The City of West Hollywood’s HUMAN RIGHTS SPEAKERS SERIES presents a panel discussion:

Challenges for LGBTQ+ People in and from the Former Soviet Union

Monday, November 25, 2024, 7 – 8:30PM

Free Admission. RSVP Requested:
https://HRSS-2024NOV25.eventbrite.com

Join us for a panel discussion focusing on the diverse challenges facing LGBTQ+ communities across the former Soviet Union. The panel will address the challenges faced by asylum seekers and recent immigrants from the region, covering several key topics impacting Eastern Europe and neighboring areas. Discussions will include progress in the Baltics, increasing repression in Russia and Georgia and its effects on civil rights, emerging opportunities in Armenia amid regional changes, the humanitarian impact of the war in Ukraine, and pathways to asylum in the United States.

Special Guest Panelists:
Eugene Maysky, Coalition for Economic Survival
Tess Feldman, Los Angeles LGBT Center
LGBTQ+ Russian Speaking Asylum Seekers
Moderator, Councilmember John Heilman 

West Hollywood City Council Chambers
625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

Validated parking will be available at the adjacent 5-story West Hollywood Park structure, limited to availability. |Street parking may be available. Rideshare encouraged.


Tentative Agenda:
6:30PM - Doors Open
7:00PM - Welcome/Opening Remarks
7:10PM - Panel Discussion
8:00PM - Q&A
8:30PM - Event Concludes

Partial List of Past Human Rights Speakers Series Programs:

The City of West Hollywood has hosted over two dozen of these programs since the series began in 2000, typically three or four per year. The City has collaborated with human rights organizations to host collateral educational programming throughout the year. We work primarily with organizations that focus on issues of human rights both nationally and internationally, including Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, Death Penalty Focus, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, Artists for a New South Africa, The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the National Council of Jewish Women Los Angeles, the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA, The Williams Institute, Operation USA, Relief International, International Medical Corp,  International Rescue Committee, Outright Action International, Alturi, Czech Pride, and the U.S. Department of State.

Stream On-Demand HRSS Events:

• The Crusade Against Child Abuse
• Roots for Peace
• Women’s Rights Violations in Iran
• My Name is Pauli Murray: Exploring Race and Gender Equity 
• Pray Away: LGBTQ Identity, Spirituality, and Liberation
• Anti-LGBTQ Policies in Iran
• Breaking Fast: Exploring the Intersection of Faith and Sexual Identity
• DISCLOSURE
• The Struggle for Global LBGTQI Rights During the Covid-19 Pandemic
• Exploring International LGBT Rights in China and Abroad
• Exploring LGBT Rights in China and Abroad
• LGBT Rights Abroad: An International Look at Equality
• Sexuality and Human Rights on the Global Stage
• Human Rights in Post-Election Iran
• Where Are We Now?: A Discussion of LGBT Rights Around the Globe
• Human Rights and the International AIDS Crisis
• How Disaster Relief Protects Human Rights: Responding to Wars, Earthquakes, and Other Global Disasters
• LGBT Rights in Latin America

Photos of Past HRSS Programs:

• Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom
• The Dads
• Roots for Peace
• LGBT Employment Rights at the Supreme Court
• Defending Civil Rights in the Trump Era
• Human Rights and Civil Liberties: One Year After the Inauguration
• Exploring International LGBT Rights in China and Abroad
• Pre-Premiere Screening of The Uncondemned
• Exploring LGBT Rights in China and Abroad
• LGBT Rights Abroad: An International Look at Equality
• LGBT Communities & Challenges in the South, Midwest, and Mountain States
• Sexuality and Human Rights on the Global Stage
• Where Are We Now?: A Discussion of LGBT Rights Around the Globe
• The Emerging Struggle for Human Rights in Russia
• How Disaster Relief Protects Human Rights: Responding to Wars, Earthquakes and Other Global Disasters
• Human Rights & the International AIDS Crisis
• The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

 The City of West Hollywood has consistently been in the forefront of human rights issues. The City’s Human Rights Speakers Series was established in 2000 to bring together the West Hollywood and greater Los Angeles communities to learn about and discuss human rights issues in a shared cultural and educational experience. It is a continuation of the City of West Hollywood's core value of Respect and Support for People and demonstrated commitment to human rights. 

The mission of the City of West Hollywood’s Human Rights Speakers Series is to bring together diverse communities to learn about and discuss global, domestic, and local human rights issues, and racial equity and justice issues, in a supportive environment. The intent of the series is to present up to five programs a year.

The Speakers Series is an action-oriented program that provides a unique opportunity for human rights organizations to collaborate with a municipality. Organizations can interact, educate, and discuss human rights and racial equity and justice issues with a large community audience. Each program may include a speaker, film screening, and/or panel discussion and and/or audience question and answer period.

For more information, please email arts@weho.org.