Dear Colleagues - Members - Friends

A friend once told me that language and emotion are on two different planes. That language no matter how complex can never truly convey what you feel. Right now standing here in front of you I know they were right.

No matter how long I stand here and speak, no matter how complex of a speech I may write or give, I stand here in denial that this is in a way a goodbye to IGLYO.

I came into IGLYO by surprise, by chance. I was never meant to touch IGLYO but fate had other plans. In a small hostel, on out outskirts of Sofia (Vladaja actually)  that I immersed myself into IGLYO. It was my first time to a conference, my first time to a gay conference. my first time in eastern europe.

That week was a week of firsts, and that opportunity opened my eyes to realities I never thought, never considered. That conference filled me with a passion I never felt before, a force unimaginable. This force was that of knowledge, that conference helped me see and what I saw I did not like. I was touched and heartened by the realities I heard all around me, realities I wanted to make a difference for.  I made a pledge to Jasna, the then chair of IGLYO, that pledge was 'I want to do something about it'. I thank her now for keeping me to my word.

Since November 2004, and now December 2007, I have done something about it. I have changed and I have seen IGLYO change with me. I matured and so did IGLYO.

Since then and now I had the pleasure to work with some of the most engaging and vibrant people I have ever met in my life. This of course is of course the board, Bjorn, Bruno, Lucy and Fabio. With Bjorn, whose personality is as full of fire as the colour of his hair, thank you to you for being so pateint when you could have easily lost it, to being a mentor when i needed the knowledge, a friend when I needed the support and a collegue when we did in fact need to get work done. To Bruno for coming into IGLYO when we needed him, thank you for your passion that you gave to me when I had none, for being strict when it is so easy  to be complacent and for your sense of responsibility when I felt i did not have enough. To Fabio who is as sturn as the roman statutes of his home. Thank you for being so focused for when it was so easy not to be, for being true to your cause when I felt I had no cause to hold on, and for always giving your personal touch when it was very easy to loose all sense of self. Thank you to finally Lucy, the youngest member of the board. Thank you for your awe when I had moments of having none, for your determination when I was tired and thank you for your strong sense of fairness when it is sometimes so easy to disregard. 

Without this team, I and IGLYO would have not been able to be where we both are today.

To Maxence and Bev who have been also part of my journey, a note to express that I have missed not only them but also them their  passion and their presnece they have had in the board.

I would like to thank our members who have given trust to us to move, shape and develop an organisation I believed in and that we all believed in. To our partners at the Youth Forum, ESU and ESIB for always meeting us with great respect and kindness which is a rarity as we all know in the field of the LGBT movement

This is not hopefully my last goodbye to IGLYO, since IGLYO is in the words of prince a gold experience an experience that once you have experienced, moves you, uplifts you changes you. I have changed, I have become more then what I was and I have achieved this thanks to IGLYO, its members, its work and its board.

Thank you to member organisations for giving me this experience of becoming a board member, this life changing and affirming experience. I hope I have in my mandate served you well.

Thank you