right person to poke me, and another right person to be by my side realizing the ideas. Ever since I went to my very first bear pride (the […]
Dervish Taskiranlar — Queer Cyprus Association
Can you start by telling me a bit about yourself? How did you initially become involved in LGBTI activism? It was about six years ago after I saw an announcement from the association for the social gathering event. I attended the event, and since then, I have been a part of the organization. To give […]
The Team of Maribor Pride — Maribor Youth Cultural Center, Slovenia
How did you each become involved in LGBTI activism? Matej: I’ve engaged in it more actively for the past couple of years. I didn’t fully unpack my own identity until after high school, so it took a while to get comfortable with being visible. Then, a few years back, I worked at my old primary […]
Masen Davis – Transgender Europe
Masen began his path in activism college and by going to antiwar and pro-choice marches. He also found inspiration in his mother, a feminist. “I have always been drawn to activism,” said Masen reflectively. He also discussed how his personal experiences led him to activism. “When I came out for the first time in the […]
Mohamed Ali (Dali) Aguerbi – Documentarian, Malta
Dali came to Malta by accident. He is originally from Tunisia where homosexuality is criminalized by three years of imprisonment since French colonialism in 1913. He came for a performance and ended up moving to the country. “I’m an activist by nature,” he says. So, once he decided to stay in Malta, he started looking […]
Isaac Blake — Romani Cultural & Arts Company, Wales
How did you become involved in activism? When you think of yourself as Roma, you automatically become an activist within your community because you see, you feel, and you experience inequality, and you want to make the world a better place. I’ve experienced inequality myself, and I want to ensure that for the next generation […]
Ivan Dimov – Single Step, Bulgaria
Ivan asked the young person, “what resources are available in the country to help with these situations?” At the time, there were none. Ivan was devastated at the realization that this young person and others with similar circumstances were enduring the multidimensionality of the LGBTI experience alone. “It wasn’t a part of the plan to […]
Predrag Azdejkovic – Optimist Magazine, Serbia
How did you become involved in LGBTI activism? I started my journey as an LGBTI activist in 2000 as a member of Social Democratic Youth [the youth section of the Social Democratic Union, which has since merged into the Party of the Radical Left] where we created a group called Queeria — this was the […]
Lilly Dragoeva – Bilitis Foundation, Bulgaria
Lilly explained, “I grew up as a straight woman until I fell in love with a girl for the first time at 19. In the past, when I had a boyfriend, I could freely hang out with him, hold his hand, and kiss him in public. I could get married if I wanted to, and […]
ARBËR KODRA – OPEN MIND SPECTRUM ALBANIA (OMSA)
Arbër surprised himself by becoming an activist. “I would have never thought I would become an activist,” he said with a smile. His path to activism began at the end of 2008, while he struggled to accept himself and struggled to accept he was gay. One cold day in December, his boyfriend invited him to […]
Egor Teryannikov and Ruslan Savolainen — QueerFest, Russia
What led to the founding of QueerFest? Ruslan Savolainen [R]: Everything started in 2008 when the LGBT group “Coming Out” appeared in Russia; it was one of the first organizations in Russia. A trial version of the queer festival also started in 2008, and was called the Minifest. We don’t count it as an actual […]
Alla Chikinda — Resource Center for LGBT, Russia
How did you initially become involved in activism? What led you to join the Resource Center for LGBT [people] in Yekaterinburg? There is one answer to both of these questions. I became involved in activism in 2016 — Before that, I hadn’t even heard about activism in Russia or on an international level. I had […]
Eli Rigatuso – Two Spirit of the Menominee Nation
“I think I started advocating the moment I was born, I just didn’t have the language,” Eli says his focus for advocacy is currently very specific to transgender, nonbinary and gender non-conforming folks because Eli says that we as a society have collapsed sexual orientation and gender identity. “The truth is this, feelings are just […]
Daniyar Sabitov & Anatoly Chernoussov, Kazakhstan
Can you start by telling me a bit about yourselves? How did you meet and what led you to create Kok.team? Daniyar Sabitov [D]: We have been friends for a long time, and actually we became friends on the basis of LGBT issues and LGBT activism. For many years we lived together; we were flatmates. […]
Daniel Martinovic – Rainbow Families, Croatia
Daniel Martinovic is an individual that shows the true fundamental qualities of friendship and advocacy. During 2015, he dove into LGBTI work when two of his friends, a lesbian couple, had a child with him as the known sperm donor. He states that he wanted to develop an atmosphere for his friends and their child […]
