Gabi Calleja | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Maltese |
Known for | LGBTIQ rights |
Gabi Calleja is an LGBTIQ rights activist in Malta. [1] She read for a Masters in Youth and Community Studies at the University of Malta. [2] From 2010 to 2019, she was the coordinator of the Malta Gay Rights Movement. [3] As of 2014, she is co-chair of the Executive Board of ILGA Europe, a lesbian and gay advocacy group. [4] In 2014 she spoke publicly in favor of Denmark's removing a law which had required transgender people to undergo sterilization before they were legally allowed to change their gender. [5]
In addition to her work on LGBT rights, she is also a senior executive in the public sector in Malta, and has worked in the fields of teaching, drug prevention, training, community development, fundraising, and project management. [2] In 2005, the “School Attendance Improvement” Report, a review of absenteeism from school in Malta, was published; she had been part of the group appointed to write it. [2]
She received a 2012 International Women of Courage award. [6]
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) is a LGBTQ+ rights organization.
ILGA-Europe is the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. It is an advocacy group promoting the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people, at the European level. Its membership comprises more than 500 organisations from throughout Europe and Central Asia. The association enjoys consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council and participatory status at the Council of Europe.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Cyprus have evolved in recent years, but LGBTQ people still face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female expressions of same-sex sexual activity were decriminalised in 1998, and civil unions which grant several of the rights and benefits of marriage have been legal since December 2015. Conversion therapy was banned in Cyprus in May 2023. However, adoption rights in Cyprus are reserved for heterosexual couples only.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Albania face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, although LGBT people are protected under comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. Both male and female same-gender sexual activities have been legal in Albania since 1995, but households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-gender couples, with same-sex unions not being recognized in the country in any form.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Azerbaijan face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Azerbaijan since 1 September 2000. Nonetheless, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are not banned in the country and same-sex marriage is not recognized.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Malta rank among the highest in the world. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the rights of the LGBTQ community received more awareness and same-sex sexual activity was legalized on 29 January 1973. The prohibition was already dormant by the 1890s.
Tonio Borg is a conservative Maltese politician who served as the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy replacing John Dalli as member of the College of the European Commission in the second Barroso Commission.
Campaign Against Homophobia is a Polish gay rights organisation, which aims to promote legal and social equality for people outside the heteronorm. It was founded in Warsaw in September 2001.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Eritrea face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Homosexual acts are illegal in Eritrea; typically punishable by up to three years in prison. LGBT persons are reportedly prosecuted by the government and additionally face hostility amongst the broader population.
Rosanna Flamer-Caldera is a Sri Lankan LGBTIQ rights activist. She is the founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, the oldest LGBTIQ advocacy organisation pursuing LGBTIQ rights as part of the larger Human Rights framework in Sri Lanka. She was also the co-founder of the Women’s Support Group in 1999. Rosanna served as the first Sri Lankan Female Asia Representative (2001-2003) and then Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA) (2003-2008). She is the co-founder and former Chair of the Commonwealth Equality Network (2015-2022), a broad network of LGBTIQ organisations within the Commonwealth. In September 2021, she spearheaded the first of its kind legal case in the Sri Lanka Court of Appeals, against homophobic, discriminatory and inflammatory speeches made by police trainers in Sri Lanka. The police issued an island wide circular to all police stations in the country that stated that LGBTIQ persons could not be arrested or harassed for being who they are. Through her guidance, in 2015 EQUAL GROUND commenced Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs within the corporate sector and to date has sensitised over 45000 staff members of over 50 companies in Sri Lanka. In 2017 she received the Zonta award for Social Impact and in November 2022, she received the APCOM Community Hero award for her work for the LGBTIQ community in Sri Lanka.
Baltic Pride is an annual LGBT+ pride parade rotating in turn between the capitals of the Baltic states; Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. It is held in support of raising issues of tolerance and the rights of the LGBT community and is supported by ILGA-Europe. Since 2009, the main organisers have been Mozaīka, the National LGBT Rights Organization LGL Lithuanian Gay League, and the Estonian LGBT Association.
Queer Cyprus Association is an LGBTQ rights organisation in Northern Cyprus aimed to deal with criminal law amendments of TRNC which criminalises same-sex relationships. They seek equal human rights including to "fully decriminalize homosexuality, equalize the age of consent and better protect LGBTQ people under the law.”
Helena Dalli is a Maltese politician serving as European Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2019. She is a member of the Labour Party.
Tony Briffa is a Maltese-Australian politician who is notable for being the world's first known intersex and non-binary mayor and public officeholder.
The International Intersex Forum is an annual event organised, then later supported, by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe that and organisations from multiple regions of the world, and it is believed to be the first and only such intersex event.
Kenita Placide is a human rights, HIV, and LGBT activist from St. Lucia. They are the founder and Executive Director the Eastern Caribbean Coordinator of Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities (CariFLAGS). Between 2014 and 2016, they served at the Women's Secretariat for the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. They have been on the forefront of bringing LGBT issues into discussion throughout the Anglo-Caribbean and international community.
Ruth Baldacchino is an LGBT and intersex activist, former Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, and Senior Program Officer for the first intersex human rights fund.
The Malta declaration is the statement of the Third International Intersex Forum, which took place in Valletta, Malta, in 2013. The event was supported by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe and brought together 34 people representing 30 organisations from multiple regions of the world.
Dr. Christine Marie-Helene Loudes was a human rights lawyer who worked to achieve social change for justice and equality. She was a noted human rights activist who dedicated much of her academic and professional life to campaigning for gender equality and advocating for women's rights. She was honoured for her work to end female genital mutilation (FGM) and headed Amnesty International's End FGM campaign that led to the establishment of the End FGM European Network. During her career, Dr Loudes worked with ILGA-Europe, the European Institute for Gender Equality and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
The Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement (MGRM), previously known as the Malta Gay Rights Movement, is an organisation committed to achieve full equality for all LGBTIQ people in Malta regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics and expression.