'LGBTQ+ Rights Within Europe' Discussion, 26th October 2021
Good afternoon everyone! We hope everyone who attended our Roundtable on Tuesday 26th October at 6pm enjoyed the informative discussions that took place, and benefitted from our speakers’ variety of presentations each demonstrating their opinions on the status of rights for LGBTQI+ community across Europe. For those who didn’t make it, have a read below to learn more about the stimulating topical issues that were discussed throughout this Roundtable, or click on the link at the bottom of the page to watch the event unfold for yourself!
Our first esteemed speaker who kindly started off this discussion was Professor David Paternotte, discussing a topic of his choosing, namely More or Less Europe?. This introduction focused on his article entitled ‘EUrope: The Ups and Downs of Sexual Exceptionalism’ in Sonia Corrêa and Richard Parker’s SexPolitics: Trends & Tensions in the 21st Century, alongside his research carried out alongside Philip Ayoub in their book titled LGBT Activism and the Making of Europe: A Rainbow Europe?.
Following on, Professor Maryna Shevtsova focused her presentation on contemporary issues facing LGBTQI+ organisations in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Georgia. This talk included generous reference to her current research on (a) how LGBTQ organizations are coping with pandemic conditions, and (b) how authoritarian regimes in some of these countries have used the pandemic against civil society.
We were subsequently joined by Dr Koen Slootmaeckers, introduce his outlook on the European identity he discusses in his piece entitled Constructing European Union Identity through LGBT Equality Promotion: Crises and Shifting Othering Processes in the European Union Enlargement. With this in mind, Dr Slootmaeckers shortly discussed the EU accession of Serbia and the implications this has had on LGBTQI+ politics and activism in the country. This topic was analysed in light of the recent and ongoing negative developments in the protection of rights for LGBTQI+ people across Europe.
After this the floor was passed over to Malte Breiding Hansen who chose to discuss the rather less well-known situation of Denmark and the UN with regard to sexual and gender minority politics. Mr Hansen consequently started his talk by giving a quick introduction to his two articles entitled ‘Between Two Ills: Homonationalism, Gender Ideology and the Case of Denmark’, and ‘Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Rights Lost in Translation?’, focusing on both the rationale behind them and common denominators linking them.
Due to some time constraints the discussion then moved over to MEP Rasmus Andresen who took some time to go into some detail regarding the experience he has accumulated as a Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance MEP and member of the LGBTI Intergroup, alongside his active advocating for the rights of LGBTQI+ people. Questions were subsequently asked concerning current actions being taken by European institutions in order to more effectively enforce respect for rights for LGBTQI+ people across Europe. Of course, these issues touched on one of the most important issues, that is the outlook for the future of LGBTQI+ rights in European member states.
Finally, we were fortunate to receive the contribution of Maja Gergorić, who gave an informative presentation providing for an overview of the continuously growing opposition to the LGBTQI+ movement in the form of the anti-gender movement, specifically in Eastern Europe. By using strategies such as protests, referendums and petitions, the anti-gender movement has made considerable strides in limiting LGBTQI+ rights and contributed to the general feeling of dread. This topic referenced Maja’s article in The Loop titled LGBTI activists face growing opposition across Eastern Europe and her dissertation on the emergence of anti-gender movements in post-communist Europe.
We were fortunate to be joined towards the end of the Roundtable by MEP Mónica Silvana Gonzalez, a member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and provided some input into the convictions and actions of MEPs such as herself who are dedicated to realising the goal of respect for the human rights of LGBTQI+ people across Europe.
GES is extremely grateful to all of our excellent speakers who generously provided us with their time and expertise in relation to this topical issue in order to support the further education of the student body at the University of Glasgow. We are so proud of the success of this event, thanks to all of these speakers, and look forward to hopefully welcoming them back at later events!
GES Roundtable | Status of LGBTQI+ Rights Throughout Europe | October 26 2021
