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OutSummit

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Every year, in December, around Human Rights Day (December 10), Outright convenes OutSummit: a conference to advance the human rights and inclusion of LGBTIQ people everywhere. OutSummit is where people from across civil society, government, philanthropy, and business come together to strategize and build momentum to accelerate change for LGBTIQ people. 

Past OutSummits

    Keynote Speakers

    Sessions

      Advocating for Inclusion in Government Development Programs

      Each year the World Bank makes $USD 100 Billion in loans to governments in low and middle-income countries. These funds pay for education, health, and social protection programs. LGBTIQ advocates want to ensure that these programs are inclusive. This session will describe the Inclusive Bank Advocacy Network -- a new global advocacy network, and feature examples of activism to ensure inclusion of LGBTIQ people.

      Moderator

      Andrew Park

      Senior Advisor, Inclusive Development, Outright International

      Panelists

      Roberto Zapata

      Amate, El Salvador

      Rachel Burton

      Social Inclusion Officer, Bank Information Center

      Biljana Ginova

      LGBTIQ+ human rights defender and trans-feminist activist

      Trans Liberation

      Around the world, trans people are calling on their governments to uphold their human rights through laws and policies that recognize their existence, prohibit discrimination, and address violence based on gender identity and expression. At least 18 countries have passed rights-based gender identity laws that allow trans people to change their gender markers through a simple process based on self-determination, while others are taking steps toward recognizing trans people. This progress has been countered by an unprecedented increase in anti-trans sentiment and a surge of legislation that is undoing the progress made by trans-diverse people in obtaining their fundamental rights. The pushback is coming from an unholy alliance of conservatives and groups of feminists who typically have nothing in common and use misinformation to gain traction. Our panel will debunk some of the myths, give examples of successful countering, and discuss strategies to move forward.

      Moderator

      Rikki Nathanson 

      Senior Advisor of the Global Trans Program, Outright International

      rikki nathanson-headshot-circle
      Panelists

      Aisha Mughal

      Trans activist and researcher, Pakistan/Germany

      Tampose Mothopeng

      Executive Director, The People’s Matrix Association, Lesotho

      Marina Sáenz

      Marina is the President of the LGBTI Participative council in the Spanish Ministry of Equality

      Leanne MacMillan

      Director of Global Programmes, Stonewall UK

      Increasing Our Impact: How Funders Can Help Radically Accelerate the Global LGBTIQ Movement

      Activists, advocates, and allies have made tremendous progress in the movement for LGBTIQ rights around the world, yet their work remains drastically under-resourced, especially in the Global South and East. At a time with immense opportunity for positive social change - and a dangerous, rising global backlash - much more investment is needed. Join a conversation with philanthropic leaders to explore emerging trends and opportunities in our field and how we can partner with local leaders to better resource and propel our movement forward.

      Moderator

      Russell Roybal

      Outright Board Member, VP and Chief External Affairs Officer, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy

      Panelists

      Michael Heflin

      Global Grants Director, Outright International

      Ezra Berkley Nepon

      Senior Program Officer for Knowledge and Learning, Global Philanthropy Project

       

      Rebecca Fox

      VP of Programs, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

       

      Jay Gilliam

      Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

      Pride & Politics: The Fight for LGBTIQ Rights in Changing Democracies

      In 2024, over two billion people will head to the polls to vote for their next government at the local, national, and regional levels. For many countries, the results could mean the difference between further entrenchment of authoritarian policies and practices or a turning point in the fight against democratic backsliding. The days leading up to and after the elections will be essential for citizens, particularly LGBTIQ communities, to elevate their voices and make it clear to decision-makers their expectations for inclusive governance, accountability and transparency, and the protection and promotion of human rights. This panel will explore the inextricable link between democracy and LGBTIQ rights and feature the perspectives of both activists and allies who are utilizing democratic mechanisms to counter the anti-democracy and anti-LGBTIQ movements in their countries and regions. Panelists will speak to ways LGBTIQ communities are already participating as well as highlight different avenues of democratic engagement LGBTIQ movements can explore to further their priorities.

      Moderator

      Matuba Mahlatjie

      Communications and Media Relations Manager, Outright International

      Panelists

      Tamara Adrián

      Venezuelan politician

      Thato Moruti

      Executive Director, LEGABIBO - Botswana

      Birgitta Ohlsson

      Director, Political Parties, National Democratic Institute and former Minister/MP

      Guest Speakers

       

      Thank you to our OutSummit founding partner, CUNY Law School’s Institute on Gender, Law, and Transformative Peace.

       

      OutSummit 2023 Presenting Sponsor

      • JPMorgan Chase & Co.

      OutSummit 2023 Supporters

      • Adobe Foundation
      • Aesop Foundation
      • Alaska Airlines
      • Balenciaga
      • Capital Group
      • CARE WITH PRIDE
      • Critical Role Foundation
      • Deutsche Bank
      • Diebold Nixdorf
      • Dr. Martens Foundation
      • Dropbox Foundation
      • Global Citizen
      • Groupe Dynamite
      • Hard Rock Café
      • JAMF
      • Levi Strauss & Co.
      • MillerKnoll
      • Nomura Holdings America
      • Procter & Gamble
      • Remarkably
      • Scotiabank Foundation
      • The Walt Disney Co.

      Watch the recordings from OutSummit 2023

       

      Watch the recordings from OutSummit 2022

      Watch the recordings from OutSummit 2021

      Watch the recordings from OutSummit 2020

      OutSummit pushes the boundaries for Global LGBTIQ Activism. Here’s the one day conference line up of speakers from out global LGBTIQ community. Keep checking back regularly for additions to the list.

      EMCEE

      • Neish McLean is the Caribbean Program Officer at OutRight Action International, based in Jamaica. Neish joined OutRight after serving as OutRight’s Religion Fellow in 2018. Neish is a Co-founder of TransWave Jamaica, Jamaica’s first and only organization solely dedicated to advocacy for trans people. Neish is also the Vice-Chair of the United Caribbean Trans Network (UCTRANS). Neish has extensive experience of delivering human rights workshops and trainings throughout the Caribbean and beyond. Neish holds a BSc in Psychology which helps in their work as a human rights defender while using their lived reality as a trans person to inform their advocacy. Neish also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Sports Management. Neish is a sports and fitness enthusiast.

      INTRODUCTIONS

      • Mary Lu Bilek is dean of CUNY School of Law, where she began teaching as one of the founding faculty in 1985. As a faculty member, associate dean, and interim dean, she led initiatives promoting student-centered instruction, developing and implementing CUNY School of Law’s innovative curriculum for practice, creating a robust bar support program, and spearheading programs that have increased the diversity of the legal profession, including the school’s innovative Pipeline to Justice Program
      • Audrey J. Juarez is a third year law student at CUNY School of Law, graduating in May of 2020 with her J.D. She is the current Editor in Chief of the CUNY Law Review, a publication dedicated to publishing social justice focused legal scholarship. During her time at CUNY, she has represented students by serving as student government president and holding a position on the Latin American Law Student Association executive board. Before moving to New York to study law, she worked at the Center for American Progress and interned for Congressman Adam B. Schiff.  
      • Hosh Ibrahim is British born of Sudanese/Egyptian parentage, and lives in London. Hosh is a graduate from The Central School of Speech and Drama, and for over a decade worked as an actor in television and film. He also has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and History from UCL. His father, Mo Ibrahim, is the founder and chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for African Governance, where Hosh is a board member, and previously the Director of Special Projects. He served as a board member of the New York Africa Centre, which is due to re-open in 2020. He helped set up, and is a trustee of (KBCC)The Khartoum Breast Care Centre in Sudan, for cancer care and treatment. He also serves on the global advisory board of Sesame Workshop. 

      KEYNOTES

      Victor Madrigal-Borloz is the United Nations Independent Expert on protection from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. A Costa Rican jurist, he is a senior visiting researcher at the Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program, where he will be in residence from July 2019 to December 2020. Until June 2019 he served as the Secretary-General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), a global network of over 150 rehabilitation centres with the vision of full enjoyment of the right to rehabilitation for all victims of torture and ill treatment until 30 June 2019. 

      A member of the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture from 2013 to 2016, Mr Madrigal-Borloz was Rapporteur on Reprisals and oversaw a draft policy on the torture and ill-treatment of LGBTI persons. Prior to this he led technical work on numerous cases, reports and testimonies as Head of Litigation and Head of the Registry at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and has also worked at the Danish Institute for Human Rights (Copenhagen, Denmark) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (San José, Costa Rica). 

      Mr Madrigal-Borloz is a founding member of the Costa Rican Association of International Law (ACODI), a founding Board member of the International Justice Resource Centre (IJRC), and a founding Board member of Synergia-IDH.

      Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is an Emmy-nominated journalist and producer and most recently worked as a Senior Presenter for AJ+. He currently lives in NYC where he is producing short films, and a documentary series.

