European gays meet in Nicosia

LESBIAN, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights groups from around southern Europe vowed to work together yesterday at a “solidarity and networking conference” held in Nicosia.

The pioneering initiative, funded by the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex association (ILGA) Europe, aims to network the organisations in their battle towards achieving equality.

Yoryis Regginos, part of the organising committee, admits that “holding this event in a country that is one of the most homophobic in the EU” had not been an easy task but will allow “us to gather together, discuss our common future, our struggles, our battles and our strategies.”

Activist groups represented at the conference come from Turkey, Malta and Greece.

The conference will take place until December 6 and feature an array of discussions and events culminating in meetings with officials from the Ministry of Education and the Cyprus police on Monday.

Cypriot gay rights activist Alecos Modinos said: “Cyprus is now compelled by the European Union to help us in our quest for equal rights. However laws have no matter if the government and society are not willing to acknowledge and enforce them.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.