Athens will host to the European LGBT+ Police Association Conference – EGPA 2022, from June 16 to June 17, 2022.
The European LGBT Police Association aims to bring together police LGBTI+ organisations from across Europe and build confidence within the LGBTI+ community.
The Association supports police forces in the development of operational policing that enhances services to the LGBTI+ community and represents national LGBTI+ Police support networks on all issues faced.
Michael Lolis, himself a gay police officer, and the President of Police Action, in his statement welcomed all and called for solutions to “inequalities”.
“The conference’s objective is to bring all of us – the members of the Association – together to share our experiences, report and expose difficulties, inequalities, and crime in our working environment, to network and to learn from each other,” Mr Lolis wrote.
It was in August of 2016, when the Dutch National Police held the first World LGBTI+ Conference for Criminal Justice Professional and the first time Greek delegates took part.
The next conference was in Paris in June 2018, and it was when EGPA decided that the next conference of 2020 will be held in Greece.
“After two years pandemic measures, the postponed conference will be held in Athens, the capital of Greece, bearing the marks of its stormy history and its cosmopolitan character, which give it a special beauty and charm,” Mr Lolis wrote.
His bosses threatened disciplinary action. In the end, all Lolis received was an unofficial reprimand. “They had no legal standing,” he said. “What could they reprimand me for? For being gay?”
Mr Lolis first came out during the first World LGBT Conference for Criminal Justice Professionals in 2016. His bosses threatened disciplinary action. In the end, all Lolis received was an unofficial reprimand. “They had no legal standing,” he said. “What could they reprimand me for? For being gay?”
The president of Police Action was born in a small village near Ioannina, and graduated from the Hellenic Police Academy. He is a member of the European LGBT Police Association and speaks openly of his experience as a gay police officer.
His advice to those considering coming out? “Talk to your parents and your friends and create an environment of truth in your life,” he said. “When you speak openly, everybody shuts up.”
Before Mr Lolis came out himself, he had to face his own truth he said to Huffington Post.
“I felt different, but I had no role models to identify with,” he said. “I ended up having sex with a man for the first time when I was 20. Realising what was happening was very painful. I was uneasy and fearful of what I was feeling and what I was.”
“You don’t realise yet the depth and extent of your homosexuality, which naturally is not just about sex but a range of emotions, of love and companionship. You end up living two lives,” Mr Lolis said.
When he told his mother, she cried. “She even told me that she wanted to die,” he said. “What heterosexual person ever heard their mother say that she wants to die because of what her child is?”
His family eventually came around.
“My father tells me he’s proud of me and after I give an interview my mother reposts something I have written.”
Greece has changed dramatically on LGBTI+ rights over the last five years. The law that forbids discrimination based on race has been expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The progress of human rights is natural and inevitable,” Mr Lolis said adding “I’m always optimistic.” The conference will take place at Technopolis in Athens a complex of spaces in the heart of the LBBTI+ area of Athens, in famous Gazi an area full of shops, cafes and clubs, frequented by the LGBTI+ community of Athens.
“The conference coincided with the Pride Festival in which all Police Officers will participate by building bridges between police and LGBTI+ community,” Mr Lolis added.