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Openings speech to the General Meeting of Members of IGLYO
Malaga 7 December 2007
Björn van Roozendaal – chairperson (14/12/2007)
Mr Mayor
Dear IGLYO members and dear IGLYO partner organizations,
Dear friends, colleague and supporters,
A very warm welcome to the General Meeting of Members 2007!
Señoras y señores, queridos amigos, sean muy bienvenidos a la reunión general de miembros!
Welcome to the beautiful city of Malaga. It is a honor for us to be here with so many of you today. Today, we have gathered with young LGBT people from over 40 different countries. People that have one thing in common: they are concerned with the wellbeing of lgbt young people in each and every country in the world.
Let me start by bringing some bad news… Despite the nice weather outside which is much better than the weather in the rest of Europe, I can inform you that we'll spend the coming days inside, working. We will probably have too little time to see the beautiful city of Malaga to which we have kindly been invited by COLEGAS, too little time to eat tapas, enjoy the sea, and too little time for any other intercultural learning that you might expect. But I am confident that in the late evening hours we are in good hands with our hosts – who will ensure that we will enjoy our time here. And we are in a country that has come a long way in developing equal rights for LGBT people. The roads from communism to democracy, from conservatism to liberal societies where equal rights are being respected and practiced – have been walked down in a short period of time. I'm proud that today we are in the midst of people that have played an rudimental role in this. Changes that have led to the fullest imaginable legal forms of emancipation – like the ability for same-sex partners to marry.
IGLYO members will spend these days of hard working all together focusing on the future of our organisation. For the first time in IGLYO's history so many young people have come together to discuss issues concerning the strategic future. We will talk about the development of IGLYO as an organization, we will look into working priorities for the coming years - based on both the needs of member organizations and relevant policy developments-, we will discuss activities that the organization should organize in the coming years, and of course we will elect a new board that will run the organization in the coming two years and shall be our new face.
Please allow me to thank all those people that supported us in realizing this meeting. Firstly I would like to thank the people of COLEGAS, that have worked hard together with us to realize this meeting. Let me thank in particular Rafa – who has worked hard with us since a year. Let me also thank our numerous funders:
Dear IGLYO members and dear IGLYO partner organizations,
Dear friends, colleague and supporters,
A very warm welcome to the General Meeting of Members 2007!
Señoras y señores, queridos amigos, sean muy bienvenidos a la reunión general de miembros!
Welcome to the beautiful city of Malaga. It is a honor for us to be here with so many of you today. Today, we have gathered with young LGBT people from over 40 different countries. People that have one thing in common: they are concerned with the wellbeing of lgbt young people in each and every country in the world.
Let me start by bringing some bad news… Despite the nice weather outside which is much better than the weather in the rest of Europe, I can inform you that we'll spend the coming days inside, working. We will probably have too little time to see the beautiful city of Malaga to which we have kindly been invited by COLEGAS, too little time to eat tapas, enjoy the sea, and too little time for any other intercultural learning that you might expect. But I am confident that in the late evening hours we are in good hands with our hosts – who will ensure that we will enjoy our time here. And we are in a country that has come a long way in developing equal rights for LGBT people. The roads from communism to democracy, from conservatism to liberal societies where equal rights are being respected and practiced – have been walked down in a short period of time. I'm proud that today we are in the midst of people that have played an rudimental role in this. Changes that have led to the fullest imaginable legal forms of emancipation – like the ability for same-sex partners to marry.
IGLYO members will spend these days of hard working all together focusing on the future of our organisation. For the first time in IGLYO's history so many young people have come together to discuss issues concerning the strategic future. We will talk about the development of IGLYO as an organization, we will look into working priorities for the coming years - based on both the needs of member organizations and relevant policy developments-, we will discuss activities that the organization should organize in the coming years, and of course we will elect a new board that will run the organization in the coming two years and shall be our new face.