      Ahmed has previously worked as a correspondent for VICE on HBO, a host and producer Al Jazeera English, as well as for the The New York Times, The Huffington Post and PBS. Ahmed is best known for creating and co-hosting Al Jazeera English’s flagship show “The Stream,” an interactive talk show which was nominated for an Emmy Award for Most Innovative Program in 2012.

      In 2015, Ahmed was a correspondent on six documentaries for the award-winning VICE on HBO. In 2015 and 2016, he was featured on the Arabian Business Power List “100 under 40: The world’s most influential young Arabs.”

      Ahmed helped establish HuffPost Live in 2012 for The Huffington Post, producing and hosting “World Brief,” a 30-minute interactive global news show. In 2013 he was featured on Forbes’ “30 Under 30 list of young disruptors, innovators & media entrepreneurs impatient to change the world.”

       

      Opening Plenary:

      Legal Battles: Advancing LGBTIQ Equality Through Courts*

      ModeratorJessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International, specializes in gender, sexuality and human rights globally. At OutRight, she has supported the legal registration of LGBTIQ organizations globally, helped secure the mandate of the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and advanced the UN LGBTI Core Group. She has provided expert opinions to governments globally, regional human rights institutions, and UN mechanisms, including UNWomen where she serves as a member of the LGBTI Reference Group. Her writing has been cited by the Indian Supreme Court in its seminal judgment decriminalizing same-sex relations and featured in The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security (2019).

      • Eric Gitari is a lawyer, an activist and an unpublished poet. He has worked with various organizations on human rights of LGBTIQ persons in Kenya and the Commonwealth. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Nairobi, a Masters degree from Harvard University and is currently a doctorate candidate at Harvard Law School.
      • Ajeng Larasati works as Research and Programme Coordinator at LBHM, a human rights organisation that provides free legal services for poor and marginalised groups in Indonesia. Ajeng leads the development of LBHM’s research and programmatic works on the issue of drug policy, LGBT rights, HIV and human rights, mental health, and abolition of the death penalty. She also serves as a core team member of the National Crisis Response Mechanism, an initiative to develop a holistic support system to protect the rights of LGBT individuals and organisations.
      • Rikki Nathanson formed the first trans-led organization in Zimbabwe focused on addressing the social and civil rights shortcomings of the trans diverse population of that country in 2015. She was instrumental in the formation of the Southern Africa Trans Forum. She serves on multiple boards internationally; Social Health Empowerment, SHE, African Men for Sexual Health and Rights AMSHeR and ENZA Research (South Africa), Trans Bantu Association (Zambia), the IRGT – a global network of trans women in the fight against HIV, and OutRight Action International, Global Action for Trans Equality, GATE (Argentina). She took on the State of Zimbabwe, and was successful, for the unlawful arrest she endured for being transgender.
      • Jenny Pizer is Senior Counsel and Director of Law & Policy for Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest, US-based legal organization pursuing full civil rights for LGBTQ people.  She litigates to end discrimination in health care, employment, public accommodations and education, and the use of religion to license that discrimination. She also drafts legislation, advises policymakers, and works with community advocates to advance nondiscrimination protections. Jenny is a leading voice for LGBT family equality and previously directed Lambda Legal’s Marriage Project. She graduated from NYU School of Law and Harvard/Radcliffe College, and serves on the board of OutRight Action International.
      • Luíza Drummond Veado is OutRight’s United Nations Program Officer based in New York. She is a Brazilian attorney with an International Human Rights Law LLM from the University of Essex.  She has also published several academic articles on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics; trained more than one hundred activists and government officials on international and regional non-discrimination standards, with a focus on LGBTI rights; and has coordinated an award-winning video campaign on violence against LGBTI persons in the Americas.

      Closing Plenary:

      Success Stories From the Frontlines

      • Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile is a groundbreaking Trans* ARTivist from Botswana. She is a communications specialist, educator and solution-based thinker with a background in performing arts, education and human rights. She holds an MA in Human Rights, Culture and Social Justice from Goldsmiths University of London (UK), a BA Honors Degree in Dramatic Arts from University of the Witwatersrand (ZA), and has participated in leadership development training at Drexel University (USA) as a recipient of the Mandela Washington Fellowship. Her accolades include being a TED Fellow, OkayAfrica #100Women honoree, Queen’s Young Leader, Chevening Scholar, and a Best of Botswana Performing Artist.
      • Yvonne Oduor is a feminist who uses their background as a trained journalist to advocate for the human rights of gender and sexual minorities in Kenya. They are currently the Operations Manager at the Gay and lesbian coalition of Kenya (GALCK).
      • Sahar Moazami currently serves as a UN Program Officer at OutRight Action International. OutRight Action International is an NGO working to promote and protect the rights of LGBTI individuals globally. Sahar received their JD from Fordham Law school and is a New York State bar admitted attorney with a focus on international human rights law. Prior to law school they attended Boston University for their undergraduate degree, majoring in Political Science and minoring in American and Persian history.
      • Jennifer Lu has been devoting in LGBT rights movements for 15 years in Taiwan and she currently is Chief Coordinator of Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan and also long-term workers in Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBTQ+) Hotline Association. She is an activist, feminist, writer, political worker, and also passionate about encouraging more young LBT leaders to join the movement.  She led the team successfully to achieve a lot of milestones in Taiwan in recent years and will continue fighting for equality in the future.
      • Aalap Shah serves as the Director of Product for Wikibuy, a startup recently acquired by Capital One Bank. He is a mission driven product innovator and business strategist who leverages human centered design thinking, data driven insights, and organizational transformation. As a Board Member of OutRight Action International, Aalap is also passionately committed to social innovation, economic and workplace inclusion, and LGBTIQ human rights. He lives in New York City with his partner Gregg.
      • Fadi Saleh is a scholar-activist from Syria. His main research areas are queer and trans migration, LGBTIQ refugee politics, and knowledge production around gender and sexuality in the Middle East and North Africa, with a special focus on Syria. In addition to research, Fadi works with many LGBTIQ organizations in the MENA region and Europe in different consultancy, training, and advocacy capacities.

       

      WORKSHOPS

      ON THE BRINK. BALANCING GENDER, SEXUALITY AND RELIGION.

      LGBTIQ people are the subject of discrimination under the guise of religious beliefs. Join panelists for a discussion of the pervasiveness of this bias and how LGBTIQ navigate their own religious and spiritual experiences.

       

      Moderator: Paul Jansen, OutRight’s Senior Advisor for Global Advocacy

       

      Speakers:

      • Jonta Saragih, Queer Activist based Indonesia and Timor Leste
      • Ifáṣínà Efunyemi, Co-founder of the Productive Organization for Women in Action (POWA) and Promoting Empowerment Through Awareness for Lesbian and Bisexual Women (PETAL)
      • Rev. Nokuthula Dhladhla, Survivor of so-called conversion therapy from South Africa

      UN-LOCKED: ADVANCES AND BARRIERS IN ADVOCATING FOR INCLUSION OF SOGIESC

      OutRight is the first and only LGBTIQ organization with ECOSOC status based in New York, where the United Nations Headquarters are located. This position makes us the natural convener of our different allies, the LGBTI Core Group, UN agencies and other civil society organizations to move the needle forward on human rights protections for LGBTIQ people everywhere. 

       

      Moderator:

      Speakers:

      • Lisa Davis, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic (formerly named International Women’s Human Rights Clinic)
      • Jo Feldman is the First Secretary to the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations.
      • Tess McEvoy, Leader of ISHR’s legal protection work, including contributing to a Model Law for the protection of human rights defenders.

      SHATTERING THE INVISIBILITY OF TRANS AND INTERSEX PEOPLE IN MEDIA

      The frequency and quality of media coverage of same-sex attraction has been instrumental in changing the hearts and minds of countless people. It follows, that if the same were true for gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics, societal opinions and progress in recognition of the rights of trans and intersex people would also be swifter. What strategies can be employed to increase visibility of trans and intersex people? 

       

      Moderator: Hugo Greenhalgh, Editor of Openly, the LGBT+ news website from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Reuters, the global newswire

       

      Speakers:

      • Liberty Matthyse, Director of Gender Dynamix, the oldest transgender-specific organisation in Africa and also host to the Southern Africa Trans Forum
      • Nazeeha Saeed, LGBTI Advocate, Journalist Expert in the GCC and covering events across MENA and Europe
      • Ilia Savelev, Russian human rights lawyer, activist, and scholar
      • Kristen Thompson, Communications Director of Immigration Equality
      • Sasha Berezkinis an expert on the human rights of intersex people and is based in New York.

