On 14 December, RFSL Stockholm invited members, board members and election committees from different LGBTQ organizations to discuss anti-racism in LGBTQ organizations based on the theme of broad representation. The day focused on what LGBTQ organizations can do to get a broader representation on boards based on origin and ethnicity, and also how the organizations should work to make all people feel welcome in the organizations.
During the day, a panel discussion was held on the theme of broad representation, in which RFSL Stockholm's president Kristin Arthur, Newcomers coordinator Maria Andersson and Youth Against Racism's president Isabelle Andersson participated. Kristin Arthur said that representation on RFSL Stockholm's board is too poor, but that a lot of work has been done on this issue since the last annual meeting and that it is something that will continue to be important for the board. Maria Andersson said that she has not yet seen concrete results of this work, while she also emphasized that such work takes time before the real results come.
A good example of how to work with broad representation was given by Isabelle Andersson, when she talked about the Youth Against Racism's equal treatment plan, which regulates how the different people in the board should represent the organization on different occasions, so that more members feel represented by the visible board. Isabelle Andersson also said that Youth Against Racism has undergone a change of attitude in the organization since the equal treatment work began a few years ago, which has changed the organization and representation significantly.
During the day, Wendy Francis also lectured on broad representation, and how important it is to start from intersectionality, power perspectives and different privileges in society to gain an understanding of what the structures in society look like. She particularly emphasized that it is important to look at one's own situation and analyze what structures exist in, for example, RFSL Stockholm, and think about how these structures can be changed so that more people are willing to get involved in the organization and that the attitude in the organization can change.
At the end of the day, practical examples were also given on how to recruit to avoid all forms of discrimination and to recruit with “gut feeling”. The day ended with anti-racist counter-arguments, where racism and reverse racism were discussed.
Overall, the 20 or so people who attended the theme day were satisfied and inspired to take action to improve anti-racist work in their respective organizations. Time for broad representation to become a matter of course!