Please allow me to thank all those people that supported us in realizing this meeting. Firstly I would like to thank the people of COLEGAS, that have worked hard together with us to realize this meeting. Let me thank in particular Rafa – who has worked hard with us since a year. Let me also thank our numerous funders:
- The European Commission's Youth In Action Programme
- The Council of Europe's European Youth Fund
- Regional Youth Council of Andalusia
- Regional Youth Agency of Andalusia
- City Hall of Malaga
- Diputación de Málaga
- National Youth Council of Spain
And let me thank all those volunteers that have helped us. First the volunteer on the communication team – Colette, José and Alon. Marlous and Lisette have played an important role in the preparation of the meeting, but also several COLEGAS volunteers are these days working to ensure the smooth running of our meeting. There are too many to thank by name, Yolande, Fran, David, Sarah and many others…I think a big applause is what they all deserve.
Dear friends, only a few weeks ago Joanne Rowling, the write of the famous Harry Potter series, announced that headmaster professor Albus Dumbledore is gay. The revelation caused a big uproar amongst many of Harry Potter fans. Rowling quickly declared that if she would have known that such fact would be important to her fans, she would have revealed the headmaster's sexual orientation much before. But she didn't, and the question is why. The question is, why that after ten years it only is possible to reveal someone's identity…how is it possible that this has been invisible for all those years.
Last week someone in the Netherlands asked me the question: "So now that you are finishing IGLYO after four years, you will probably look forward to a real job?" This person apparently considered activism to be a luxurious hobby, done by people that are bored to death and have nothing better to do with their life. Knowing you, and having had the opportunity to work with you for many years I know that this is not the case. Most young LGBT activists sacrifice big parts of their private lives to improve the lives of LGBT young people. But unlike the teachers at Harry's school, Hogwarths, these activists have nobody with magical power to withcraft dinners and sleeping places out of a magical stick.
Many activists work as fulltime volunteers, because they find it important to support other young people that are bullied at school, thrown out of house by their parents, are rejected by their religious community or they simply provide some support to young people that want to come out. Dear friends, I believe that this is an important challenge waiting of for us: our work needs to be recognized and valued for what it is: indispensable.
Then, what are the other challenges that we will face the coming years? Let me describe them around four core focus areas that have been suggested in the strategic plan.
Health – the mental and physical wellbeing of every young person has an evident effect on their ability to reach their potential in society. Our societies should carry a full responsibility for ensuring the wellbeing of LGBT young people, but many societies fail to do this. Forced invisibility indispensably leads to mental health problems – such as young people that try to hide their identity develop coping mechanisms to survive. Unlike Harry and his friends, who could hide under the invisible coat in case of emergency, LGBT young people have to hide an important part of their life continuously. We need to ensure that LGBT young people have the ability to be free from any mental discomfort, whether this is caused by difficult coming-out processes that cause a sense of isolation, or whether this is caused by for instance discrimination, which can lead to chronic health problems. Last years' mental health conference clearly identified needs for the exchange of best practices.
Young people spend a considerable part of their time at school or university. This is also the space where they frequently experience discrimination. Harry has often felt alone because he was different, it led to isolation at school, which had an obvious impact on his wellbeing. Our schools and universities should be indifferent to any difference.61% of LGBT young people in Europe has experienced discrimination or exclusion at school. And this number is unacceptable. Soon IGLYO will present the outcomes of a comparative study which shows that measures taken to support LGBT young people at school, lead to considerable results improving their performance and wellbeing at school. The guidelines that we will present today, and which are an outcome of an extensive cooperation with the Organizing Bureau of European Student Unions, should also help in forwarding this issue. And in 2008 we will have to work hard to ensure that the educational sector is included in the horizontal anti-discrimination directive that the European Commission will propose. And certainly we need to further develop our work related to higher education, partnerships with ESU and ANSO will be important keys to this.
