Workshop Sessions

The human rights situation of transgender persons has long been ignored and neglected while the problems are enormous. In the Viewpoint “Discrimination against transgender persons must no longer be tolerated” (05 January 2009) the Commissioner for Human Rights initiated a debate on his concerns in this regard. In this workshop, the Commissioner will launch his Issue Paper on transgender human rights which intends to highlight the human rights situation of transgender persons.

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Religious and spiritual impact on LGBT lives

Spirituality and faith communities are important for many LGBT people around the world. Religious institutions are often seen as undermining claims for acceptance, but this panel explores the work that has been accomplished within faith communities to increase respect for sexual diversity. Presenters will draw from examples of advocacy within Christian and Muslim communities in Asia, Nigeria and North America. Jonipher
Kwong will mainly focus on the work of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) in working towards greater tolerance in the Philippines, by raising levels of awareness and sensitivity among LGBT activists in approaching governments and other religious communities -- in a region where Roman Catholic and fundamentalist streams of Christianity are dominant. In Nigeria there are currently neither legislative processes nor any other power to protect against sexual orientation discrimination and social phobias.
Rowland Jide Macaulay will present the program "Sexuality and Spirituality" which is meant to promote and assist LGBTI people on a journey to reconcile their faith with their sexual orientation. David Rayside and Momin Rahman will discuss the emergence of LGBT-positive voices within the Muslim minorities in the West, and the challenges they face in the broader Muslim Canadian and Muslim American communities.

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Governments are taking leadership roles in advancing human rights for LGBT communities. Brazil has been a strong advocate ever since it introduced a human rights resolution at the Commission on Human Rights in 2003. Other countries have carried that effort to the UN Human Rights Council, with France taking it to the UN General Assembly last December. Sweden and the Netherlands have led the effort to include LGBT stakeholders in development programs. And both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have instructed their embassies to work toward decriminalization. In the Americas, the OAS has adopted two consensus resolutions, and the United States has continued to document a human rights crisis for LGBT communities worldwide.
This panel will highlight the diplomatic positions, government funding programs and human rights reports that have propelled government commitments. It will also explore the hesitations, impediments and outright hostility to government engagement in some regions.

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Interested in making a difference on LGBT issues internationally? Want to know what’s been happening on our rights at the UN? Want to know how international human rights mechanisms can support your advocacy at the national level? This practical skills-based workshop will explore tools for international advocacy, with a focus on recent developments. Particular attention will be paid to how you can use the international system to bring attention to LGBTI human rights priorities in your own country, including through the Universal Periodic Review (a means of reviewing the human rights record of every country on a continuing basis), the UN Special Rapporteurs (independent experts who can investigate human rights abuses on the ground), and consideration of your country’s human rights situation by UN treaty bodies (tasked with monitoring compliance by your government with its international obligations). So some along, share your experiences, and find out more about how to make the UN work for you!

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The idea of an International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia came about in 2003 from an ambition to create a worldwide community of activists and committed people, sharing the ideal of a world without homophobia nor transphobia in which everyone can freely choose their own sex life and gender identity.
Since then, hundreds of associations in many countries have used the Day to bring about public and political mobilization for LGBTQI rights. The purpose of the workshop is to introduce IDAHO and past actions and results, to exchange on our vision for the future, to exchange experience on how to make IDAHO work at international, national and local levels (getting official recognition for IDAHO, joint campaigning, etc.) We also
aim at introducing this year’s action on the International Appeal against Transphobia (first results, future actions...) and explain how this sort of campaign is being organised.

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Since the election of the "New Labour" government in 1997, the United Kingdom has gone from being a "backward country" on LGBT human rights, to being one of the leaders. Indeed, apart from the word "marriage", UK legislation is arguably the most advanced in Europe with regard to LGBT families. Three speakers will consider various aspects of this "revolution", in Scotland and in England and Wales, including recent legislation on civil partnership and adoption, discrimination in access to goods and services (including those of adoption agencies), "hate speech", and access both to medically assisted procreation and parental rights following such procreation. The fourth speaker will consider the taxation of couples vs. individuals in eight countries (including Canada, the USA and the UK) and whether, in this area, recognition of couples (married or unmarried, different-sex or same-sex) is a positive development.

