Gothenburg LGBT Festival: Seeing oneself reflected in society

Civis: What has the LGBT festival meant for the City of Gothenburg?

M. Svensson: “I’ve been involved with the LGBT festival since its beginning and have seen it change the city for the better. The first year it was quite small, and reached out to people and organisations already working with the issue. The festival centre was Järntorget, one of the squares where organizations and individuals met, but it has grown to involve more than 13 arenas in Gothenburg for the 2010 festival, compared to five in the first year. It has meant that the major cultural institutions in the city work with the grass-root organisations instead of the other way around, and the City of Gothenburg has a broad initiative of financial support (including a myriad of activities, participant organisations and companies). The dominant heteronormative perspective that pervades society has recently been called into question. Laws are being enacted that mean how we choose to live our lives are irrelevant. In some parts of society, it is no longer taken as a given that everyone is heterosexual and LGBT groups have become a critical driving force. Another initiative worth mentioning was the creation of the cross-political LGBT network, which is unique!”.

The network was created in 2007 with the aim of working across party divisions to improve the climate for LGBT people in Gothenburg. If an issue reaches majority within the network, it goes ahead. The eight parties behind the network are: the Centre Party, Feminist Initiative, the Liberal Party, the Christian Democrats, the Green Party, the Moderate Party, the Social Democrats and the Left Party.

M. Svensson: “It started when the political parties participated in a workshop to discuss how Gothenburg could become more LGBT-friendly. Other actors who participated in the workshop were schools and universities, health centers, LGBT groups and trade unions. The ideas and suggestions that came from it were used in an investigation to identify the climate for LGBT people in Gothenburg. It was the creation of the network.”

To describe the background, it is worth mentioning that two years earlier, a report described how Gothenburg had the reputation of being the most LGBT-unfriendly city in Sweden with a high level of LGBT-based violence and a history of hate crimes. The politicians wanted to change this and a proposal to establish a hate-crime helpline was discussed during the 2007 festival. Another issue that came up in the workshop was that healthcare needed to improve, especially for transsexual people. Safe meeting places and training in the workplace to raise awareness among officials and the community at large was also discussed.

Initiatives such as the cross-political network have seen the revision of schoolbooks to include a LGBT perspective and a continuing debate within the city on how to improve the LGBT climate in Gothenburg. Divulgation initiatives continue - 1000 teachers have been trained and the municipality has an anti-discrimination policy.

M. Svensson: “Gothenburg City Council now has an LGBT advisor who can prepare the politicians with information before decision-making and has improved the knowledge and awareness among politicians about LGTB and ’norm critic’.”

Civis: Why is it important to include an international aspect in the festival?

M. Svensson: “Including an international aspect gives perspective on LGBT in the world. While Gothenburg may have been the most LGBT-unfriendly city in Sweden, there are many places where the situation is worse and - in comparison - we can see that we are making progress.

Culture Clinic mostly works in Eastern Europe promoting human rights and democracy. The region is a democratic vacuum and human rights are not always respected. In the past few years, reports on LGBT crimes have increased and it has generated a will to improve these conditions and generate awareness from Swedish actors.”

Civis: What is the situation in Belarus, where Culture Clinic works?

M. Svensson: “In Belarus, according to the president, LGBT does not exist. Because of discrimination and lack of tolerance, the LGBT community has gone into hiding and become an underground movement. The situation for LGBT persons in Belarus is extremely difficult and they rely on international support to keep the energy going in their struggle to be recognized.”

Civis: What is your favorite memory from the festival’s history?

M. Svensson: “There are too many… One memorable night was during the first festival when we were standing on the top floor of Pustervik (bar/theatre), looking down at Järntorget, one of the city centre. From there we saw the rainbow flag outside of Folkets Hus - one of the city’s principal meeting places – and how they took it down for the night. It was an almost ceremonial feeling watching them and it was if as we had claimed and been welcomed into the fort representing the City and its citizens. Another memory is from two years ago when I was listening to a seminar together with a photographer from Belarus, whom Culture Clinic had invited. The speaker was a county policeman and he talked about his journey to “come out” as gay and how his life had changed afterwards. I translated everything to the Belarusian photographer, who kept asking me – do you mean…? And I answered – yes!. He couldn’t believe his ears and thought he was witnessing a performance. His response was that this could never become a reality in Belarus that a policeman is openly gay and that these matters are discussed publically. I said to him that there was a time we didn’t think it would ever be possible for this to happen in Sweden either, but things change as well as people’s attitudes.”

Civis: What can you say about the upcoming LGBT festival?

M. Svensson: “The next festival will take place on 1-5 June 2011 and one new thing is the name. A few weeks ago, at the annual meeting it was decided to add a Q for queer to the name - so now it is called the LGBTQ Festival, which gives a positive change as the name also includes the queer community. The festival should be a celebration where everyone feels invited and welcome and valued for who they really are!”