Looking Forward

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Jan 29, 2018
by Benjamin Glahn, Klaus Mueller and Clare Shine
Looking Forward

The final chapter of our new publication Building a Global Community takes stock after the first five years and looks forward to the years to come

“As president of an institution founded 70 years ago to bridge divides, I am extremely proud of how the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum has advanced human rights under the leadership of its Founder and Chair, Klaus Mueller. As a young public television manager in New York City almost forty years ago, I supported the airing of a groundbreaking documentary, ‘Word Is Out,’ which brought the lives of LGBT people to a nationwide audience in the United States. Public understanding and public policy have advanced considerably since then, but the challenges across the world remain great. The Salzburg Global LGBT Forum is a place where they can be addressed.”

- Stephen L. Salyer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Salzburg Global Seminar


Since 2011, the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum has grown from nascent idea to a globe-spanning network of 154 Fellows in 70 countries across six continents. Over the course of five sessions, the Forum has held 42 panel discussions, 32 working groups, four “knowledge cafés” on 25 different topics, six exhibitions, four film festivals showing 29 films including four world premières, and two public events in Berlin. The Salzburg Statement co-created by the Fellows of the inaugural 2013 session – The Statement of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum: Advancing human rights for LGBT people and communities – continues to guide all aspects of the Forum’s work and impact.

With support from rapporteurs, videographers and photographers in four countries, Salzburg Global Seminar’s small and dedicated in-house communications team has produced for the Forum five session reports, over 100 articles, more than 80 video testimonies (viewed on Salzburg Global Seminar’s YouTube channel and Facebook page over 30,000 times), a 20-minute short film, and now this 50,000-word report.

Fellows of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum continue to connect regularly, both online – using dedicated email Listservs, an external periodic newsletter, and a secure member-only Facebook group – and through personal connections built during our meetings that nurture and generate transnational projects, including in their own communities.

As the Forum reaches its fifth anniversary in the year that we celebrate Salzburg Global Seminar’s 70th anniversary, Founder and Chair, Klaus Mueller and Salzburg Global Seminar Vice Presidents, Benjamin Glahn and Clare Shine take stock and consider the road ahead.

READ MORE:

Outlook and Next Steps for the Salzburg Global Forum