      LGBTIQ RIGHTS AND BUSINESS: SYMMETRIES AND CHALLENGES

      Moderator: Elise Colomer-Cheadle, Director of Corporate Engagement at OutRight Action International

       

      Speakers:

      • Christopher Bylone, Head of Global Diversity & Inclusion, International Flavors & Fragrances
      • Louise Chernin, President & CEO of GSBA, Washington State’s LGBTQ and allied Chamber of Commerce
      • Lanaya Irvin, Co-chair of the Human Rights Campaign’s National Business Advisory Council & on Board of Directors for OutRight Action International and NYC Anti-Violence Project
      • Eric Pliner, CEO of YSC Consulting, a London-based leadership strategy firm specializing in executive assessment and development, team dynamics, organizational culture, and inclusive leadership and diversity

      FIGHTING FOR PROGRESS IN TIMES OF BACKLASH

      Moderator: Kennedy Carrillo, OutRight’s Caribbean Researcher

       

      Speakers:

      • Wisdom Bebli, Executive Director of Solace Initiative (formerly Solace Brothers Foundation) in Ghana & Executive Secretary of the national coalition of LGBTI+ movement, Alliance for Equality and Diversity (AfED)
      • Lua Da Mota Stabile, Diversity Specialist from the UN Free and Equal Campaign in Brazil and Outright’s UN Religion Fellow
      • Kenita Placide
      • Claire Provost, Investigative journalist and the gender and sexuality editor at openDemocracy.net, a global independent media platform
      • Sulique Waqa

      TACKLING “CONVERSION THERAPY” GLOBALLY: VOICES OF SURVIVORS, AND STRATEGIES FOR SOLUTIONS

      In most countries around the world, discrimination, violence, and oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics persist within families, faith communities, and societies at large. Panelists will consider how to support survivors and strategize an end to this harmful practice.

       

      Moderator: Amie Bishop, Consultant Research Advisor for OutRight Action International, author of OutRight’s report on so-called gay “conversion therapy” globally

      Speakers:

      • Reverend Nokuthula Dhladhla, Ambassador of Global Interfaith Network (GIN), a member of the Circle of Concerned African Theologians Women, & a founding member of Ashes to Purpose: a healing space for lesbians and gender non conforming people to integrate sexuality and spirituality
      • Omar Fattal, MD, MPH is the Assistant Chief for Quality at the Department of Psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at NYU, co-founder and current board member of LebMASH, co-founder and current board member of Friends of LebMASH & member of the editorial board of the LGBT Health journal
      • Ro-Ann Mohammed, Caribbean feminist and social justice activist, founder of SHE Barbados, co-founder of BGLAD, & coordinator of Barbados LGBTQI+ Pride
      • Yanzi Peng, Director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China & Plaintiff of the first conversion therapy court case in China

      *CLE Credits: 2 continuing legal education (CLE) credits are available for the following session Legal battles: advancing LGBTIQ equality through courts

       

      OutSummit – Pushing the Boundaries for Global LGBTIQ Activism one day conference is assembling a line up of speakers to represent all the letters of our community. Keep checking back regularly additions to the list.

      EMCEES

       

       

      Ging Cristobal

      A lesbian feminist activist since 1997, Ging Cristobal joined the OutRight Action International in 2008 as Project Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific. Ging has been a technical advisor of UNDP Being’s Asia regional project LGBT in Asia, and is acting Chairperson of the Quezon City Pride Council, instrumental in having the anti-discrimination ordinance passed in Quezon City. Ging is one of the co-founders of the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, a coalition of LGBT groups in Southeast Asia advocating for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGIE) in the ASEAN. Her work is focused on issues on police education on LGBTI rights, LGBT migrant workers in ASEAN and legislative advocacy work an ASEAN.

      Neish McLean

      McLeanNeish McLean is a Jamaican LGBTQ activist who is committed and passionate about advocacy for the community which is reflected in his involvement in local and regional work. In Jamaica, Neish co-founded TransWave Jamaica, Jamaica’s first and only organization that is solely dedicated to trans advocacy. Additionally, he brings with him regional and international exposure through his participation in human rights workshops and trainings. Neish serves as Vice-Chair of the United Caribbean Trans Network as well as a member of the Steering Committee for CARIFLAGS. Neish is well positioned to make an impact in his role as Caribbean Program Officer at OutRight. He holds a BSc in Psychology which helps in his work as a human rights defender while using his lived reality as a man of trans experience to inform his advocacy. He also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Sports Management. He is a sports and fitness enthusiast.

      INTRODUCTIONS

      • Malita Picasso is a third year law student at CUNY School of Law, graduating in May of 2019 with her J.D. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of the CUNY Law Review, a journal dedicated to publishing social justice focused legal scholarship. She was recently awarded a two-year Skadden Foundation Fellowship to work at the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, where she will provides direct representation and legal advocacy to Transgender Elders challenging gender-based discrimination and bias by elder care providers.
      • Mary Lu Bilek is dean of CUNY School of Law, where she began teaching as one of the founding faculty in 1985. As a faculty member, associate dean, and interim dean, she led initiatives promoting student-centered instruction, developing and implementing CUNY Law’s innovative curriculum for practice, creating a robust bar support program, and spearheading programs that have increased the diversity of the legal profession, including the school’s innovative Pipeline to Justice Program.
      • Roger Doughty has been a volunteer with OutRight since 1995, including two rounds of service on the board of directors (this is year 14). He’s been a leader in the LGBTIQ movement for more than 25 years and currently serves as president of Horizons Foundation, which supports the movement and LGBTIQ diverse communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the country, and internationally.

      KEYNOTES

       

      Flávia Piovesan was elected Commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a four-year mandate beginning on the 1st of January 2018 and ending on the 31st of December 2021. Commissioner Piovesan serves as the Rapporteur for the Rights of LGBTI Persons and is in charge of the Unit on the Rights of Older Persons. Flavia has been a Professor of Constitutional Law and Humans Rights at the Catholic University of São Paulo since 1991, a Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and a Professor at the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of the American University in the United States. Flavia has conducted postdoctoral research in Harvard Law School, Oxford University and Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, where she studied the regional human rights protection systems. Commissioner Piovesan is author of numerous academic publications and has worked as a consultant for international organizations.

       

      Karamo Brown is a TV personality best known for being the ‘culture expert’ on Netflix’s reboot of Queer Eye, where his job is to makeover the mind and hearts of the people he is helping, by guiding them to figure out the root of their issues. Karamo worked as a licensed social worker and psychotherapist for nearly a decade.The father of two began his television career in 2004 on MTV’s reality show “The Real World: Philadelphia” – where he became the first openly gay black man to be cast on reality TV.

       

      OPENING PLENARY:
      SUCCESS STORIES FROM THE FRONTLINES

      • Phylesha Brown-Acton is a trans, indigenous and community activist, who has served LGBTQI populations over 25 years, in Aotearoa – New Zealand and the Pacific region. She is a board member to ICASO, Auckland Pride Festival, Indigenous Maori & Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation (INA), an Advisor to the Northland District Health Boards on Trans Health Services, a Consultant to ASHM/OSSHMM advancing Trans Health in the Pacific, and is the Co-chairperson of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network.
      • Xeenarh Mohammed is a lawyer, a technologist, and a queer, feminist, holistic security trainer who provides trainings and support for non-profit organizations in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. Xeenarh has spent over 8 years working with nonprofits and has previously served as a legal counsel to Nasarawa State ministry of Justice, project officer for Love Nigeria, Gender democracy officer at Heinrich Boll Stiftung, and digital integrity fellow for Open Technology fund. They currently run ReSista Camp, a space for healing, networking and celebration for minority communities. Their passion lies in protecting the rights of LGBTQI folks both online and offline, and providing sustainable and healthy spaces for other activists. Xeenarh is active in women’s issues in Nigeria and works in the intersection of activism, advocacy, protection of queer and minority rights. Pronouns: They/Them
      • Tarek Zeidan is a sexual and bodily rights activist advocating for the liberation and protection of the LGBTQ community in Lebanon as the director of Helem, the first LGBTQ rights organization in the Arab World, founded in Beirut in 2004.Tarek has previously worked as director of strategic planning for the MENA region in both the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He obtained his BA from the American University of Beirut, his MALD in international security studies from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and his MPA in human rights law and advocacy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
      • Kimberly Zeiselman is an intersex woman, lawyer, and the Executive Director of interACT: advocates for intersex youth, and has more than twenty years of experience in advocacy and nonprofit management. She served as a policy analyst for the Massachusetts Joint House and Senate Committee on Health Care, and worked in Government Relations and Advocacy for a variety healthcare related nonprofits including Boston Children’s Hospital. While at Children’s, Kimberly advocated for children’s health issues and lead the hospital’s first strategy-driven government fundraising campaign and earning the National Association of Children’s Hospital’s Legislative Advocacy Award. From 2009 through 2015 Kimberly served on the board of the AIS-DSD Support Group, the US largest intersex support group. In 2015 Kimberly participated as the sole U.S. intersex representative to an expert intersex meeting convened by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva and has subsequently consulted on the UN Free & Equal Campaign’s Intersex Rights Campaign. Kimberly was a 2015-2016 Arcus Foundation Leadership Fellow and in 2016 was accepted as a member of the US Human Rights Network’s International Mechanisms Coordinating Committee.
      • Moderator: Paul Jansen joined OutRight as the Senior Advisor for Global Advocacy in October 2017. Prior to joining OutRight, he worked as an international consultant on organisational and strategic reviews for LGBTIQ groups and networks, and key population networks working on HIV issues. He was the Program Director in the areas of education, nature and sustainability for Salzburg Global Seminar. He also worked as organisational sustainability advisor in the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) in Bangkok. Prior to this, he was the country director of the Hivos office in Johannesburg, South Africa. Since June 2007, he was the programme officer LGBT Rights/MSM & HIV in Hivos in The Hague, The Netherlands. In that capacity he developed the Hivos (worldwide) programmes on sexual diversity and rights.

