Monday (September 30 th ) the European Centre-Right LGBT+ Alliance together with the
Wilfred Martens Centre for European Studies organised a very interesting seminar and
workshop on LGBT+ politics seen from a centre-right perspective.
The headline of the seminar was “Strengthening the LGBT+ voice as part of the centre-
right narrative” and contained both presentations by experts, by Alliance members and
workshop discussions.
First on the agenda was a presentation by ILGA-Europe who spoke about the latest
Rainbow Europe map that was presented in May of this year. The focus was on the
trends that are visible both positive and negative concerning the development of the
LGBT+ issues across Europe.
Alliance President, Helge Ytterøy L’orange, spoke about the LGBT+ issues that was part
of the EPP (European People’s Party) election manifest for the European elections in
June and how these could be turned into practical political decisions the coming five
years.
Presentations were also given on two examples from around Europe. Jakob Schneider
from LSU Bayern in Bavaria, Germany spoke about the new and inclusive family politics
of his party CSU and Costa Gavrielides, from Democratic Rally LGBTIQ+ and Allies
Team informed about LGBT+ reforms introduced by the DISY-government in Cyprus
2013-2023.
At the end Secretary General Fredrik Saweståhl conducted a round table-talk on how to
develop the LGBT+ policies further in the EPP political family and the member parties. In
conclusion a very interesting and good seminar with a lot of good conclusions to move
forward with.
The seminar was held at the Martens Centre in Brussels.
