IHLIA Open Up! is an initiative of IHLIA to reveal the history of LGBT emancipation and development in primarily Central, Eastern and Southeastern (CESE) Europe. It aims to do so by digitising and making accessible via this web interface a wide range of periodicals and organisational archives from several national and international LGBT organisations.
Why does IHLIA Open Up! focus on the countries in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe? Across this region as a whole, LGBT rights lag behind those of LGBT people in many other parts of Europe. Yet, brave LGBT movements and organisations and individuals continue to push for the freedom, equality and emancipation of LGBT people. The archives and histories of these movements and endeavours are important not only to citizens of Europe, but also to the whole world. They contain unique documents that help us understand how change happened and who our lesser-known heroes are.
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