      CLOSING PLENARY:
      GLOBAL IMPACT OF THE REPEAL OF ARTICLE 377 IN INDIA

      • Remy Choo is a human rights lawyer from Singapore. In 2012, he was one of the lawyers who acted for the first couple to challenge the constitutionality of colonial-era anti-gay laws on “gross indecency” (S377A), and also regularly defends politicians and political activists charged with speech crime. Now, in 2018, Remy is one of the lawyers trying again to have S377A declared unconstitutional. Remy was the first Singaporean lawyer to be named the International Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year in 2016, an award that recognizes “excellence in work and achievements and a commitment to professional and ethical standards”
      • Njeri Gateru is a queer feminist human rights lawyer with seven years experience working on the protection of minorities in Kenya including asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and LGBTIQ communities. She is founding member and the Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in Kenya, an organization that provides legal aid and engages in strategic litigation towards equal rights and protection of LGBTIQ persons in Kenya. NGLHRC has successfully litigated for registration of LGBTIQ organizations and ending forced anal examinations. Currently, the organization is litigating towards decriminalization of homosexuality in Kenya.
      • Dr. Menaka Guruswamy practices law at the Supreme Court of India where she litigates large constitutional rights cases. She also teaches Constitutional Design in Post Conflict Democracies at Columbia Law School, where she is currently the B.R. Ambedkar Research Scholar and Lecturer in Law. Dr. Guruswamy has litigated significant constitutional cases before the Supreme Court of India, including, successfully initiating national bureaucratic reform (TSR Subramanium v Union), the unconstitutionality of the use of state sponsored vigilante groups (Salwa Judum) in Chhattisgarh (Nandini Sundar) and challenging the constitutionality of colonial era sodomy statute (Navtej Singh Jauhar).
      • Arundhati Katju is an Indian lawyer with over thirteen years’ experience in Indian trial and appellate courts. Her work encompasses a broad array of practice areas, including white collar defense, legal aid, and LGBT rights litigation. Arundhati successfully represented the lead petitioners in the Indian Supreme Court’s historic judgment in Navtej Singh Johar and others v Union of India, where the Court struck down India’s 157-year-old sodomy law and upheld the rights of LGBT Indians to equality and dignity.
      • Subha Wijesiriwardena is a feminist activist, writer and researcher from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her work lies at the intersection between gender and sexuality, and her more recent work focuses on the intersections between gender, sexuality and digital rights. Subha cofounded and co-runs an intergenerational online/onground feminist collective called a Collective for Feminist Conversations based out of Colombo, and is the co-author of ‘Not Traditionally Technical: Lesbian Women in Sri Lanka and their Use of the Internet.’
      • Alli Jernow has been the Program Director of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Program at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, where she oversees domestic and international grantmaking in support of LGBTQ human rights. Previously she ran the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Program at the International Commission of Jurists. She is the author of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Justice: A Comparative Law Casebook. In her earlier career as a civil rights prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, she investigated and prosecuted cases of police brutality, labor trafficking, and hate crimes.

      WORKSHOPS

      ADVANCING LGBTI RIGHTS THROUGH THE COURTS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

      Moderator: Camille Massey, Founding Executive Director of the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice. Camille joined CUNY Law

      Speakers:

      • Remy Moo, Human Rights Lawyer from Singapore
      • Lisa Davis, Clinical Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic
      • Njeri Gateru, Queer Feminist Human Rights Lawyer
      • Myo Min, Executive Director of Equality Myanmar based in Yangon
      LGBT RIGHTS AND THE MEDIA

      Moderator: Tod Hill does strategic guidance to nonprofits, foundations, and socially responsible businesses on marketing & communications, planning & strategy, and leadership development

      Speakers:

      • Naomi Brussels, Activist since the 1960’s and Journalist
      • Hugo Greenhalgh, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc
      • Michael K. Lavers, International News Editor for the Washington Blade
      • Lungile Maquba, Coordinator at Intersex South Africa
      • Nazeeha Saeed, International Print, Radio and TV Journalist
      LGBTIQ PEOPLE NAVIGATING RELIGION AND SUPPORTED BY SPIRITUALITY

      Moderator:
      Keola Whittaker, Attorney at the law firm of McGuireWoods in Los Angeles

       

      Speakers:

      • Amir Ashour, Human Rights Defender
      • Aizhan Kadralieva
      • Toni Kruger Ayebazibwe
      • Ms. Amasai Jeke
      • Rev. Debra Peevey
      • Lini Zurlia
      LGBTIQ RIGHTS AND BUSINESS: SYMMETRIES AND CHALLENGES

      Moderator:
      Julie Dorf
      Speakers:

      • James Heighington
      • Vinay Kapoor
      • Suki Sandhu
      • CV Viverito
      UN-LOCKED: DIPLOMATS AND OFFICIALS FIGHTING TO NAME SOGI

      Moderator:
      Siri May, OutRight

       

      Speakers:

      • Pilar Eugenio
      • Rikki Hennum
      • Aaron Holtz
      • Patricia De Silva
      LBT: INVISIBILITY AND RESILIENCE

      Moderator:
      Grace Poore, OutRight

       

      Speakers:

      • Alijah Caesar , Registered Nurse
      • Janset Kalan
      • Olga Baranova
      • Noor Sultan

       

       

      OutSummit – Pushing the Boundaries for Global LGBTIQ Activism one day conference is assembling a line up of speakers to represent all the letters of our community. Keep checking back regularly additions to the list.

      KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

      INTRODUCTION:

      Ging Cristobal, Project Coordinator for Asia & The Pacific Islands (Philippines)

      MORNING KEYNOTE:

      Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte of Quezon City, Philippines

       

      AFTERNOON KEYNOTE:

      Leading Egyptian Activist (name withheld)

       

      OPENING PLENARY

      LGBTIQ Histories: Stories of Resistance

       

      Moderator: Karyn Kaplan, Executive Director at Asia Catalyst (US)

      • Jennifer Lu, Main Coordinator of Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan (Taiwan)
      • Steve Letsike, Executive Director of Access Chapter 2 (South Africa)
      • Karamo Brown, Television Host & Producer; First openly gay African American in the history of reality TV (US)
      • Julia Ehrt, Executive Director of Transgender Europe (Germany)

      CLOSING PLENARY

      The Future of LGBTIQ Rights: Intersectional, Inclusive, and Courageous

       

      Moderator:  Eleanor Openshaw, NY Office Director and Head of Regional Advocacy at International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

      • Kimberly Zieselman, Executive Director at interAct Advocates for Intersex Youth
      • Miki Wali, Co-Founder and Programme Support Officer at the Haus of Khameleon
      • Eric Gitari, Kenyan Human Rights Lawyer and founder of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC)
      • Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight

       

      WORKSHOPS

      LGBTIQ RIGHTS & BUSINESS: SYMMETRIES & CHALLENGES

      Speakers:

      • Michael Karimian, Human Rights Program Manager at Microsoft
      • Jon Tilli, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc
      • Fabrice Houdart, Human Rights Officer at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
      • Ed Salvato, Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of ManAboutWorld Magazine; Co-author of the recently released Handbook of LGBT Tourism & Hospitality Marketing: A Guide for Business Practice
      • Aalap Shah, Project Manager at Capital One and OutRight board member
      MAINTAINING SAFETY & SECURITY AMIDST GLOBAL LGBTIQ BACKLASH

      Moderator:
      Paul Jansen, Senior Advisor for Global Advocacy at OutRight

       

      Speakers:

      • Jack Harrison-Quintana, Director of Grindr for Equality
      • Aizhan Kadralieva, Advocacy & Education Program Coordinator at Labrys
      • Ging Cristobal, Project Coordinator for Asia & the Pacific Islands at OutRight
      UN-LOCKED: DIPLOMATS AND OFFICIALS ADDRESS THE INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON SOGI, THE EQUAL RIGHTS COALITION, AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

      Moderator: Siri May, UN Program Coordinator at OutRight

      Speakers:

      • Marina Moreira Costa Pittella, Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN
      • Charles Chauvel, United Nations Development Programme
      • Cameron Jelinski, Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN
      • Julia Ehrt, Executive Director of Transgender Europe
      ADVANCING LGBTIQ RIGHTS THROUGH THE COURTS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

      Moderator:
      Matthew Skinner, Executive Director of The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York

       

      Speakers:

