Press release: Bisexuals and transgenders together in Pink Week The Hague

PRESS RELEASE

Bisexuals and transgenders together in Pink Week The Hague

On Saturday June 13, sexual and gender diversity will be the central issue at the Queer Kick-off BiTransday in the Hague. The programme includes a debate, workshops, dinner together and a party afterwards.

Writer Karin Spaink will open the day at 13.00 with a talk about connections and alliances.

For the debate titled 'Bi and transgender rights are human rights´, Judith Sargentini (Green Party candidate for the European Parliament), Vera Bergkamp (vice-chair of COC Nederland, the national gay alliance) , Tania Barkhuis (chair of Article 1, national equal rights campaign), Carolien van de Lagemaat (chair of The Netherlands’s Transgender Network) and Alice Verheij (activist & blogger) have confirmed their participation. After the debate, the audience can participate in workshop sessions, socialize during dinner, and unwind at the party.

The day aims at bisexuals, transgenders and queers in the first place, but gays, lesbians and straight people are also invited. It will be an inclusive celebration of every sexual and gender identity.

A group of bisexual and transgender people from across The Netherlands has taken the initiative to organize the Queer Kick-off BiTransday. What do they have in common? Hilde Vossen, one of the initiators: 'We meet each other at the male/female divide. In the experience of both bisexuals and transgenders, that divide is fuzzy or even non-existent. We are very diverse, but what we share is the transgression of the homosexual man-man/woman-woman standard as well as the heterosexual man-woman dichotomy. Solidarity between us is growing and others are getting interested in what is happening among us. That’s fun, but it’s also important. Not all bisexuals and transgenders feel free to express their identity all the time.'

More information:

http://bitrans.hyves.nl (only in Dutch) or BTroze@gmail.com