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8th ICAAP: AP-Rainbow to hold satellite meeting on LGBTIQ leadership

Asia-Pacific Rainbow (AP-Rainbow) invites delegates of the 8th International Conference on HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) to join the satellite meeting "TAKING CHARGE (LGBT/MSM and HIV in Asia and the Pacific: Leadership and Challenges in Communities)."

The meeting will address difficulties faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer (LGBTIQ) communites and explore the need to recognize that issues faced by these communities are an inalienable component of the response to HIV and AIDS. In particular, the meeting aims to:

1. Present the relationship between empowerment and leadership development of LGBTIQ communities and effective work on HIV and AIDS;

2. Discuss the various political, social, and cultural restrictions faced by LGBTIQ activists and organizations in addressing HIV and AIDS;

3. Examine the existing framework of interventions on HIV and AIDS in relation to the empowerment and leadership development of LGBTIQ communities; and

4. Assess the framework of donors in creating an enabling environment for LGBTIQs and men who have sex with men.

Invited guest speakers include LGBTIQ activists and HIV/AIDS workers from Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka, who will discuss their experiences in organizing communities and advocacy for LGBTIQ rights.

The satellite meeting (coded TuSAL06 in the conference program) will be held on Tuesday, 21 August 2007, Room 1 of the BCIS Building located beside the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The meeting starts at one o'clock in the afternoon.

AP-Rainbow, a network of LGBTIQ individuals and organizations in the region, is a member of the Coalition of HIV/AIDS Networks in Asia and the Pacific (or Seven Sisters) and a co-sponsor of the ICAAP. For more information on AP-Rainbow, visit http://www.aprainbow.org, or write to secretariat@aprainbow.org.