      • Lisa Davis, Clinical Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic; Human Rights and Advocacy Director at MADRE
      • Kenita Placide, Caribbean Advisor for OutRight and Director of the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE)
      • Eric Gitari, Kenyan Human Rights Lawyer and founder of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC)
      • Anjelika Carrillo, Director of MC Consultancy: Human Development and Sexual Health Consultants
      • Suraj Girijashanker, David W. Leebron Fellow at OutRight Action International and AFE
      CASE STUDIES AND STRATEGIES FROM THE MEDIA FRONTLINES

      Moderator:
      Rashima Kwatra, Communications Officer at OutRight

       

      Speakers:

      • Mathew Lasky, Manager of Social Impact at MTV, VH1, and Logo
      • John Paul Brammer, Associate Producer, NBC OUT
      • Kimberly Zieselman, Executive Director at interAct Advocates for Intersex Youth
      • Georges Azzi, Executive Director at Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality
      • Neish McLean, Co-Founder and Executive Director of TransWave Jamaica
      GLOBAL INTERSEX RIGHTS: DIVERSE PATHWAYS TO DIGNITY AND EQUALITY

      Moderator:
      Sahar Moazami, Master of the Universe

       

      Speakers:

      • Nada Chaiyajit, Project Coordinator at The World Bank, Bangkok
      • Alesdair Ittelson, Law & Policy Director at interAct Advocates for Intersex Youth
      • Wiktor Dynarski, Program Officer for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at Open Society Foundations
      • Tatenda Ngwaru, Founder of True Identity, the first Intersex and Transgender Organisation in Zimbabwe
      • Kristian Randjelovic, Executive Director of XY Spectrum
      • Axel Keating, InterACT Youth Member and educator

       

      OutSummit – Pushing the Boundaries for Global LGBTIQ Activism one day conference is assembling a line up of speakers to represent all the letters of our community. Keep checking back regularly additions to the list.

      KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

       

      RANDY BERRY, FIRST EVER U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF LGBTI PEOPLE

      Visiting advocates in 42 countries during his first year, Special Envoy Randy Berry has set an ideal model for engaging activists and effectively championing human rights for LGBTI people around the world. Taking on this role as the first of its kind anywhere, we celebrate and honor Randy for his dedication and perseverance in our shared mission.

       

      AMIR ASHOUR, FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF IRAQUEER

      I wake up every morning my blood racing, so ready to start my day. So ready to lead and speak up for myself and what I stand for. So ready to pursue the dreams I have for myself rather than following what others think I should be and should do.

      Volunteering and working in human rights makes me feel like I’m home. And now; working for a cause that is personal to me with a group of young people who inspire me on a daily basis makes me feel like life has never been more meaningful. A group of young people who have so much passion and energy for life and what they believe in are my colleagues! What can top that?

      FIRST PLENARY

      Looking Back: The Past 25 Years of LGBTIQ Rights

      As OutRight’s 25th anniversary comes to a close, we are inviting distinguished minds to come together to reflect on the successes, challenges and lessons learned of the global movement. What have been key legal milestones for LGBTI human rights? Have we built a truly global movement? What can we learn from our mistakes and successes of the last two and a half decades?

      MODERATOR: ÁINE DUGGAN

      Áine Duggan is the Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Ireland) and Board Member at OutRight Action International

      LOUIS A. BRADBURY

      Louis Bradbury has fought for social justice for over five decades. The causes have spanned from equality for people of color, against the Vietnam War, women’s right to choose and the fight against HIV/AIDS to marriage equality and GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act. He has been involved in numerous organizations, including as a Member of the HIV Advisory Council for Save the Children (USA), President of the Board of Directors at GMHC (formerly Gay Men’s Health Crisis) and a Member of the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood of New York. Louis is currently President of the Calamus Foundation, a funder of many LGBT organizations and quite possibly the single largest funder of trans issues in New York state.

      STEVE LETSIKE

      Steve Letsike is an activist, feminist, leader, mentor and vibrant human rights advocate. She is co-chair of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) (with H.E Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa) as well as chairperson of the SANAC National Civil Society Forum. Steve is also co-chair of the National Task Team established by the South African Department of Justice to address hate crimes and gender-based violence affecting LGBTI people. Steve is a Founding Director of Access Chapter 2 (AC2), a human rights organization that focuses on LGBTI people, women in their diversity and civil society’s participation in public policy development processes. The name Access Chapter 2 is derived from South Africa’s Constitution referring to the Bill of Rights: Chapter 2.

      MAURO CABRAL GRINSPAN

      Mauro Cabral is a bodily rights activist from Argentina. He serves as the Director of Advocacy and Programs at Global Action for Trans* Equality (GATE), where he coordinates its initiative on the reform of the International Classification of Diseases. He is also the Senior Advisor for Intersex Fund at Astraea and member of the Interim Steering Committee for the Trans Fund. He participated in the struggle for passing the Argentinian Gender Identity Law and it’s currently involved with the Argentinian group Justicia Intersex. In 2006 he participated in the elaboration of the Yogyakarta Principles and in 2009 edited the book Interdicciones. Escrituras de la Intersexualidad en Castellano. He writes and teaches on issues of embodiment, bio- technology and the law. In 2015 Mauro received the Bob Hepple Equality Award. He lives in Buenos Aires.

      BIN XU

      Bin is the director and founder of Common Language, which was the first advocacy civil society organization in China focusing on LGBT issues. She is also the advisor founder for Chinese Lala alliance.

      GEORGES AZZI

      Georges Azzi is a sexual rights and HIV/AIDS activist. He is a co-founder of HELEM, the first LGBT organization in the MENA region; board member and founder of MARSA, a comprehensive sexual health clinic in Beirut, Lebanon; founder and currently executive director of the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE), based in Lebanon. AFE’s mission is to encourage and support activists working for sexual rights and gender equality in the MENA region. The organization works closely with activists across the MENA region.

      SECOND PLENARY

      Looking Forward: A Manifesto for the Trump Years

       

      MODERATOR: AALAP SHAH

      Aalap Shah is a proud member of the Board of Directors for OutRight Action International. His career spans a commitment to social justice, financial inclusion, and public-private partnership. A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business – he has been involved with startups, social entrepreneurships, and technology incubators. For over ten years, Aalap career has a focus on international development, poverty alleviation, and support for marginalized communities’ access to income, markets, and technology. Currently, he is a Senior Mobile Product Manager for Capital One’s Digital and Innovation Lab.

      RIKKI NATHANSON

      Rikki is a board member for the Sexual Rights Centre in Zimbabwe, as well as a member of the Southern African Regional Trans* forum, the Trans* Women’s Feminist Institute and All Africa Trans* & Intersex Committee.

      MIRIAM VAN DER HAVE

      Miriam is the co-chair of Organization Intersex International Europe (OII Europe) and chair of the Dutch intersex NGO NNID Foundation. She has 14 years experience in intersex activism. Miriam is also a photographer and documentary film maker and recently made a documentary on four intersex women. She has worked as a journalist and a publisher, and has extensive experience working with the media as a human rights defender. Miriam lives with her partner Saskia and their two daughters of 19 and 22 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

      KENITA PLACIDE

      Kenita Placide is the Caribbean Advisor for OutRight Action International and Director of the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE). These LGBTI Human Rights organisations are based in New York and Saint Lucia respectively. She served as a director of United and Strong Inc from 2006 – 2016, Co-Secretary General (2010-2012) and Coordinator ( 2012 – 2015) of the Eastern Caribbean hub of the Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities (CariFLAGS).

      CLIFTON CORTEZ

      Clifton Cortez is the Senior Advisor on SOGI at the World Bank. Clif has over 20 years of experience in programming in middle- and low-income countries related to inclusive growth, governance, HIV/health, displaced people/refugees, people living with disabilities, disaster risk reduction/climate change and gender. His expertise includes the integration of LGBTI as a crosscutting concern in capacity development and development knowledge management.

       

      JAEL CASTILLO SALAZAR

      Jael Castillo Salazar is the president & co-founder of OurCircle, a community-led organization committed to awareness and empowerment of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) community through active outreach and participation, in order to initiate affirmative change in the Belizean society.

       

      WORKSHOPS

      WHO COUNTS? THE QUEER DATA REVOLUTION AND UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

      Moderator:
      Amie Bishop, Global Health Consultant & Board Member at OutRight Action International

       

      Speakers:

      • Suki Beavers, Inclusive Political Processes Advisor at UNDP
      • Felicity Daly, Executive Director of the Kaleidoscope Trust
      • Micah Grzywnowicz, International Advocacy Advisor at the Swedish Federation for LGBTIQ Rights
      • Stéphane Carcillo, Senior Economist at OECD
      HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF TERROR: THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL SECURITY, MILITIAS AND COUNTER-TERRORISM ON LGBTIQ COMMUNITIES

      Moderator:
      Grace Poore, Regional Program Coordinator for Asia & the Pacific Islands at OutRight Action International

       

      Speakers:

      • Amir Ashour, Founder and Executive Director at IraQueer (Iraq)
      • Emirhan Deniz Celebi, Secretary General of the Board at SPoD (Turkey)
      • Yasmin Purba, Program Director at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (Indonesia)
      • Rosanna Flamer Caldera, Executive Director of Equal Ground (Sri Lanka)
      PROGRESS IN UNUSUAL PLACES: THE USE OF FOREIGN POLICY AS A TOOL FOR GLOBAL LGBTIQ HUMAN RIGHTS

      Moderator:
      Jean Chong, Founder of Singaporean LGBTIQ organization, Sayoni, and Committee Leader for the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, will moderate this panel.