Haru Ono – Family Rainbow, Japan
Thanks so much for joining us, Ms. Ono. I would like to begin by asking you, ‘‘How did you get involved in LGBTQ+ activism?’’ Could you please tell us a bit more about your job? ‘‘As I began to grow my family with my partner, I quickly realized there was no support for LGBTQ+ families […]
A Talk with Daniel: Trans TI and Inclusiva, Argentina
Unfulfilled is something that many feel at points in their careers. For Daniel, this feeling left him wanting to do more, to make more of a “social impact.” Luckily for Daniel, around the same time, the Argentinian feminist movement started to balloon, and both he and his partner got involved. Introduced to more work with, […]
David Tasevski — Subversive Front, North Macedonia
How did you initially get involved with activism? My first contact in the NGO sector was through volunteering in an organization for people who use drugs. I was a psychologist in their counseling center. Since then, I have started to work actively on projects. I think that professional positions are also a part of activism, […]
Mima Simic, Croatia
As an individual growing up in Croatian society where LGBTQ issues are silenced and made invisible, Mima found that the most powerful tool for creating change that queer members possess was coming out. As Mima evolved into her true, authentic self, she noticed that Croatia lacked models of LGBTQ representation, likely due to the extreme […]
Lilit Martirosyan – RighT Side: Human Rights Defender, Armenia
How did you become involved in activism? My mission in this world is to help people live safely and to help them have a good life. I love helping people, as human beings, create space in this world. I’d like to talk a bit about my life story. When I was thirteen, I left my […]
Thomas Roughan and Zsuzsanna Zsuro — Queer Budapest
Can you start by telling me a bit about yourselves? How did you two meet? How did you become involved in the queer arts scene in Budapest? Thomas Roughan [T]: I’m from London, so I went to Central Saint Martins and I’ve kind of been involved in the arts scene here and around Europe (I’ve […]
Ali Bousselmi — Mawjoudin, Tunisia
How did you become involved in activism? I think after the revolution, a lot of associations were founded, and when I saw my friends take part in civil society, I decided to do the same thing. Before the revolution there was Amnesty International and other NGOs, and I remember in 2006 and 2008 some friends […]
Sayan Bhattacharya: Memory, Invisibility, and Trans and Hijra Persons in India
Definitions and Word Usage, According to Sayan’s Accounts Transgender: Started circulating in India in the mid-2000s in official documents. Even though it attempts to subsume various gender embodiments in India as local and regional, the latter continue to thrive alongside transgender. Hijras could be transfeminine individuals, gender nonconforming folks assigned male at birth […]
Yi Yang: Judicial Activist, Program Officer – LGBT Rights Advocacy, China
What is it like to be LGBTIQ+ in China? Reflecting on the LGBTIQ+ situation in China, Yi outlined his personal experiences as a gay man, and the obstacles faced by people he has helped. “On one hand, in China, we have very good social foundations due to the impact of Buddhism and Confucianism. We usually […]
Peter Murimi – Documentary Filmmaker, Kenya
Peter is a storyteller in several capacities. He works on the TV investigation strand called “Africa Eye” for the BBC as a director and a producer. However, his favorite storytelling is making documentary films like “I am Samuel”. He likes that this film was told over the time of five years and it holds a […]
Kevin Mwachiro: Author-Podcaster-Journalist, Kenya
Kevin is passionate about social justice and human rights issues, and he volunteers as a board member for the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya and the Amnesty International Kenya board. He said he found himself drawn to activism by mistake, as he was looking for a sense of community and family. In 2006, he […]
Cracey Fernandes and Candacie McEwan – Guyana Trans United
Guyana seems to have its ups and downs when appropriately handling the community of people that identify as LGBTI, according to Cracey and Candacie from Guyana Trans United (GTU) on the obstacles and triumphs for trans people in Guyana. Cracey tells me that there was never a focus on trans people in other organizations which […]
Dr. Frank Mugisha – Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)
Can you tell me about some of this research that you did earlier this year about the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTI communities in Uganda? Uganda is predominantly a homophobic country, both by legislation and practice. Because of this, the LGBTQI+ community is isolated. The COVID-19 pandemic simply heightened both violence and isolation. We’ve been […]