Seminar: Central and Eastern European LGBT migrants in London

Who are they? Why are they here? What do they want?

Many Central and Eastern European countries still fail to protect its LGBT citizens from stigma, discrimination and violence, which are believed to be main reasons why LGBT people from this region decide to migrate to the UK.

However, once in the UK, LGBT migrants often face isolation due to linguistic and cultural differences and are not aware of organisations and services that can provide them with help. This in turn creates difficulties for LGBT migrants to integrate into a wider British society.

UCL School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies is holding a seminar with researchers, LGBT activists, service providers and migrants themselves to discuss reasons why LGBT people from Eastern and Central Europe migrate to the UK, what are their needs and how to build an enabling environment for them.

We would like to invite you to attend this seminar and Q&A session.

Agenda of the seminar:

18.00-18.30 Registration and refreshments

18.30-18.40 Opening

Piotr Godzisz, Olga Szubert

18.40-19.30 Migrants: Research and lived experiences

Discussants:

Dr Richard Mole - Senior Lecturer, SSEES UCL, UK

Tomasz Waksmudzki - PhD Candidate, Jagiellonian University

Beata Lipska - LGBT migrant from Poland

Chair: Piotr Godzisz

19.30-20.20 Activists and service providers

Discussants:

Jarek Ploszajski Kubiak – Co-founder of the Polish Rainbow in UK

Dr Fiona Burns - Senior Clinical Lecturer, Centre for Sexual Health & HIV Research, UCL, UK

Filip Bigos – Student activist, University of the Arts London

Chair: Olga Szubert

20.20-21.00 Wine reception

The language of the seminar is English, with a limited possibility of simultaneous interpretation into one of CEE languages. For details please contact organisers.

Places are free, but booking is essential. You can sign up here.