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ILGA Europe - Be Bothered! Campaign

24 January 2012 - 29 February 2012, 8:00 AM

Update! Thanks to you, 7 of our 12 Irish MEPs have signed ILGA-Europe's Be Bothered! pledge. We received a message of thanks from ILGA-Europe for all the support Marriage Equality supporters have given the project:

"We really want to thank you for giving our Be Bothered campaign so much visibility on your website - and it actually needs update, as Phil Prendergast signed the other day and Sean Kelly signed yesterday evening. So only 7 Irish MEPs have not signed...yet :)"

In 2009, during the European Parliament elections, ILGA-Europe organised a very successful Be Bothered! campaign which resulted in 20% of the elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) signing our 10-point Pledge to support equality and human rights for LGBT people in the EU and beyond.

While the campaign was very successful and we managed to get 20% of elected MEPs on board, there are still 80% of them who did not sign the Pledge. And we hope you can help to ensure more MEPs pledge their support for equality and human rights for LGBT people!

January 2012 marks the mid-term of the current European Parliament and that is why ILGA-Europe revisiting Be Bothered! campaign by organising the Be Bothered event at the European Parliament on 24 & 25 January 2012.

We want

to encourage more MEPs to sign our Pledge
to raise awareness about the human rights situation of LGBT people
to debate with MEPs and generate their further support
to make an assessment how the European Parliament was acting to support the rights of LGBT people since 2009
to identify what the remaining challenges until 2014 are.

We also expect the new President of the European Parliament, who will be elected on 17 January 2012, to take part in our event and we envisage that the new President will also sign the Pledge.

What can you do:

Send e-mail to the Members of the European Parliament from your country who have not yet signed our Pledge and ask them to do so.

We have compiled a document listing all the MEPs who have not yet signed the Pledge by country with their e-mail addresses.


Surname	First Name	Email Address
AYLWARD	Liam	liam.aylward@europarl.europa.eu
CROWLEY	Brian	briancrowleymep@eircom.net
GALLAGER	Pat "The Cope"	patthecope.gallagher@europarl.europa.eu
McGUINNESS	Mairead	mairead.mcguinness@europarl.europa.eu
MITCHELL	Gay	gay.mitchell@europarl.europa.eu

In case of any doubt, please visit the European Parliament's website which lists of current Members of the European Parliament by country.

And here is suggested text of e-mail which you can adapt to your national language:
________________________________________
Dear Mr/Ms ......,

I want you to Be Bothered about human rights of LGBT People!

Please join 149 Members of the European Parliament who have already signed Be Bothered! Pledge (link to the Pledge: http://ilga-europe.org/home/how_we_work/european_institutions/be_bothered/pledge) to support equality and human rights for LGBT people.

The Pledge is created by ILGA-Europe, the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and summarises in 10 points what the European Parliament and its Members can do to improve the human rights situation of LGBT people.

While Europe is a global LGBT human rights leader, there are still wide-spread discrimination, violations of basic human rights, hatred and violence against LGBT people in Europe. Moreover, Europe must continue being a leading voice and force to protect the human rights of LGBT people around the globe.

You can sign the Pledge by sending a confirmation e-mail to Juris Lavrikovs, ILGA-Europe's Communications Manager: juris@ilga-europe.org or sign the Pledge during Be Bothered! event at the European Parliament on 24-25 January 2012 (link to the invitation to this event: http://www.ilga-europe.org/media_library/ilga_europe/how_we_work/working_with_the_european_institutions/be_bothered/poster_cocktail_25_january_2012

Thank you very much for your support and solidarity!

Yours,
name
________________________________________
Thank you very much for your support,
let's make this European Parliament
100% LGBT human rights friendly!