Last week IGLYO's study session on building bridges between LGBT communities and religious and faith-based communities ended. One participant rightly remarked that the study session maybe was not so much about building bridges only – firstly it is important that LGBT young people that are religious can combine these two aspects of life if they want. Not only we must combat the prejudice coming from religious communities to us, but we must also stop the religious prejudices that are included in our own communities. Inter-religious and intercultural dialogue will be an important part of our work in the coming years. Looking for forms of multiple discrimination and finding solutions to address them. We can not do this on an island: we must continue building partnerships that we have started. EUJS is an important partner in this area – but we must also do this together with political youth groups. It is for that reason that we are happy to have FYG with us today. ECOSY, JEF, YEP couldn't be with us today unfortunately. Also IFM-SEI is a good example of an organization to cooperate with.
Many members in the past years have mentioned that IGLYO should have a more global focus. Whereas the sustainability and capacity still does not allow to fully have such global focus, solidarity and cooperation with movements elsewhere in the world is an important priority in our work. Exploring common interests around Human Rights principles are an important key to this. Preparations have started to mark IGLYO's 25 th anniversary in 2009 with the first ever LGBT global youth conference, where we will launch a junior version of the Yogyakarta principles, together with activists from all over the world. And it must be clear: we will not accept the absence of organizations that address young people's and children's rights at that conference. UNESCO and UNICEF should be present there.
With the support of many IGLYO will work closely together with member organizations the coming years to realize several objectives connected to the focus areas. Our work in the YFJ is necessary to mainstream and build further partnerships in the youth field. We must also show an increased presence in the European Parliament, work with the European Commission, and continue with our excellent working relation with the Directorate Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe. Work with the OSCE and UN are important challenges still ahead of us. The development of the organization, under which for instance the opening of an office next year, are highly necessary to foster this further development. It therefore remains necessary not only to build dreams, but to realize them. A strong cooperation between the board, member organizations, and external partners is necessary for that.
Let me finish by commemorating those that have not survived their very identity. Only two days ago the 21-year old Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed in Iran. He had been sentenced for allegedly rape of other young boys at his 13 th – despite testimonies of witnesses had been retracted during the trial. Makvan became, like other young LGBT people, the victim of brutal forms of killings. It pledges for a continuous global perspective in our work.
This terrible happening also confirms that many challenges are ahead of us. But I am convinced that IGLYO will continue making an important contribution to positive change in the coming years. I thank all of the guests for being with us this morning and I wish to all or our members a very successful meeting.
Thank you.
Dear friends, only a few weeks ago Joanne Rowling, the write of the famous Harry Potter series, announced that headmaster professor Albus Dumbledore is gay. The revelation caused a big uproar amongst many of Harry Potter fans. Rowling quickly declared that if she would have known that such fact would be important to her fans, she would have revealed the headmaster's sexual orientation much before. But she didn't, and the question is why. The question is, why that after ten years it only is possible to reveal someone's identity…how is it possible that this has been invisible for all those years.
Last week someone in the Netherlands asked me the question: "So now that you are finishing IGLYO after four years, you will probably look forward to a real job?" This person apparently considered activism to be a luxurious hobby, done by people that are bored to death and have nothing better to do with their life. Knowing you, and having had the opportunity to work with you for many years I know that this is not the case. Most young LGBT activists sacrifice big parts of their private lives to improve the lives of LGBT young people. But unlike the teachers at Harry's school, Hogwarths, these activists have nobody with magical power to withcraft dinners and sleeping places out of a magical stick.
Many activists work as fulltime volunteers, because they find it important to support other young people that are bullied at school, thrown out of house by their parents, are rejected by their religious community or they simply provide some support to young people that want to come out. Dear friends, I believe that this is an important challenge waiting of for us: our work needs to be recognized and valued for what it is: indispensable.
Then, what are the other challenges that we will face the coming years? Let me describe them around four core focus areas that have been suggested in the strategic plan.
