Participation in ‘Conference in Preparation for the 2016 Council of the Orthodox Church’

28-31 October 2015

ILGA Annual Conference, Divani Caravel Hotel, Athens, Greece

Based on the theme ‘Many voices, One movement – Together, mobilised for a just society’, ILGA Europe (the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), an international non-governmental umbrella organisation bringing together over 400 organisations from 45 European countries, held its Annual conference in Athens from the 28^th to the 31^st October. The four-day programme offered the numerous participants an array of interesting panels and plenaries. The Grassrootsmobilise researchers from Greece, Italy and Romania took this opportunity to present their proposed research questions on ‘Grassroots Mobilisations at the Intersection of Religion with LGBT Rights’ via a small discussion event on the evening of Thursday, 29^th October. Here the researchers introduced the key debates in each country context studied around LGBT rights that also tend to mobilise religious interest groups, such as civil unions and same-sex marriage, and gender and sex education. They then opened up the discussion to hear the views of the audience about their different national experiences on issues that are found at the intersection of religion and LGBT rights and on the role of the European Court of Human Rights in the promotion of the audience’s interests.