       

      Speakers:

      • Koen van Dijk, Executive Director of COC Netherlands (The Netherlands)
      • Alesdair Ittelson, Staff Attorney at interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth (US)
      • Kenita Placide, Caribbean Advisor for OutRight Action International and Director of the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE)
      • Daniela Santana, Fellow for the Rapporteurship on rights of LGBTI Persons
      CASE STUDIES AND STRATEGIES FROM THE MEDIA FRONTLINES

      Moderator:
      Tod Hill, Principal at Tod Hill Consulting and Board Member at OutRight Action International, will moderate this workshop.

       

      Speakers:

      • Christian Kurz, Senior Vice President Global Consumer Insights VIACOM
      • Siri Rodnes, Writer and Director of the BAFTA Scotland nominated short film, “Take Your Partners” (United Kingdom)
      • Ging Cristobal, Project Coordinator for Asia & the Pacific Islands at OutRight Action International (Philippines)
      • Kevin Schumacher, Regional Program Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa
      UN-LOCKED: DIPLOMATS AND OFFICIALS ADDRESS THE INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON SOGI, THE EQUAL RIGHTS COALITION, AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

      Moderator:
      Siri May, UN Program Coordinator at OutRight Action International

       

      Speakers:

      • Alfonso Nam, President of UN-GLOBE
      • Rene Ruidiaz, Counsellor at the Chilean Mission the the United Nations
      • Jeff O’Malley, Director of the Division of Data, Research and Policy for UNICEF
      • Vivek Rai, UN Women
      • Rikke Elisabeth Hennum, OHCHR

       

       OutSummit – Pushing the Boundaries for Global LGBTIQ Activism one day conference is assembling a line up of speakers to represent all the letters of our community. Keep checking back regularly additions to the list.

      Keynote Speaker

      KASHA JACQUELINE NABAGESERA, UGANDA

      Kasha is a human rights activist from Kampala, Uganda with special interest in women’s and LGBTI rights. She is the founder of the only exclusive LGBT magazine on the continent. Kasha is a renowned international multi award winner receiving prestigious world human rights awards as the first LGBTI person to receive them. She is very passionate about security, migration and economic empowerment of women and LGBTI persons. She is currently using digital activism for advocacy and movement building.

       

      PLENARY PANEL 1

      An Historical Analysis of 25 years of Global LGBTIQ Activism

      • The first panel will involve a historical analysis of the LGBTIQ movement over the last 25 years, with some thematic and regional focus, looking at successful strategies, obstacles and so on.
      ALLI JERNOW

      Alli Jernow is the Program Director of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Program at Wellspring Advisors, a philanthropic advisory firm. An American-trained lawyer and former federal prosecutor, she has an extensive and varied human rights background. She has worked for the Office of the Legal Advisor of the U.S. Department of State and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a consultant for a number of international organizations, including the OSCE, the ILO and the OHCHR. She has also worked for NGOs both domestically and overseas. She has written and trained in the fields of LGBT human rights, hate crimes, prison abuse, victims’ rights, and forced labour. She ran the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Program at the International Commission of Jurists, a Geneva-based organization that promotes human rights through the rule of law. There she authored the first-ever casebook on sexual orientation and gender identity comparative law. She also participated as amicus curiae or expert witness in national and international cases concerning LGBT human rights, including the landmark cases of Atala v. Chile before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Fedotova v. Russia before the UN Human Rights Committee. She is a graduate of Harvard College, New York University School of Law, and Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.

       

      GRACE POORE

      Grace Poore, from Malaysia, is the Regional Program Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific Islands at the OutRight Action International. She oversees multi-country documentation and advocacy projects in Asia, conducts trainings on human rights documentation, and facilitates LBT engagement with UN mechanisms, specifically the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). She co-wrote the video, “Courage Unfolds” about LGBT activism in Asia and the Yogyakarta Principles. Her other two documentary films on domestic violence and surviving child sexual abuse have been viewed in eighteen countries. Ms. Poore holds a Masters degree from Syracuse University, Newhouse School of Communications. She is a frequent contributor to online journals such as the Huffington Post and The New Civil Rights Movement.

      GLORIA CAREAGA, MEXICO

      Gloria Careaga is a Social Psychologist. She works as teacher and researcher at the National University of Mexico, and is a Member of the Gender Studies Program, where she coordinates the Sexualities Studies Area. She is an academic-activist who actively participates within the feminist and LGBT movements, local and internationally. Former Co-Secretary General of ILGA and General Coordinator of Fundacion Arcoiris in Mexico. She has published seven anthologies and many articles and chapters of books focused on human rights, population, development and sexualities. Gloria was awarded with the Golda Meir scholarship to work on community in Israel, and with Omecihuatl and the Hermelinda Galindo Awards for her work in Women´s Rights. She is currently a Board member of Sexuality Policy Watch.

       

      JULIA EHRT, GERMANY

      Julia Ehrt is the Executive Director of Transgender Europe (TGEU). Transgender Europe is an umbrella organisation with more than 80 member organisations in 42 different countries in Europe. TGEU works towards the full equality and inclusion of all trans persons. As director she is responsible for the development of the organization, the management of staff as well as the development of organisational strategies and policies. She has actively developed contacts with decision makers and other stakeholders in the EU, the Council of Europe and other governmental and non-governmental organisations for over a decade. Julia started trans activism fifteen years ago with a group of young transgender persons questioning the omnipresent bi-polar gender identity approach in society. She holds a PhD in Mathematics and lives with her partner and daughter in Berlin.

      CHARLOTTE BUNCH

      Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University, has been an activist, author and organizer in the women’s, civil, and human rights movements for four decades. A Board of Governor’s Distinguished Service Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies, Bunch was previously a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a founder of Washington D.C. Women’s Liberation and ofQuest: A Feminist Quarterly. She is the author of numerous essays and has edited or co-edited nine anthologies including the Center’s reports on the UN Beijing Plus 5 Review and the World Conference Against Racism. Her books include two classics: Passionate Politics: Feminist Theory in Action and Demanding Accountability: The Global Campaign and Vienna Tribunal for Women’s Human Rights. Bunch’s contributions to conceptualizing and organizing for women’s human rights have been recognized by many and include: her induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in October 1996; President Clinton’s selection of Bunch as a recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights in December 1999; her receipt of the “Women Who Make a Difference Award” from the National Council for Research on Women in 2000; and being honored as one of the “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” by Women’s Enews in 2002 and also received the “Board of Trustees Awards for Excellence in Research” in 2006 at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey . She has served on the boards of numerous organizations and is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for the Human Rights Watch Women’s Rights Division, and on the Boards of the Global Fund for Women and theInternational Council on Human Rights Policy. She has been a consultant to many United Nations bodies and recently served on the Advisory Committee for the Secretary General’s 2006 Report to the General Assembly on Violence against Women.

      MICHEAL IGHODARO

      Micheal Ighodaro joined AVAC, an organization that advocates for HIV prevention to end AIDS, in the fall of 2014 as a Program and Policy Assistant. Micheal is a passionate advocate for LGBTI rights and HIV prevention. Originally from Nigeria, Micheal had to flee his country after he was attacked due to his sexual orientation and work. Prior to joining AVAC, Micheal worked in HIV prevention and care for the LGBTI community in Africa for many years. He has also worked with Housing Works and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in New York. Micheal is a member of several HIV/LGBT advocacy groups around Africa. Micheal is currently a student of the City University of New York.

      PLENARY PANEL 2

      New Frontiers of Rights Recognition

      • The second panel will be more forward looking, with discussions of new frontiers that we are crossing as a global movement. Themes will include advancements at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the rights of intersex people, the rights of sex workers, humanitarian crises, and the relationship between corporations and our movement.
      JESSICA STERN

      Jessica Stern, Executive Director of the OutRight Action International, specializes in gender, sexuality and human rights globally. As the first researcher on LGBT rights at Human Rights Watch and a Ralph Bunche Fellow at Amnesty International, she conducted fact-finding investigations and advocacy in relation to Iran, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. She has campaigned extensively for social and economic justice in the United States for the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the Urban Justice Center and as a founding collective member of Bluestockings. A past board member of Queers for Economic Justice, she currently serves on the board of the International Bar Association’s Committee on LGBT Rights and the Law. Educated at the London School of Economics, she teaches at Columbia University.

