The International Lesbian and Gay Association

Abstract

Europe was the birthplace thirteen years ago for the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). It is still the arena for many of our most successful campaigns and of our greatest support and, with the emergence of the autonomous Eastern European movements, still rapidly growing in strength. Founded in 1978 in Coventry, England, ILGA has from the start engaged with international bodies which neglect lesbian and gay human rights as well as individual countries which persecute us. We have fought a long campaign for inclusion in Amnesty International's definition of prisoners of conscience (not yet successful) and for exclusion from the World Health Organization's definition of disease (we won). In Europe, we have worked with growing confidence and success with both the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Community (EC). Our members have forced landmark decisions from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and taken a high profile in the Citizens Assembly of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) the new body incorporating Eastern Europe. Lesbians and gay men have very few rights or safeguards in international human rights law as it is currently interpreted. Only in Europe have we established even the basic right to existence. Although law is often seen as a gay male area, since it is most often used against them as individuals, it is frequently also invoked against lesbian or mixed organizations and also allows the social persecution of lesbians. In Europe, ILGA has pursued the twin aims of strengthening our human rights and also strengthening our own organizations. Our