ERA - LGBTI Equal Rights Association

We were here. We will be here. Always.

Our communities have lived, loved, worked, organised, resisted, and cared for one another across this region long before Pride Month became visible on calendars.

Pride Month is not only a celebration. It is a political memory of everyone who came before us, a public demand for those living now, and a promise to those who will come after us.

It is about the political demand to be protected, recognised, and equal, every day of the year!

We are here. And proud. 🌈

Democracy is built in parliaments just as much as in schools, public squares, community centres, and online spaces, by people who refuse to be erased.

On 17 May, we recognise all of them.

No workers’ rights without LGBTIQ+ rights.

On International Workers’ Day, we stand for labour rights that include LGBTIQ+ workers, fully, visibly, and without compromise.

Across the Western Balkans and Türkiye, many LGBTIQ+ people still face discrimination, exclusion, harassment, and economic insecurity in access to work and within workplaces. For too many, safety at work still depends on silence, invisibility, or the ability to hide who they are.

Through EU Working Safe project, ERA and our partners work to strengthen socio-economic inclusion, protection, and dignity for LGBTIQ+ people across the region.

This May, we bring the evidence to the table, country by country, and regionally.
Throughout May, partner organisations will present country-specific policy papers through national events, opening dialogue with institutions, civil society, community representatives, experts, and decision-makers.
At the same time, ERA is preparing a regional report that brings these national realities together, identifying shared patterns, structural barriers, and recommendations for stronger protection, inclusion, and accountability.

These publications are not only research outputs. They are advocacy tools, helping us move from documented exclusion toward safer and more inclusive working environments.

The project Working Safe: Socio-economic Inclusion of the LGBTQI+ Community in the Western Balkans and Türkiye is implemented by ERA - LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Türkiye, in partnership with Q***r Montenegro, Tuzla Open Center from BiH, Open Mind Spectrum Albania, Center for Social Group Development from Kosovo, Coalition Margins from North Macedonia, Izađi from Serbia and Kaos GL from Türkiye. This project is funded by the European Union.

ERA - LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Türkiye and ERIM - Equal Rights & Independent Media are opening Call for Applications within the FIER·ES programme.

This call provides two types of support:
🪷 Psychosocial support (up to 15 sessions)
🛟 Emergency / contingency support (up to 2,300 EUR)

For activists, CSO workers, and organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

Whether you need space to recover or support to respond to a critical situation, this fund exists to make sure you don’t have to navigate it alone.

⏰ Applications are open on a rolling basis.
📩 Applications should be submitted to: [email protected]
📎 Find out more and apply on https://lnkd.in/d9JwCM2d

The FIER·ES programme (Fostering the Inclusion, Equality and Resilience of LGBTQIA+ people) aims to support LGBTQIA+ CSOs and initiatives so that they are better able to carry out their mandate and mission and promote respect, inclusion, dignity and equality for LGBTQIA+ people in the Eastern Partnership countries and the Western Balkans.

The programme is co-funded by Agence française de développement, coordinated by ERIM and led with its partners ERA and Genderdoc M.