MEPs Kim van Sparrentak and Marc Angel join the first episode of the new season of KET Talks in collaboration with Forbidden Colours

The new season of KET Talks is launched today in collaboration with Forbidden Colours, a Belgian non-profit empowering LGBTIQ+ people in Europe. Hosted by Rémy Bonny and Vincent Reillon from Forbidden Colours, this new version of our podcast will bridge Brussels with the rest of Europe around key issues for the LGBTIQ+ community. For the first episode, Rémy and Vincent are joined by Kim van Sparrentak and Marc Angel, the two co-presidents of the LGBTI Intergroup of the European Parliament.

A collaboration between KET Magazine and Forbidden Colours

Forbidden Colours was established in 2019 as a Belgian NGO that focusses on the intersection of LGBTIQ+ rights and democratic security. The association manages a fund in the King Baudouin Foundation to supports grassroot projects throughout Europe. In 2022, Forbidden Colours funded shelters for Ukrainian LGBTIQ+ refugees in Poland, Hungary, and Romania. It also supported Budapest Pride as well as a project ranking high schools in Poland regarding their LGBTIQ+ inclusivity.
Besides its fundraising activities, Forbidden Colours advocates for the rights of LGBTIQ+ people with the national government and the EU institutions. It works to counter so called “anti-gender” and “anti-LGBTIQ+” movement in Europe and the scapegoating of LGBTIQ+ people by autocratic governments. In that context, Forbidden Colours was for example the first to reveal the preparation of the “anti-LGBTIQ+ propaganda” law adopted last year in Hungary.

As both association are based in Brussels, KET Magazine and Forbidden Colours decided to pair up to create a new and more engaged version of KET Talks.

A more engaged season of KET Talks

The end of COVID restrictions that limited guests in previous seasons provides opportunities to engage with activists from all around Europe. This new season of KET Talks will be opening the discussion on LGBTIQ+ issues on the ground in various parts of Europe, keeping a Brussels perspective.
The episodes will evoke different aspects of the backlashes on the access of LGBTIQ+ people to their human rights. They will also reflect on how these backlashes impact the situation of the LGBTIQ+ community in Brussels.

More engaged, more diversified, more European, you will hear some evolutions.

A discussion with the two co-presidents of the LGBTI Intergroup of the European Parliament

In the first episode, Vincent and Rémy went to the European Parliament to have a discussion with Kim van Sparrentak and Marc Angel, the two co-presidents of the LGBTI Intergroup. This intergroup gathers more than 150 Members of the European Parliament from different political parties in the support and the advancement of equality for LGBTI people.

With their guests, Vincent and Rémy draw some lessons from Europride held in Belgrade in September 2022. They also discuss the lawsuit announced by the European Commission against Hungary regarding the “anti-LGBTIQ+ propaganda” law adopted in 2021. They exchange on the expected proposal to recognize hate speech and hate crime as EU crimes and on the new Queer Summit to be organized by the European Parliament in June 2023. Finally, Marc and Kim talk about their relationship with the queer community in Brussels.

To listen to this first episode, click below.