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It's all about context: who you are, where you are, what matters to you and can help you make a change. That's why BT* has partnered with ILGA to develop a new web portal to support the global LGBTI community. The workshop will give an exciting view on how one company's diverse approach, new technology and innovative thinking has resulted in a new ILGA web portal that revolves around a global interactive map showing LGBT specific information for every country. It will help individuals and organizations; activists, professionals and the wider audience get and share information about important LGBTI matters and resources all over the world. To what extent can this create or accompany social change? Come along to the launch and find out - or at least contribute to the debate!

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An inspirational journey into how each one of us look up at courageous men and women that have paved the road before us and those who continue to positively impact our lives. The testimonies of our panel will make us think about the great advancements achieved so far by the international LGBT community not only in business but also in all aspects of our daily lives thanks to the actions of our role models. It will also make us rethink our own role in the future and how it can impact those coming after us. Are we ready to leave a better world for the LGBT people that will follow us? What drives people to become leaders and how can we apply their lives’ lessons to our own?

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The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) represent 160 000 members in Quebec, Canada, wich a vast majority is working in the education system. Over the past 15 years, the CSQ build a network of a thousand schools called the ''Etablissements verts Brundtland''(EVB). The EVB movement is dedicate to promote four values to kids : pacifism, democracy, ecology and solidarity. Many projects are develop in schools around those four values. The Lesbian and Gay Committee of the CSQ participates to the success of this important movement, named after Gro Harlem Brundtland, the ex-prime minister of Norway, who develop the concept of sustainable development. The Committee mainly works on the pacifism aspect of the movement by offering two sessions of formation for the education's workers. The first session aims to demystify homosexuality. The second session presents advice on how to adapt our interventions in classes in relations with those realities.

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The TUC coordinates a national campaign with all UK education trade unions and other equality campaigns, to challenge homophobia and transphobia in schools and colleges and to advance equality through the curriculum and a whole-institution approach.

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Clare will explore the role of unions in furthering social change, reflecting on the Your Rights at Work campaign in Australia. The workshop is intended to be highly participatory with the recent Australian experience used to start a broader discussion about the potential and constraints the union movement faces in effecting social change. Tatjana and Natasa will present Partnership for Equality - the first Slovenian joint initiative between a trade union association (ZSSS), employers association (ZDS) and nongovernmental organization (SKUC-LL), and their pioneering contribution to the development of equal opportunities and protection of GLBT workers against discrimination in employment. The workshop will offer a presentation of our various efforts made by the CSN «Confédération des Syndicats Natianaux» for LGBT in recent years, focusing mainly on the accomplished work since the 1st LGBT Human Rights Conference in Montreal, in 2006.

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The workshop will focus on LGBT rights recognition within the Cuban society. CENESEX initiatives concerning legal aspects proposals to modify the Family Code were presented to the National Assembly (Parliament) in 2005. They include the civil union of same-sex partners and a gender identity bill, but they are still pending approval by this body. At the same time, CENESEX and other Cuban institutions have developed an educational campaign to sensitize the society on these issues. A Day against homophobia Awareness Campaign was successfully commemorated during 2008, which generated an important debate within the Cuban population and at the national and international mass media. Homophobia is still a pending issue in the Cuban society, as sexual issues discussions still face a lot of opposition. It is necessary to make a comprehensive approach of this problem in the public policies implementation, to struggle against discrimination of LGBT people.

