Finland IDAHO Report 2012

The main IDAHO event in Finland in 2012 was a seminar organized in Helsinki in the gay restaurant dtm on May 16th (as May 17th was a national holiday). The event was organized by Seta – LGBTI Rights in Finland and the NGO Sateenkaariyhteisöt (Rainbow Communities).
The theme was LGBT human rights in Europe in general, based on the Rainbow Europe Map and Index published by ILGA-Europe on the previous day, and especially the impact of the new anti-lgbt legislation on the LGBT community in St Petersburg. In a speech about LGBT issues in Finnish foreign policy, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said that support for LGBT people’s human rights was an integral part of his ministry’s work. One of the speakers was Anna Anisimova, an activist from the LGBT organization ComingOut in St. Petersburg.
May 17 activities culminated in a Rainbow flash mob event at the Three Smiths statue in downtown Helsinki, where balloons with anti-homo/transphobic messages were released.