Lgbt

Slovakia has elected its first female President - Čaputová thanks voters in Romanes again

31.3.2019 10:59  full story

David Tišer, candidate for Czech lower house: Roma interests can only be guaranteed by sitting in Parliament

14.10.2017 14:03 Despite the fact that no Romani movements or parties are fielding candidates in this year's Parliamentary elections, some Romani people are running on the candidate lists of other groups. News server Romea.cz is publishing interviews with each Romani candidate.  full story

Czech extremists abuse LGBT pride march in town of Plzeň but fail to block it

6.9.2017 9:27 Approximately 500 people, most of them youths, attended the first-ever Pilsen Pride march in Plzeň, Czech Republic on Saturday 2 September 2017, an offshoot of the Prague Pride march celebrating sexual minorities. The event was attended by activists from the Green Party, religious members of the LGBT community belonging to the Logos organization, Romani LGBT persons, and Marie Ferina, a famous activist for the rights of the LGBT community.  full story

Czech Police intervene as extremists, neo-Nazis and religious believers protest Prague Pride parade

13.8.2017 17:35 Prague Pride, the parade celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people (LGBT) marched through the center of Prague yesterday afternoon. Several religious believers protested against the event near the statue of St. Václav and approximately 40 extremists and neo-Nazis turned up on a nearby street.  full story

videoExhibition called "Gays, don't touch the Roma flag!" opens for Prague Pride

12.8.2017 11:33 On Friday 11 August at 20:00 a vernissage for the exhibition entitled "Gays, don't touch the Roma flag!" ("Teplí, na romskou vlajku nesahat!") was held as part of the Prague Pride festival in the Phundrado Vudar Gallery. The ARA ART organization used the opportunity to respond to the homophobic posts that began to appear in the Czech-language online social media after a photograph was posted of Romani gays and lesbians holding the Romani flag.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: It's strange for LGBT people to hold the rainbow and Romani flags while speaking of Roma pride

24.6.2017 13:16 At the beginning of June the third international conference on upholding the human rights of LGBTI members of the Romani community was held in Strasbourg, France, co-
organized by the Prague-based ARA ART association, whose director, David Tišer, is an activist, artist, and Romani Studies scholar who is a member of both the LGBTI and the Romani communities. Tišer posted a photo of the Romani people attending the conference holding both the international rainbow flag of the LGBT community and the international Romani flag to his Facebook profile.  full story

Third international Romani LGBTI conference discusses homophobia in non-Romani and Romani society

24.6.2017 12:38 At the beginning of June in Strasbourg, France, the third international conference on the topic of upholding the human rights of the LGBTI members of the Romani community was held. The conference was co-organized by the Prague-based ARA ART group, whose director is the LGBTI Romani activist, artist and Romani Studies scholar David Tišer.  full story

Prague Pride changes website after recommending supporters vote for racist candidates

17.9.2016 15:17 The Prague Pride organization, which defends the rights of gays and lesbians and annually convenes a pride march through the center of Prague, recently conducted a survey among candidates to the Senate for this year's elections. According to how candidates responded to the three questions asked, the organization recommended members of the LGBT community vote for them.  full story

videoPrague Pride 2016: LGBT community dances through Prague, Roma in the parade too

14.8.2016 14:56 Yesterday afternoon Prague was the setting for the Pride March of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals that was the high point of the sixth annual Prague Pride festival of sexual minorities. Organizers estimate this year’s attendance at around 40 000.  full story

Roma at Prague Pride festival say sexual minorities are still taboo in their community

11.8.2016 13:17 Part of the ongoing Prague Pride week traditionally is a segment of the program produced by the Romani association ARA ART. This association has long been involved not just in art with an educational and social scope, but also in specializing on the issue of multiple discrimination and working with the Romani LGBT community.  full story

Czech Republic: Terezín Commission refuses NGO request to officially fly the LGBTQ and Romani flags during commemoration

5.5.2016 22:26 Jan Munk, the director of the Terezín Memorial who also chairs the Commission for the Preparation of the Terezín Commemoration, has refused a request from 14 organizations that the LGBTQ (rainbow) and Romani flags be flown next to the flags of various states during the 15 May event. "At the national cemetery in Terezín where this commemoration takes place, the flags of all the nations whose members fell victim to Nazi persecution and who passed through the concentration camps are flown during the commemoration ceremony. For many of those people, their distressing journey began by being transported to Terezín. To our great surprise, there is no Romani flag flown at Terezín even though, together with Jewish people, it is the Roma as a group who were affected most by Nazi persecution in the Czech lands," the organizations said in an open letter.  full story

Ethnic, religious, sexual minorities now suffering more discrimination in occupied Crimea and Donbas

23.8.2015 20:55 The Interfax-Ukraine News Agency reports that human rights activists have issued a report entitled "In the Crosscurrents: Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Ukraine" that finds discrimination has significantly increased against minorities in occupied Crimea and Donbas. Dimitrina Petrova, Executive Director of the Equal Rights Trust, presented the report at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.  full story

Austria rescinds ban on adoption by same-sex couples

Vienna, 14.1.2015 23:49, (ROMEA) The Austrian Constitutional Court has rescinded the country's ban on same-sex couples adopting children. The Austrian Press Agency reports that Judge Gerhart Holzinger announced the judgment today.  full story

Estonian Parliament approves registered partnership law

Tallinn, 11.10.2014 23:19, (ROMEA) Yesterday the Estonian Parliament became the first country on the territory of the former Soviet Union to approve a law on registered partnership that applies to same-sex couples. The new "law on coexistence" was approved by a close majority of 40 votes in favor and 38 against with 10 abstentions.  full story

Denmark marks 25th anniversary of becoming the first country to permit registered partnerships

Copenhagen/Prague, 29.9.2014 21:48, (ROMEA) Laws legalizing same-sex marriages are being commonly introduced today and famous figures are openly revealing their same-sex orientation. Liberal societies have grown accustomed to seeing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community as a minority whose rights must be defended.  full story

Czech LGBT festival to feature Romani evening

Prague, 14.8.2014 4:01, (ROMEA) On Friday, 15 August, an evening called "Hot Chocolate" will take place as part of the Prague Pride festival, focusing on the issue of LGBT people in the Romani community. The event will offer an exhibition of photographs, music, a debate, fortune-telling and a counseling center.  full story

Commentary: LGBT people of all races, unite!

Prague, 8.5.2014 21:02, (ROMEA) I have received an e-mail with a press release from the ARA ART association saying that more than 20 Romani men and women of minority sexual orientations gathered recently in Prague's National Minorities' House for a first-ever, historic seminar about Romani lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-gender persons (LGBT). In and of itself this is not shocking - it was bound to happen, although Romani people with minority sexual orientations have a harder time in life for several reasons.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani LGBT people denied entry to nightclub

Prague, 8.5.2014 18:51, (ROMEA) During the first weekend in May more than 20 Romani men and women of minority sexual orientations gathered in Prague's National Minorities House for a first-ever, historic seminar on Romani LGBT people organized by the ARA ART association. Those attending the seminars were subsequently prevented from entering a gay nightclub in Prague because of their ethnicity.  full story

Czech Republic: Unique meeting of gay and lesbian Roma in Prague

Prague, 6.5.2014 23:30, (ROMEA) A unique meeting of gay and lesbian Roma took place this past weekend in Prague with the aim of awakening interest in this very specific group among Romani people themselves and among members of the majority society. The meeting took place under the auspices of David Tišer, a well-known Romani activist, with creative lectures by fashion designer Pavel Berky and photographer Lukáš Houdek.  full story