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This workshop will examine Scandinavian models for addressing HIV/AIDS and Safer Sex among men who have sex with men (MSM). Jakob Haff & Susan Cowan will present and discuss the results of five studies on trends among Danish MSM covering trends in safe/unsafe sex, HIV-testing, knowledge and attitudes regarding HIV and risk reduction strategies, the uptake of prevention messages, etc. Anders Dahl will present a comparative study of the results from the four Nordic countries with a focus on disclosure, stigma, sexual life, relationship with other people living with HIV (PLHIV), contact with out-patient clinics and side effects of medicine. Based on fieldwork conducted in New York City in 2001-2002, anthropologist Ole Møller Markussen argues that bareback sex is a meaningful reentry into socio-sexual life for HIV+ homosexual men following the “social death” imposed by the HIV+ diagnosis. Suzann Larsdotter will present the scope of the party game "Stop Talk Listen", which is a new way to discuss safer sex in an approving and non-moralizing manner. Jens Martin Thygesen will examine the issue of Sexual Pleasure and Condoms. To many gay men, condoms represent both the security of protection and obstacles of having good sex.

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Gays and Lesbians have been the first to organize awareness raising and prevention campaigns against the pandemic. When the western movements have tried to get away from the Aids = Gay equation, more often than not, the fight against HIV/Aids has acted as a levy to open people's eyes on the reality of sexual diversity in most of the world. Where are we now? What about the lesbian community? How can we move forward and get specific LGBTI issues taken into consideration in general public health policies?

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This workshop will examine ways of supporting LGBT young people and challenging homophobia in schools. Claire Anderson will present IGLYO's Educational Guidelines, a set of 10 principles and recommendations that any school can adopt to become more LGBTQ-inclusive. Katrien Van Leirberghe will discuss the importance of educating students, pupils and teachers on LGBT issues. She will argue that working towards gender themes could help solve homophobic bullying and make LGBT issues more visible in schools. Gabrielle Richard will present results of a survey on young LGBT adults from Quebec, Canada. The aim of her presentation is to build a comprehensive picture of the teacher's influence on LGBQ students. Known for developing Pride & Prejudice, Daniel Witthaus will present an educational program that has been taken up throughout Australia. Daniel will use his experiences to highlight what shifts the attitudes of teachers (and students) on LGBT issues.

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The Yogyakarta Principles - on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity - currently consists of 29 Principles and covers a variety of aspects. The Copenhagen Outgames Conference takes place on the occasion of the Outgames LGBT sport event. While many LGBTs enjoy sport, ‘Sport’ is not explicitly covered in these Principles. In this workshop a draft Principle will be presented about the right to enjoy sport. The workshop will cover three basic questions: Is there a lack of international human rights law in sport? Are there any existing international law and regulations that apply to LGBTs in sport? What practical steps could be recommended to states and NGOs in the area of sport?

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Although the acceptance of same-sex coupling, marriage, and parenting varies from country to country, those with more liberal policies about donor insemination, surrogacy and adoption have seen an increased number of children growing up in families constituted by lesbian or gay parents. In this symposium, we present findings from studies on children raised by lesbian mothers and gay fathers in different countries.
The presentations compare same-sex parenthood with heterosexual parenthood, and focus on topics that are unique to same-sex-headed families, such as experiences with homophobia and the differences in social and legal position of biological and social parents. Presenters from different countries (the Netherlands, South Africa, Italy, and the United States) and scientific disciplines (psychology, family studies, social political studies, psychiatry, study of law) use varied methodology (qualitative, quantitative, review, and narrative studies) to document the evolution of families in which the children are raised by lesbian and gay parents.

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People who confront gender identity norms continue to face serious discrimination throughout the world. This workshop considers the emerging legal, social and political responses to transgenderism and intersexuality in Canada, Columbia and Latin America. This workshop is recommended for anyone interested in the transgender rights movement at the international level.

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The workshop discusses different examples of dealing with bisexual themes and characters in Danish films. Stereotypes: The point of departure is the relative invisibility of bisexual characters in Danish films. The presenter wishes to explore some of the reasons for this invisibility, an important factor being the difficulty of working with bisexual stereotypes within film genres and aesthetics. A discussion of stereotypes, inspired by Richard Dyer, will serve as the theoretical basis. Genres, narration and aesthetics: A narrative and aesthetic drive towards a fixed sexual identity that lends itself to monogamy dominates both classic western genre practices such as melodrama and romantic comedy as well as more modern realistic film. Bisexuality with its bipolar potential can lend to an image of something unfinished – that could seem to disqualify bisexuality from being integrated into mainstream film culture.

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