HOSI Linz

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The Homosexual Initiative Linz ( HOSI Linz - The Lesbian and Gay Movement in Upper Austria ) is an independent association that has existed since 1982 and works primarily on the equality and de-discrimination of lesbians and gays in Upper Austria . This gay initiative is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association ( ILGA ).

activity

In addition to lobbying such as participation in the legislative process at state and federal level (e.g. Upper Austrian state constitution , Upper Austrian anti-discrimination law, etc.), the association offers advice to lesbians, gays and transgender people and their relatives in particular and offers educational work, workshops and seminars on Topic (homo-) sexuality a. a. for schools, youth centers etc. Various self-awareness groups (youth, women, disabled people, etc.) as well as events (panel discussions, theater performances, annual youth summer and winter camp, dance events, etc.) complete the offer of the association. Dance courses and language courses (especially Czech and sign language) are also regularly offered by HOSI Linz. The association also offers a regular meeting in Vöcklabruck .

The association's work is exclusively voluntary and the association is basically organized on a grassroots basis. HOSI Linz sees itself as non-partisan and non-denominational. Almost half of the members are women.

The association was funded by the City of Linz and the Province of Upper Austria between 1994 and 2013. For example, on the occasion of the CSD 2006, the city of Linz decided to build a new club center for the association, as the premises that had been in use since 1994 no longer met the increased requirements. The house, inaugurated on May 15, 2009 by the mayor of the city of Linz, Franz Dobusch, offered generous office space, a public library and video library and the advice center as well as a small café and two event rooms. The café was named "Julius" in memory of one of the founders of HOSI Linz and operator of the first explicitly lesbian-gay pub in Linz. There are four apartments on the upper two floors for which the association had the right to award. Readings, discussions, cabaret evenings and workshops were offered on an ongoing basis in the event area of ​​the center. On the square in front of the HOSI center, the association organized a street festival for the CSD from 2009 to 2011 together with all Linz community institutions, which was attended by around 600 interested parties.

Due to a lack of funding, the association had to cancel all events in 2012, terminate the entire staff and was also forced to move out of the house at the end of December. After the association succeeded in covering the debts incurred by the city of Linz as a result of the rental cost regulation in summer 2013, a new board of directors was installed in autumn and a new, small domicile was rented, which is mainly financed by own funds. Since 2015, the association has again organized an annual street festival called "Linz PRIDE", which is now taking place on the main deck of the Ars Electronica Center . In 2015 the association initiated the project "Queer Refugees Welcome" in response to the wave of refugees.

The HOSI Linz organized nationwide movement meetings twice, in 1991 and 1995, namely the Austrian Lesbian and Gay Forum and was also a co-founder of the association of the same name. In 1995 HOSI Linz took part in the International Human Rights Tribunal on the subject of 50 years of the Second Republic, 50 years of suppression of lesbians and gays in Vienna, and in 1996 in the first rainbow parade . In 1998 HOSI Linz hosted the 20th annual ILGA Europe conference. In addition, she organizes various international scientific conferences, such as "Totgeschlagen-Totgeschwiegen - Homosexuals under the Nazi regime" (2005) or "Heteronormativity and homosexualities - research in connection with Michael Pollak" (2006; together with the Institute for Sociology and the Institute for Women's and gender studies at the Johannes Kepler University Linz ).

Together with the RosaLila Pantherinnen association in Graz (2008–2014 also together with HOSI Tirol ), HOSI Linz publishes a bi- monthly magazine called PRIDE . This magazine is the second largest non-commercial print medium for lesbians and gays in Austria.

HOSI Linz also looks after the first memorial stone donated by all lesbian and gay organizations and inaugurated in 1984 for the homosexual victims of National Socialism in the memorial site of the former Mauthausen concentration camp . Especially at the liberation celebrations in early May and at the boarding school. Human Rights Day in December, HOSI Linz always organizes a commemoration.

GALA

From 2000 to 2011, HOSI Linz also annually awarded a prize it sponsored, the Gay And Lesbian Award (GALA) for special services to legal and social equality in Austria. In 2012, the award ceremony had to be stopped due to the ongoing financial difficulties.

The winners:

  • 2000 - Helga Pankratz , Vienna
    writer and journalist, activist since the very beginning, u. a. Founder of the women's group at HOSI Vienna
  • 2001 - Helmut Graupner , Vienna
    lawyer, committed campaigner for the rights of lesbians and gays
  • 2002 - Gertrude Kopf, Linz
    activist of the Catholic Family Work of the Diocese of Linz
  • 2003 - Barbara Reumüller, Vienna
    Pioneer of the Vienna biennial film festival " Identities "
  • 2004 - Elisabeth Vormayr and the students of the ethics class at HBLA Landwiedstraße, Linz
  • 2005 - Albert Knoll, Munich
    Historian who researches the history of persecution of lesbians and gays in Upper Austria during the Nazi regime
  • 2006 - Helga Ratzenböck, Linz
    chairwoman of the “After AIDS” association, for many years head of the LENA project of Caritas in the Diocese of Linz
  • 2007 - Ewald Widi, Vienna
    Police officer, initiator and chairman of GayCops Austria
  • 2008 - Hans-Peter Weingand , Graz
    press officer, historian, author and journalist, co-initiator of the RosaLila Pantherinnen and SoHo Austria
  • 2009 - Yavuz Kurtulmus, Vienna
    Editor-in-chief of the MiGaY magazine for the commitment to lesbian and gay migrants
  • 2010 - Ulrike Lunacek (interpreter and journalist, member of the European Parliament, federal spokeswoman for the Greens Andersrum) and Günter Tolar (actor, producer, author, long-time federal chairman of SoHo) both Vienna
    for their long-term commitment to equality, in particular for the legal recognition of lesbian people and gay partnerships
  • 2011 - Johannes Wahala , Vienna
    theologian, psychotherapist for systemic family therapy and head of the Courage counseling center

Web links

swell

  • Statutes of the association
  • Mission statement of the association
  • Annual reports of the association since 2002
  • various publications of the association
  • Gernot Wartner (2001): Lesbian-gay emancipation history in Upper Austria , in: Wolfgang Förster, Tobias G. Natter, Ines Rieder (ed.): The other view: Lesbian -gay life in Austria. A cultural story. Vienna, pp. 245-254