The 23rd Annual ILGA-Europe Conference themed “Stronger Together” was held between October 23 and 26 in Prague. More than 600 activists from across Europe joined the conference, which is an agenda-setting moment for European LGBTI movements for next year.

In keeping with tradition, at the official gala dinner at the end of the conference, the Prague hosts officially handed over the rainbow flag to the representatives of Bilitis and GLAS, who will host the event in 2020. Sofia was selected as the 2020 host during the Brussels conference in October 2019. During the ceremony, the Bulgarian team received the historic rainbow flag, which has been transmitted between the hosts of ILGA-Europe annual conferences since 1997. After the end of the conference, each organizer adds to the flag the specially made logo and motto of the conference from their city and passes it on to the next organizational team.

“Sofia is the only city that has the guts to host an annual ILGA-Europe conference twice! After 2006, in 2020 Sofia will once again become a meeting place for LGBTI activists from all over Europe. We hope that we will be at least as successful as our Czech hosts this year”, commented Lilly Dragoeva, ED of Bilitis, during the official handover ceremony.

The 24th Annual ILGA-Europe Conference will be held in Sofia in October 2020. Follow #IESofia2020 on social media for more information.