      MORGAN CARPENTER, AUSTRALIA

      Morgan Carpenter is co-chair of national intersex organisation OII Australia and founder of a new international Intersex Day project. Morgan works as a technologies consultant to the Australian National LGBTI Health Alliance, and a consultant on intersex issues to the Safe Schools Coalition Australia. Morgan has played an active role in systemic advocacy on Australian federal anti-discrimination legislation and a Senate committee inquiry into involuntary or coerced sterilisation.

      MONICA TABENGWA, BOTSWANA

      Botswana born legal professional with extensive experience in human rights and social justice advocacy, extending to regional and international human rights mechanisms. Extensive experience in public interest litigation for law reform in Botswana; drafted the first Domestic Violence Bill which was introduced in parliament as a private member’s bill in 1999. Worked for Human Rights Watch from 2012-14 doing documentation of human rights violations, with specific focus on the rights of sexual and gender minorities. I also have extensive experience in advocacy, gender and rights-based training. Monica has worked in diverse and multicultural environments in the various contexts in sub-sahara Africa.

      EVELYN SCHLATTER, USA

      Evelyn Schlatter is the deputy director of research of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center. She holds a Ph.D. in American history an M.A. and B.A. in anthropology and her fields of expertise are right-wing political and social movements, gender, and sexuality.

      MAURO CABRAL

      Mauro Cabral is a bodily rights activist from Argentina. He serves as the Director of Advocacy and Programs at Global Action for Trans* Equality (GATE), where he coordinates its initiative on the reform of the International Classification of Diseases. He is also the Senior Advisor for Intersex Fund at Astraea and member of the Interim Steering Committee for the Trans Fund. He participated in the struggle for passing the Argentinian Gender Identity Law and it’s currently involved with the Argentinian group Justicia Intersex. In 2006 he participated in the elaboration of the Yogyakarta Principles and in 2009 edited the book Interdicciones. Escrituras de la Intersexualidad en Castellano. He writes and teaches on issues of embodiment, biotechnology and the law. In 2015 Mauro received the Bob Hepple Equality Award. He lives in Buenos Aires.

      MASHA GESSEN, RUSSIA

      Masha Gessen is a Russian-American journalist, the author of nine books, most recently The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy, and a nearly life-long queer activist. She lives in New York.

       

       

         

        WORKSHOPS

        • Faith based organizing and fighting fundamentalisms
        • UN – Domesticating International Norms and Recommendations of SOGII
        • Human rights of LGBTIQ person in foreign policy

        WORKSHOP

        Domesticating International Developments

        FERNANDO ANDRÉS MARANI (MODERATOR)

        Fernando is a career diplomat graduated as lawyer with post degree studies in International Sociology. Currently Counselor for Human Right issues at the Permanente Mission of Argentina to the United Nations in New York, he has been working in international law since 2002. He served twice, 2005/2007 and 2013/2015, at the Office of the Legal Adviser Office of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, being responsible, among others, for issues related to international fight against corruption, money laundering, transnational organized crime and foreign bribery. Among his diplomatic assignments, he has been member of several delegations in international conferences related to Public and Private International Law. He was legal advisor of the Argentine Delegation at the International Court of Justice in the Pulp Mill case (2006-2010). He was chosen chairman of the Special Commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in 2012 and appointed member of the Management Group of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in Paris in 2014. From 2007 to 2012, he was responsible for international legal cooperation at the Argentine Embassy at the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

        GING CRISTOBAL

        Ging Cristobal brings 12 years of LGBT activism in the Philippines and Asia to her position as Project Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific Islands at OutRight Action International. She co-founded Lesbian Advocates Philippines (LeAP), and has lobbied for laws to protect LGBT rights, researched and documented LGBT discrimination cases, and facilitated various local and regional groups and networks on LGBT sexual health and rights. She is currently an active member of Asia Pacific Rainbow, a regional LGBT organization and Ang Ladlad, a national organization for LGBT people in the Philippines. She is committed to addressing the intersections of violence and poverty in LBGT communities.

        NATASHA JIMENEZ, COSTA RICA

        Natasha Jiménez is a trans and intersex activist and author who is currently the General Coordinator for MULABI, Latin American Space for Sexualities and Rights, host of the Intersex Secretariat for ILGA. She is an advisory board member for the first intersex human rights fund and participated in the first intersex hearing on human rights before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. An intersex and trans activist for over 20 years, Jiménez started her activism in feminist and LGBT movements in Latin America, and speaks at a range of national and international human rights institutions. In 2015, Jiménez joined an international advisory board for a first philanthropic Intersex Human Rights Fund established by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

        MICAH GRZYWNOWICZ

        Micah Grzywnowicz is the international advocacy advisor at RFSL, the Swedish Federation for LGBTQ Rights. In 2011 Micah worked at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and assisted in preparing the groundbreaking report ‘Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe’. In 2012-2013 zie was a member of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. In 2012 zie spent 9 months in Montréal as a Sauvé Fellow doing research on the forced sterilization of trans* people worldwide and participated in the consultation process on the thematic report on torture and healthcare of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Micah has a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the Central European University in Budapest.

        CYNTHIA ROTHSCHILD

        Cynthia Rothschild is an independent activist, trainer and consultant with a focus on UN advocacy / policy, sexual rights, HIV/AIDS, and women human rights defenders. A human rights activist for over 20 years, she’s the author of Written Out: How Sexuality is Used to Attack Women’s Organizing, and most recently, the editor of “Gendering Documentation: A Manual for and about Women Human Rights Defenders.” For over two decades, she has worked with activist networks and NGOs within and outside the US, including LGBT, women’s and HIV/AIDS groups. In 2011 and in 2015, Cynthia consulted with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, where she made significant contributions to the UN’s two groundbreaking reports on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. From the 1990s to the mid 2000s, she played a leading role in coordinating Amnesty International’s movement-wide international development on SOGI concerns.

        LUCAS PAOLI ITABORAHY

        Lucas has worked extensively on LGBT issues in Brazil and abroad. He has held positions at the Ministry for Human Rights (Brazil) and the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations Office in Geneva. Lucas has also been an intern at the former International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (Interights) and consulted for ARC International. He has published academic and legal works, including ILGA’s acclaimed report, State-Sponsored Homophobia, and is currently developing MRI’s operations in Rio de Janeiro. Lucas holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), a master’s degree in human rights practice from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), Roehampton University (UK) and University of Tromsø (Norway) as part of the Erasmus Programme, and a specialisation in Sexual Orientation Law (University of Barcelona). Lucas joined MRI in September 2012.

         

        WORKSHOP

        Foreign Policy

        MARIA SJÖDIN (MODERATOR)

        Maria Sjödin joined OutRight Action International as Director of Development and External Relations in 2014 after being the Executive Director of RFSL, Sweden’s largest and oldest LGBT organization for 9 years. Maria led the expansion of RFSL’s international work from a single advocacy project to a number of projects with partner organizations in several countries and human rights and leadership training of hundreds of international LGBT activists. Maria serves on the board of ILGA (the global membership organiation for LGBT organizations) since 2008 and led the organizing of the largest ever ILGA World Conference hosted by RFSL in Stockholm in 2012.

        RYAN V. SILVERIO, PHILIPINES

        Ryan V. Silverio is the current Regional Coordinator of the ASEAN Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression (SOGIE) Caucus. He has been involved in LGBTIQ activism in the Philippines for more than a decade where he helped organized pride marches in Metro Manila and conducted human rights education with youth activists. He has worked with human rights organizations such as the Philippine Human Rights Information Center, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and Child Rights Coalition Asia. His activism extends into the academe in his capacity as Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Studies of Miriam College in the Philippines where he teaches courses on gender, human rights and social research. He has co-authored publications focusing on children’s right to participation in ASEAN, human rights education, and migration and ICT. Ryan holds a Master of Arts in Human Rights degree obtained from Mahidol University, Thailand.

        JOYCE HAMILTON

        As international advocacy officer at COC Netherlands, Joyce works in coalition with LGBTI activists from different regions and human rights organizations to advocate for issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity within international human rights mechanisms, such as the UN, EU, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. In this capacity, she is also a trainer for human rights defenders on topics related to international advocacy. Joyce holds a master’s degree in Political Science / International Relations, and worked at the European Parliament, a European social research network and the City of Amsterdam. She has been involved in activism for over 10 years for example revitalizing the lesbian movement in the Netherlands and currently as co-chair of ILGA-Europe.

        MURAT KÖYLÜ, TURKEY

        Graduated from architectural design, Murat Koylu has been serving for civil society organizations as a volunteer and a professional within their operational or governance mechanisms since 2008. Hrant Dink Foundation, Positive Living Association, Association for Social Change and Kaos GL has been among these CSOs. He has been working as the external affairs coordinator at Kaos GL since 2012. He is also member of the boards of Amnesty International Turkey, and Civil Society Development Center. His focus regarding human rights themes are hate speech, hate crimes, rights based media, anti-discrimination (LGBTIs, refugees, HIV/AIDS in particular); relations with intergovernmental organizations, awareness raising and advocacy activities to national legislative and executive mechanisms.

