| Rainbow Cities newsletter |
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| 4th edition Rainbow Cities Newsletter |
The City of Amsterdam, together with the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, has taken the initiative to issue this quarterly newsletter. The editor of this newsletter is Juul van Hoof, coordinator of the Rainbow Cities Network.
The focus is on initiatives, backgrounds and developments with regard to LGBT policy issues at local or regional level. This newsletter is mainly aimed at policy makers and NGO’s operating on the local level. The newsletter originates from the Rainbow Cities Network, of which more information can be found here. |
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| Contents |
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Local authorities urged to guarantee LGBT people’s rights |
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Rainbow covered bus in London |
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Transgender in labour and employment. A travelling exhibition. |
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City of Munich starts Youth Campaign |
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And more |
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| Local authorities urged to guarantee LGBT people’s rights |
On 25 March 2015, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on "Guaranteeing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people's rights: a re-sponsibility for Europe's towns and regions". The resolution was put forward on the basis of Yoomi Renström's report to the Current Affairs Committee and adopted by majority vote. The full report can be found on the Congress’ website.
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| The resolution invites local and regional authorities to develop and commit to diversity policies inclu-sive of LGBT rights, to work closely with LGBT advocacy organisations and human rights NGOs, to promote good practice through networks such as the "Rainbow Cities" and to ensure the delivery of discrimination-free policies and services. The City of Berlin was invited to present their LGBTI policy and to describe the Berlin action plan as an example, how cities and regions can adopt actions to fight homophobia and transphobia and to guarantee human rights for LGBTI people. |
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| 3 May: International Family Equality Day 2015 - The Kids Are Alright |
| In the above mentioned report, the importance of celebrating International Family Equality Day (IFED) was mentioned for possible local activities aimed at raising awareness to promote a tolerant and co-hesive society. On 3 May, LGBTQ family organisations from around the world will join together for the fourth time to increase the international visibility of LGBTQ families. |
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| The International Family Equality Day, organised by the Network of European LGBT Families Associations (NELFA), not only raises awareness of sexual orientation and gender diversity within families, it provides an opportunity for LGBTQ parents and their children to celebrate our families and communities. |
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| Rainbow covered bus in London |
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Transport for London, the City of London’s transport service, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender staff network group, OUTbound, by commissioning a special rainbow covered bus.
Leon Daniels, TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport said: “The rainbow bus is a great addition to the streets of London and is a fantastic way for us to celebrate diversity in this great city. London is the tourism capital of the world and it is fantastic that everyone who lives, visits or works in London will have an opportunity to see this bus while it’s in service.” The bus will run on route 8, between Bow Church and Tottenham Court Road. |
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| Transgender in labour and employment. A travelling exhibition. |
| The exhibition ‘Transgender in Labour and Employment’ is part of Berlin´s activities to sensitize for the situation of transgender people. The exhibition was created under the artistic direction of the well-known photographer Anja Weber. It consists of 12 individual portraits of transgender people. |
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The photos show people in very different professions and working environments: university teachers, lorry drivers aswell as office professionals, production and service companies.
The exhibition is available for other cities, companies, institutions and organisations, via the LGBTI Unit of the Berlin State. |
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| First openly LGBTI person elected in Municipal public office in Beşiktaş - Turkey |
| Beşiktaş Municipality Mayor’s Advisor Sedef Çakmak was elected for the position of assembly member. Çakmak is the first person to be elected to public office with an open LGBTI identity in Turkey. Çakmak received her mandate on 2 March 2015. |
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| Transgender Europe launches campaign video on reality of trans people |
| The video, available via YouTube, has been watched more than 25.000 times since its launch three weeks ago. With this video, Transgender Europe (TGEU) is trying to raise awareness of the human rights violations against trans people in Europe. You can get more information and sign up to receive TGEU’s quarterly newsletter on trans rights via their website. Click on 'read more'. |
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| City of Munich starts Youth Campaign |
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Photo: Michael Nagy
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| "The way you are, we are there for you" is the motto of a big youth campaign. This campaign was developed by the municipal unit for antidiscri-mination of LGBT people. Mayor Dieter Reiter supports this campaign: "Young people, when asked about their sexual identity, often feel lonely. Next to the support of the parental home, young people also need help from outside. Youth should feel and know that it is not bad if they are lesbian, gay or transgender. We must take away their fear of exclusion, for they are a part of our colorful urban society. With the campaign "We're here for you", the city offers young people support in this very personal issue." |
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| Empowerment for Intersex People – the Berlin approach |
| Inter*People as well as their needs and demands are becoming more and more visible in Germany. Since there is still a lack of support structures, counselling centers and empowerment measures for Inter*People, the Berlin State is funding a project focusing on empowerment and the fight against discrimination of Inter*People. The project run by TransInterQueer started in August 2014. |
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| Vienna hosts Eurovision Song Contest 2015 |
| After Concita Wurst‘s success in 2014, the city of Vienna will be hosting the ESC this May. Since the contest always attracts many queer people, Vienna expects many LGBTI tourists and activists. Therefore the WASt – Viennese antidiscrimination-unit for LGBT issues organises discussions, guided tours and a Meet and Greet for national and international guests and participants between 18 and 22 May 2015. |
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| Network meeting of German local LGBT policy officers |
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On 23 and 24 April 2015, the first networking meeting of local LGBT Policy Officers of German cities was held in Munich. The Munich coordination unit for LGBT equality, with their 13 years of existence one of the oldest institutions of its kind in Germany, hosted the meeting that was attended by nine cities: Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Frankfurt, Hannover, Cologne, Mainz, Munich and Stuttgart.
In the meeting the cities shared strategies with regard to work within the local government for LGBT issues as well as how they work for and together with the LGBT communities and how to increase LGBT acceptance in urban society. Key topics were the anchoring of training for LGBT issues within management, networking of the administration units with local LGBT communities, strategic ap-proaches to improving lesbian visibility and the situation of LGBT refugees.
The network of German local authorities will meet annually. The next meeting, in 2016, will take place in the city of Dortmund. The city of Hanover will host the 2017 meeting. |
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| 2015 Pride Photo Award contest now open |
Pride Photo Award is an international photo contest for top quality photography about sexual and gender diversity. For this year’s edition photos can be submitted in four different categories: Gender, Single Images, Open and the theme category of the 2015 edition: Stories of Love and Pride.
This year, Pride Photo Award honours photographers who seek to dispel LGBT |
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| stereotypes and cele-brate sexual and gender diversity by showcasing images that reveal the unexpected, change percep-tions and invite people to look again, and to look more closely. The contest ends on the 14th of June at 23:59 Central European Summer Time. Contestants can register and submit their photos through the contest page on the website. Click on 'read more'. |
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