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Viola Bianchetti
Programmes Manager at IGLYOshe/her
Viola is IGLYO Programmes Manager.
Viola started her journey into LGBTQI+ activism as a volunteer of the European Students' Forum, where she led a working group on combatting discrimination based on gender, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation, as well as several projects on gender and LGBTQI+ mainstreaming. Her work also focused on youth participation, civic education and youth empowerment.
Viola is passionate about non-formal education and peer-learning. In her free time, she practices circus and acrobatic disciplines, enjoys climbing and hiking, and listens to a lot of random podcasts.
Ali Bodo
Programmes Officer at IGLYOthey/them
Ali is a queer transfeminist activist and political scientist based in Brussels. They started their journey with IGLYO after finishing a Master in Transnational Queer Feminist Politics in London, and after 4 years working with international NGOs in the Middle East and West Africa.
Ali is passionate about human rights, decoloniality, intersectionality, mental health and working-class issues. In their free time, they love studying queer theory and queer futurity, navigating queer spaces, being in nature and, last but not least, dismantling the patriarchy.
Darius Gervinskas
Advisory Panelist for International Collaboration at IGLYOshe/her
Darius Gervinskas is a human rights consultant, specialising in intersections of SOGIESC and young people. She is an Education Manager at Diversity Role Models, a national UK-based LGBTQ+ education and anti-bullying charity. Darius is also an Advisory Panelist for International Collaboration at IGLYO - The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Intersex Youth and Student Organisation, and a Policy and Research Volunteer at LGBT Foundation. Darius holds a BA in Education and an MA in Human Rights, where she focused on global LGBTI rights and movements.
Kerem Eğilmez
Advisory Panelist for International Collaboration at IGLYOhe/him
Kerem earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from a university in Turkey. Throughout his university years, he deeply reflected on himself and the communities he was part of, eventually crossing paths with art. Recognizing the multidimensional impact of art on people, Kerem believes that art is a magnificent force for activism. Being on the advisory panel of IGLYO for a year, he seizes every opportunity to speak about art and queer activism.
One of his favorite projects was creating a digital photography collection themed around "queer expression." He describes this project as "not just a poem of love and pride, but also a story of the pain left behind."
In addition to his passion for activism, Kerem is also interested in screenwriting, filmmaking, and acting. In short, he is drawn to everything that makes the world a little more beautiful!
Edoardo Fiorentini
Mentor at IGLYOHe/him
Edoardo is a psychologist and a sexual counselor, who’s worked in elementary school in Rome (Italy), with a focus on neurodivergence. He’s one of the coordinators of the youth group of “Arcigay Roma” (one of the most important queer organizations in Italy).
He’s job as a coordinator entails organizing events that explore different topics about queer identity, culture, and social phenomena with an intersectional point of view.
He's also an operator at the gay help line at “Gay center”, where he gives support to queer people that face discrimination, offering them a way to deal with the consequences and to live a more fulfilling life (with the addition of counselling sessions if needed).
Marina Mlakar
Mentor at IGLYOshe/her
Marina Mlakar is a queer activist, journalist and a youth worker on topics of non-violence, gender justice and sexuality. Since attending the Activist Academy 2023, she restarted her faculty's queer students initiative and coordinated the organisational committee of this year's Pride parade in Zagreb.
Kathy K
Mentor at IGLYOthey/them
Kathy is a queer and political activist, project manager, and conflicts researcher. They are used to working anonymously, building mutual aid networks, and persevering in hostile environments. Currently, Kathy is active in two grass-roots collectives: dealing with cases of violence in communities and strategies of feminist antiwar resistance. They are also facilitating workshops on queer refugee realities for the general public. Beyond their activism, Kathy is a mental health warrior, animal lover, and aspiring herbalist.
Abdullah Arslanbaş
Mentor at IGLYOthey/them
Abdullah is an LGBTI+ rights activist from Turkey. They were active in several queer organizations working on campus organizing, sex worker rights, university/youth activism, and rights of people living with HIV. Currently, they are volunteering at Lambdaistanbul which focuses on community empowerment, SPoD at its political participation programme, Ankara Pride Committee, and Ankara Bar Association LGBTI+ Rights Center. Professionally they work for 17th of May association as a lawyer, providing legal counseling to the queer community. Their interests in queer activism are international solidarity networks, community empowerment, and community lawyering.
Akos Modolo
he/him
Akos Modolo is an activist, press secretary, trainer and community organizer from Budapest, Hungary. He has been a board member of Szimpozion Association since 2016, an LGBTQIA+ youth association. He is responsible for public relations and works together with politicians, diplomats and international organizations. As the press secretary of Szimpozion, he has become a strong voice of the Hungarian LGBTQIA+ community both in national and international media and is an expert providing commentary on right-wing populism and the anti-gender movement in Hungary and internationally. He holds trainings and workshops at schools, universities, companies, conferences, festivals and he is a regular host at LGBTQIA+ events featuring prominent Hungarian activists, intellectuals and celebrities. He organizes community events for LGBTQIA+ youth to support them in the challenging Hungarian political environment.