        MARK BROMLEY

        Mark Bromley helped launch the Council for Global Equality to encourage a clearer and stronger American voice on international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights concerns. Mr. Bromley previously worked for more than eleven years at Global Rights, where he served in various program management positions. During his tenure at Global Rights, he coordinated donor relations and helped open field offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Morocco, Nigeria and India. In 2005, he launched an organization-wide Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Initiative. Mr. Bromley has also regularly monitored developments within the U.N. human rights system. He conducted research on sexual violence in support of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia, and he reviewed international law standards in legal briefs filed by Global Rights, as amicus curiae, in human rights cases before U.S. and international courts. From 2001-2002, Mr. Bromley served as a Foreign Policy Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold. During that period, he staffed Senator Feingold’s work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including the Senator’s Chairmanship of the Africa Subcommittee. Mr. Bromley holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BSFS from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has published on human rights and international law issues, and has served as an adjunct professor for the human rights clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law and at Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center. He lives in Washington with his husband, David Salie, and their children, Tallulah and Justice.

        SHEHNILLA MOHAMED (MODERATOR)

        Shehnilla Mohamed is the Regional Program Coordinator for Africa for OutRight Action International. During her over 25 years experience in media and development, Shehnilla has always maintained a strong focus on human rights including LGBTI rights violations. She previously worked as South Africa Director for Oxfam GB, Deputy Director of BBC Trust African Media Initiative based in Kenya, and Principal Advisor for the Hivos-IMS Program in Zimbabwe among others. She spent six years working in The Gulf as Bureau Chief, Northern Emirates for the daily, Gulf News. Shehnilla is presently completing her Masters and has a BA honors in Journalism and Media Studies. She is a certified work place coach and can speak English, Urdu, Shona and basic French.

         

        LISA AVIS

        Lisa Davis is the Clinical Professor of Law for the International Women’s Human Rights (IWHR) Clinic and leads the Gender Law and Policy Project (GLPP) at the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice. For over fifteen years she has worked as an advocate for gender and human rights. She has written and reported extensively on human rights and gender issues, including on women’s rights and LGBT rights, with a focus on peace-building and security issues in conflict and disaster settings. She has also testified before various international human rights bodies and Congress. Lisa is a Board Member of the LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Center at Roosevelt House and a member of the Circle of Health International Middle East Delegation.

         

        WORKSHOP

        Faith-based Organizing and Fighting Fundamentalisms

        GRAEME REID, (MODERATOR)

        Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, is an expert on LGBT rights. He has conducted research, taught and published extensively on gender, sexuality, LGBT issues, and HIV/AIDS. Before joining HRW in 2011, Reid was the founding director of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa, a researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research and a lecturer in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies at Yale University. An anthropologist by training, Reid received an master’s from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and a PhD from the University of Amsterdam.

        REVEREND MACDONALD SEMBEREKA, MALAWI

        Rev. MacDonald is an ordained priest of the Anglican/Episcopal church of more than 20 years. He has among other things been a renowned human rights activist both at home and beyond, and an advocate of inclusion in both the church and society in general. He has also served in various capacities both in the church and civil society. He also served as an advisor to the former president Joyce Banda for NGO’s and civil society. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Global Interfaith Network for people of all sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions.

        OMAIR PAUL

        Omair is a Pakistani American born and raised in New York City. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo, having majored in Social and Cultural Anthropology with a minor in South Asian studies. He is currently a Human Rights M.A. candidate in the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) at Columbia University in New York.

        He assumed the positions of United Nations Representative for Muslims for Progressive Values and United States Representative for the Youth Advocacy Network of Pakistan in 2014. His focal areas of work and research pertain to gender equality and women’s empowerment, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia, LGBTQ rights and non-discrimination on the basis of SOGI, defusing radical and fundamentalist cultural and/or theological ideologies, and youth empowerment and engagement. He is currently engaged in affirming the human rights approach to policy-level advocacy for the aforementioned subjects.

        THE REV. PATRICIA ACKERMAN

        The Rev. Patricia Ackerman is senior trainer of Gender-Sensitive Active Non-Violence & Masculinities for the Women Peacemakers Program in the Netherlands, a former program of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). She is an accredited U.N. representative for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (USA) and IFOR. Patricia is also director of women’s studies at The City College of New York (CUNY), located in Harlem, Manhattan. An Episcopal priest, her other work experience includes serving as director of environmental programs at the Garrison Institute. She is currently completing a doctorate in political science/ international relations at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York City.

        MIKEE NUNEZ INTON, PHILIPPINES

        Mikee Inton is a third year postgraduate student at the Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, where she is completing her Ph.D. She is also a board member of The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) and ILGA World (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, and Intersex Association), where she works as the representative of the Trans* Secretariat.

        MONICA TANUHANDARU, INDONESIA

        Monica became the Executive Director of Kemitraan in October 2014. She was previously Officer in Charge – Country Manager of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Indonesia (UNODC). At the same institution, she served as Program Coordinator for the Project Support Indonesia’s Fights against Corruption. She was a Consultant to Indonesian National Police and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, on the improvement of police integrity, accountability, transparency and oversight mechanism in 2010, and Program Coordinator, in a six-year police reform and security sector reform program of International Office for Migration (IOM) and Indonesian National Police, a nation-wide program funded by the Dutch Government and the European Commission.

         

        WORKSHOP

        Shaping Narratives and the Role of the Media on LGBTIQ Issues

        MARÍA MERCEDES

        María Mercedes is the Latin America and Caribbean program coordinator for OutRights, a Colombian academic and human rights activist whose work has focused on exploring the challenges of understanding, preventing, and reducing violence based on sexual prejudices in the US and Latin America. María holds a Ph.D. in Political Science, as well as a M.A. in Gender Studies and Feminist Theory from the New School for Social Research. She taught for many years at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia as well as in universities in Canada. María has also served on the legal team and the Board of Directors of Proyecto Colombia Diversa, an NGO dedicated to promoting human rights of LGBTI communities in Colombia. Through her writings on violence based on prejudice and training workshops, María has promoted awareness of LGBTI violence among law professors, law enforcement agents, and representatives from the criminal justice system in Latin America.

        DIANA MIALOSI, ZIMBABWE

        Diana is a human rights activist concerned with LGBTI rights and the abuse and violations of these rights in Zimbabwe. She is responsible for raising awareness and visibility of lesbian, bisexual and transgendered women in Zimbabwe and engages various women’s groups and civic society organizations and advocacy initiatives nationally. Among other things, she has campaigned for improved service delivery and government’s increased accountability to people living with HIV&AIDS [PLHIV]. She has pushed and strived to realise a just society that treats everyone, including the LGBT community as equal citizens of Zimbabwe, having an equal opportunity to having a fulfilled and free life. Because of the nature of her work and the current political terrain, Diana has been subjected to harassment, discrimination and in some instances arrest. Diana has volunteered with a number of women’s groups and is currently the Programs Officer at GALZ offices in Harare, Zimbabwe.

        YULI RUSTINAWATI, INDONESIA

        Yuli has worked on human rights issues for 15 years, since she joined the students’ movement in 1998. In 2006, together with other friends, Yuli established the organization Arus Pelangi, where she still works in her current role as Chairperson. Arus Pelangi advocates for LGBTI rights in Indonesia. Yuli is also one of the national coordinators for Forum LGBTIQ Indonesia, a network of LGBTIQ organizations in Indonesia.

        MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRAL

        Malika Zouhali-Worrall is a journalist and documentarian of British and Moroccan descent, best known as the producer and one of the directors, with Katherine Fairfax Wright, of the 2012 award-winning film Call Me Kuchu. Malika is currently collaborating with David Osit on a second documentary “Thank You For Playing”, an Independent Television Service co-production, about the making of the art house video game “That Dragon, Cancer”. The film is set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2015, and will broadcast in Summer 2016. She studied English literature at Cambridge University and International Affairs at Sciences Po, and later became a reporter and videographer for CNN International and cnn.com.

        MIRIAM VAN DER HAVE

        Miriam is the co-chair of Organization Intersex International Europe (OII Europe) and chair of the Dutch intersex NGO NNID Foundation. She has 14 years experience in intersex activism. Miriam is also a photographer and documentary film maker and recently made a documentary on four intersex women. She has worked as a journalist and a publisher, and has extensive experience working with the media as a human rights defender. Miriam lives with her partner Saskia and their two daughters of 19 and 22 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

         
        JAEVION NELSON, MSC., BSC.

        Jaevion is a development and human rights practitioner with over seven years experience in governance, advocacy, communication and project management on issues related to sexual reproductive health, HIV, human rights, and social development.

        He holds an MSc in Social Development and Communication from the University of Wales, Swansea where he was a Chevening Scholar and a BSc. in Management Studies (Marketing) from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.

        Jaevion is the Director of Projects & Strategy at J-FLAG where he has worked for five years. He is also a Columnist with the Jamaica Gleaner.

         

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