On November 1-4, 2017 during the 21st Annual ILGA-Europe Conference, organized in Warsaw, LGL’s Executive Director Vladimir Simonko was re-elected to the organization’s Board for the period of 2018-2019. “I’m pleased that for the 2018-2019 term, Lithuania will remain visible with a representative on the Board of the international LGBTI organization,” commented the Executive Director of LGL.
During the ILGA-Europe annual conference, representatives from LGL participated in workshops and panel discussions about hate crimes and the European Court of Human Rights’ decisions, and had the opportunity to present the results of the survey LGL performed last summer on experiences of LGBT* high school students.
A sizeable crowd of proud LGBT* human rights activists and politicians were there to participate in the event: Polish Human Rights Ombudsperson Adam Bodnar; European Commissioner of the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska; Council of Europe LGBTI human rights reporter Piet de Bruyn; and “Black Protest” organizer Urszula Kuchynska.
LGBTI human rights activists who came together from Europe and Central Asia to attend the conference also had the opportunity to learn about Poland’s LGBTI human rights situation, watch traditional folk dance performances, visit the Palace of Culture and Science and Warsaw Drama Theatre, and attend the premiere of the film “Tom of Finland”.
National LGBT* rights organization LGL celebrates international LGBTI rights organization ILGA-Europe’s member organizations’ decision to elect LGL’s executive director Vladimir Simonko to the ILGA-Europe Board for a second term. We wish him continuing success and hope that this significant responsibility will contribute to human rights progress in Lithuania!
