From the 18th - 24th of July our Development Worker, Orlaith, joined 79 other young activists from over 40 countries in Amsterdam for the 25th Anniversary celebration of IGLYO - International Gay, Lesbain, Transgender and Queer Youth and Student Organization.

At this international conference participants spent 6 days discussing the Yogyakarta Priciples and working together to come up with international best practice methods. The final results will be compiled into a report over the next number of months.

Also as part of the conference the participants visited Amsterdam's famous Homomonument which is the only one of its kind across the world. The Homomonument is a monument commmemorating all those who lost their lives as a result of their sexual orientation. On their visit, the conference participants performed a flash mob tribute to all those who had died. They all gathered at the monument and pretended to die and lay on the ground for 3 minutes while other participants placed roses on their chests.

See the video on You Tube

The conference was the first ever of its kind and it was envisaged by the organizers that it would open up the door for young gay activists across the world to communicate on an international level and that this international dialogue would continue after the conference.

LASI celebrates Belfast Pride 2009

Despite the less than perfect weather, Belfast Pride was great success all around and especially for LASI. We had a brand new, gorgeous banner in the parade and hosted a packed event with live music later in the evening at the Front Page.  We had a stall in Custom House Square and passed out badges and flyers to everyone we could get our hands on! 

Our own Marian Duggan (LASI Board Member) was even interviewed and quoted in the Belfast Telegraph which is great publicity for us.

Thanks again to all our wonderful volunteers who joined us on the day and to everyone who signed up for the mailing list - we'll be in touch soon!