www.uia.no/live/event/equalityYou are invited to a conference on the 3rd of May. LGBT in Europe in 2023 will be put on the agenda. We will explore both the political aspects of the theme as well as the responsibilities of the religious communities.
- The Anti-LGBT Playbook
- Rights and status of LGBTI people
The conference is free, and we will provide you with lunch and coffee. We are aware of that not everybody will be able to follow the program in English. For this reason, we will provide translation to Norwegian, Arabic and most likely two other languages.
Welcome!
Contact person:
Kim Henrik Gronert
Email: kim.henrik.gronert@kristiansand.kommune.no
Phone number: + 4792261306
Onsdag 03. mai
10:30
Check-in and registration
11:00
Opening statements from the Mayor of Kristiansand Jan Oddvar Skisland
11:10
The Anti-LGBT Playbook
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee will host a two-hour program with lectures on the Anti- LGBT Playbook that consists of a well-honed and clearly defined set of strategies to restrict the rights and visibility of the LGBTI+ community.
With us to discuss the situation for LGBTQ+ people in Europe we have a diverse panel from across Central and Eastern Europe with Andre Radulescu from Romania (Identity Education), Miko Czerwinski (Amnesty International) from Poland and Lilly Dragoeva from Bulgaria (Billitis Foundation). Åge Bjelland, the head of FRI Agder, will join us to present the situation in the South of Norway.
13:45
Dialogues on the theme of LGBT and religion
Opening remarks from the host of the day, Hanne Kro Soerborg, advisor for equality, inclusion, and diversity in the City of Kristiansand.
13:50
Simon Stisen tells his story
He was once a young, successful pastor in a Pentecostal church in Southern Norway, he had a girlfriend, and everything was in place in his life. Still, he carried a secret that he told no one. Today he is not living a secret life anymore and he has moved to Eastern Norway. He fell in love with a man, a well-known, high-profile politician and is well himself a known person in Norway. He runs the podcast “Størst av alt” which translates “Greatest of all", where he allows others to share their stories about orientation and identity. In the podcast, he lets us meet the people behind the stories. Simon is still a Christian, and his faith in God is still important to him. He will share with us a bit of his journey, and how felt to belong to two, sometimes contradictory, communities at the same time.
14:45
“The freedom of belief of the one – the pain of the other?”? Professional perspectives
- Cato Gulaker (associate professor in theology) and Hildegunn M. T. Seip (associate professor in psychology), Ansgar College deliberate on the theme
- From theology: Different theological understandings of gender and cohabitation, and how they play out in religious life. Ethical reflections on these positions and their consequences for others.
- From psychology: Minority stress, and the importance of being an insider/outsider. Intersectionality (the intersections between group affiliations/identities) as a framework for understanding how the combination queer/believing can give very specific challenges.
More on Cato Gulaker: https://ansgarhoyskole.no/cato-gulaker
More on Hildegunn M. T. Seip: https://ansgarhoyskole.no/hildegunn-marie-t-seip
The academic session has been planned by a subject group in which representatives from Ansgar College, the Archive/Plattform, NLA and the Center for Equality at UiA have participated
15:30
Pause (snacks and coffee or tea)
15:45
Panel discussion
- The panel includes the Dean of the Church of Norway in Kristiansand, Fred Henry Berg, General secretary of The Council for Religious and Life Stance Communities in Norway (STL), Ingrid Rosendorf Joys, Shaykh Dr Umar al-Qadri, who is a leading Irish Muslim religious and social thinker and commentator and Shaykha Noshin Gul, an accomplished and experienced teacher of the Quranic Sciences.
- Christian Lomsdalen, chairman of the central board of the Human-Ethical Association will moderate the dialogue.
The aim is that the panel discussion can open for reflection that does not end when this day is over but can be the beginning or the continuation of a process that can help us all to be able to respect each other as equal people.
16:30
Questions and answers
16:50
Summary comment
Senaid Kobilica, is the leading imam of the Islamic Community Bosnia Hercegovina and Chair of the Board of Muslim Dialogue Network Norway .
