The European Forum was founded in 1982 in Paris, France. The European Forum of LGBTI+ Christian Groups developed into an organization bringing together over forty groups from over twenty countries, including new groups from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The European Forum is an organization (association) under Dutch law. The European Forum is an independent organization, not related to any church or other Christian organization.

General aim

All member groups of the European Forum share the same aim which is ‘to achieve equality and inclusion for LGBTI+ people within and through Christian churches and other religious bodies and multilateral organisations’ (EF Statutes).

Development
The European Forum started off as an organization of only volunteers with the aim to exchanging the experiences of LGBTI+ people of faith in their churches and communities, organizing meetings on topics that were relevant for their lives and faith, developing and practising inclusive worship, and methods and strategies for advocacy in churches. Since 2012 the European Forum has been able to attract a few staff workers to support its institutional and advocacy work. As a faith based organization, the advocacy work of the European Forum has mainly focused on churches or church bodies. In the course of several years Working Groups have been formed to focus on the different traditions within Christianity, such as the WCC Working Group (WCC = World Council of Churches), the RCC Working Group (RCC = Roman Catholic Church) and the Orthodoxy Working Group.

Working Group Political Advocacy

The aim of the Working Group Political Advocacy is to guide the presence and work of the European Forum at the International NGO Conference and the meetings of the European LGBTI Focal Points Network. The Working Group members maintain relations with specific international bodies and produce instruments and position papers on issues on the intersection of LGBTI rights and faith.

Participatory status in: 2016

Accreditations: Council of Europe. European LGBTI Focal Points Network. ILGA (Europe). GIN-SSOGIE