Health – the mental and physical wellbeing of every young person has an evident effect on their ability to reach their potential in society. Our societies should carry a full responsibility for ensuring the wellbeing of LGBT young people, but many societies fail to do this. Forced invisibility indispensably leads to mental health problems – such as young people that try to hide their identity develop coping mechanisms to survive. Unlike Harry and his friends, who could hide under the invisible coat in case of emergency, LGBT young people have to hide an important part of their life continuously. We need to ensure that LGBT young people have the ability to be free from any mental discomfort, whether this is caused by difficult coming-out processes that cause a sense of isolation, or whether this is caused by for instance discrimination, which can lead to chronic health problems. Last years' mental health conference clearly identified needs for the exchange of best practices.
Young people spend a considerable part of their time at school or university. This is also the space where they frequently experience discrimination. Harry has often felt alone because he was different, it led to isolation at school, which had an obvious impact on his wellbeing. Our schools and universities should be indifferent to any difference.61% of LGBT young people in Europe has experienced discrimination or exclusion at school. And this number is unacceptable. Soon IGLYO will present the outcomes of a comparative study which shows that measures taken to support LGBT young people at school, lead to considerable results improving their performance and wellbeing at school. The guidelines that we will present today, and which are an outcome of an extensive cooperation with the Organizing Bureau of European Student Unions, should also help in forwarding this issue. And in 2008 we will have to work hard to ensure that the educational sector is included in the horizontal anti-discrimination directive that the European Commission will propose. And certainly we need to further develop our work related to higher education, partnerships with ESU and ANSO will be important keys to this.
Last week IGLYO's study session on building bridges between LGBT communities and religious and faith-based communities ended. One participant rightly remarked that the study session maybe was not so much about building bridges only – firstly it is important that LGBT young people that are religious can combine these two aspects of life if they want. Not only we must combat the prejudice coming from religious communities to us, but we must also stop the religious prejudices that are included in our own communities. Inter-religious and intercultural dialogue will be an important part of our work in the coming years. Looking for forms of multiple discrimination and finding solutions to address them. We can not do this on an island: we must continue building partnerships that we have started. EUJS is an important partner in this area – but we must also do this together with political youth groups. It is for that reason that we are happy to have FYG with us today. ECOSY, JEF, YEP couldn't be with us today unfortunately. Also IFM-SEI is a good example of an organization to cooperate with.
Many members in the past years have mentioned that IGLYO should have a more global focus. Whereas the sustainability and capacity still does not allow to fully have such global focus, solidarity and cooperation with movements elsewhere in the world is an important priority in our work. Exploring common interests around Human Rights principles are an important key to this. Preparations have started to mark IGLYO's 25 th anniversary in 2009 with the first ever LGBT global youth conference, where we will launch a junior version of the Yogyakarta principles, together with activists from all over the world. And it must be clear: we will not accept the absence of organizations that address young people's and children's rights at that conference. UNESCO and UNICEF should be present there.
With the support of many IGLYO will work closely together with member organizations the coming years to realize several objectives connected to the focus areas. Our work in the YFJ is necessary to mainstream and build further partnerships in the youth field. We must also show an increased presence in the European Parliament, work with the European Commission, and continue with our excellent working relation with the Directorate Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe. Work with the OSCE and UN are important challenges still ahead of us. The development of the organization, under which for instance the opening of an office next year, are highly necessary to foster this further development. It therefore remains necessary not only to build dreams, but to realize them. A strong cooperation between the board, member organizations, and external partners is necessary for that.
Let me finish by commemorating those that have not survived their very identity. Only two days ago the 21-year old Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed in Iran. He had been sentenced for allegedly rape of other young boys at his 13 th – despite testimonies of witnesses had been retracted during the trial. Makvan became, like other young LGBT people, the victim of brutal forms of killings. It pledges for a continuous global perspective in our work.
This terrible happening also confirms that many challenges are ahead of us. But I am convinced that IGLYO will continue making an important contribution to positive change in the coming years. I thank all of the guests for being with us this morning and I wish to all or our members a very successful meeting.
Thank you.