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Yasemin Bahar
Board at IGLYO Board and StaffYasemin has over a decade of commitment to LGBTI+ advocacy. They are the co-founder of Inter Solidarity Turkey, a self-led intersex initiative. They currently work as a research and advocacy consultant with LGBTI+ and SRHR organisations across Europe.
Yasemin enjoys questioning normative beliefs, systems, and institutions through co-learning. They are currently focusing on dating practices and nonmonogamy, neurodivergence, disability justice, transformative justice, decolonisation, community care, and animal rights. When they are not focused on advocacy, they are likely resting, taking an online course, winning board games, or eating some delicious vegan food.
Yasmin Benoit
she/her
Yasmin Benoit is a British model, multi-award-winning asexual activist, writer, speaker, media consultant and researcher at Stonewall. Described as the "unlikely face of asexuality" by Cosmopolitan Magazine, she quickly became a leading voice for the community after publicly coming out in 2017. She started the #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike movement for diverse asexual visibility and representation and co-founded International Asexuality Day (April 6).
She won 'Campaigner of the Year' at the Rainbow Honours Awards in 2022, and was the first asexual grand marshal at NYC Pride 2023 and to lead Pride in London 2024. She recently released a groundbreaking report into asexual experiences and discrimination in partnership with Stonewall, as part of the UK's first asexual rights initiative, which was covered by Forbes, Women's Health, Scientific American and has attracted the interest of Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party.
Alla C
SOGI CampaignsAlla Chikinda has been a Russian queer activist and communications specialist since 2016, has participated in creation of several national campaigns and a local queer festival. Joined the SOGI campaigns expert team in 2020, and since then has adapted two online courses into Russian language and documented a variety of European-based campaigns for the project's case study library.
ML
Marian Lens
L-Tourshe/her
Marian Lens is a sociologist and a lesbian activist since the late 1970.
She founded the lesbian international bookshop Artemys in Brussels, The Place to Be for lesbians in Belgium, and its first association to have explicit lesbian statutes (1985-2002), which quickly became a key destination for lesbians internationally.
In 2001 she co-founded the RainbowHouse in Brussels, and is since 2013 guiding tours in Brussels, to unveil the past and present local and international herstory and history of lesbian, women and the rainbow communities.
As an independent researcher, she has published numerous articles and given lectures on lesbian, feminist and LGBTQI+ politics and literature.
She is the organizer of numerous international lesbian meetings, literal evenings and lesbian debates.
At present she is in the process of securing more than 50 years of international lesbian archives in Brussels.
Colibri Zahran
Colibri She/they
Colibri, an explorer of the hidden treasures of everyday life, investigates the absurd and its peculiarities. Through a wide variety of creative mediums—such as clowning, painting, sculpting, and installations—Colibri challenges established norms and explores subjects as self-compassion, bridges between different minds, and spontaneous creation as ways of redefining personal and collective art practices.
With a rich and diverse background fueled by a deep curiosity for complex humanities in all their shapes and forms, Colibri’s artistic and activist journey has brought them to Brussels, where they joyfully support some engaged theater projects as a scenographer, writer and costumière. Currently, Colibri is participating in the collective exhibition Color Green, which focuses primarily on ecology and collective practices. Believing that creativity knows no bounds, that any moment can become poetry, and that art is meant to be contagious, Colibri tries everyday to embrace the transformative power of artistic expression…
Leo Zbancă
Organisational Development Project Coordinator at GENDERDOC-Mthey/he
Leo Zbancă is an LGBTQ+ activist currently working as an Organisational Development Project Coordinator at the largest LGBTQ+ organisation in Moldova - GENDERDOC-M Information Center. With degrees in social psychology and another one in film directing, Leo conducts training courses and provides mentorship on storytelling, media literacy, creative communication, campaigning and advocacy, as well as stereotypes, prejudices and SOGI for NGOs and governmental organisations. In 2018, Leo consulted for the PAIGC party in Guinea-Bissau on their election campaign strategy and from 2021 took part in the creation of a series of campaigns for GENDERDOC-M. Leo works worldwide, spreading his knowledge and helping different organizations find their voice.
Katja Štefanec Gärtner
Communications and Media Officer at ILGA-Europeshe/her
Katja oversees ILGA-Europe’s communication strategies, cultivating relationships with key journalists, coordinating press releases, and managing content development to ensure the organisation’s advocacy priorities resonate across European and national media platforms. She also coordinates the publication of our ILGA-Europe Annual Review.
“I am committed to activism regardless of my career path. The fact that I can pursue it at such a high-level reach organisation makes me feel incredibly empowered and joyful. I see my role at ILGA-Europe as a combination of what the world needs and what I am good at. On a personal level, it is just a privilege to be in such an energetic, diverse, and capable team.”