Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 11:09:03 +0200 From: ilga Subject: ILGA Penpal List ILGA Information Service: 3 September 1996 Here at the administrative office in Brussels, Belgium, we often receive requests from men and women, young and old, wanting to correspond with other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender folks from around the world. ILGA does not publish these types of requests in our quarterly bulletin, so we send out a form letter with the following addresses and information. I invite all of you on our press and contact list to republish our "ILGA Penpal List" in your own publications and newsletters so that people have this information. Not everyone has e-mail and can hook into chatlines! *THE ILGA PENPAL LIST* The following is a partial listing of international pen friend/ pen pal programs. There is a wide selection: for women only, for men only, for youth, for prisoners, and for South Asians. Exchanging letters on an individual basis is a good way to learn about another culture and society, and make friends across borders. Please use your common sense and be wary if a penpal is more interested in receiving financial help from you than your letters. Best of luck in finding a great pen pal! ***** Intl Gay & Lesbian Penpals Foundation: non-profit foundation offering bed and breakfast exchange, accomodation, penpals and contacts: CTFI Staugraben 7 26122 Oldenburg GERMANY fx: 49 441 27772 Non-profit pen pal organization: write to them for membership information. Publishes large list of members wanting contacts, international and national, lesbian, gay, bi and transgender. LGB National Pen Pals PO box 2000 Horwich, BL6 7PG Bolton, Lancashire United Kingdom Friendly Pen Pal Service PO Box 83 Tujunga, CA 91043 USA Pen Friends Listings Paz y Liberacion PO Box 66450 Houston TX 77266 USA Gaypen BCM-GLI London WC1N 3XX United Kingdom BIEX c/o DIM Box 7038 S-161 07 Bromma Sweden International Lesbian/Gay Correspondence Network c/o NVIH-COC - Rotterdam Postbus 768 3000 AT Rotterdam The Netherlands International Gay Penpals Suite 320, Box 7304 North Hollywood, CA 91603 USA CGAP Pen Pal Project c/o LGCSC, 208 W 13th St New York, NY 10011 USA *for South Asian gay men and lesbians: Trikone PO Box 21354 San Jose CA 95151 USA *women only: International Lesbian Information Service Contacts/Contactos c/o ILIS Newsletter NVIH-COC Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 68-70 NL-1012 SE Amsterdam The Netherlands *youth Letter Exchange c/o Alyson Publications 40 Plympton St Boston, MA 02118 USA (21 years old or younger) Penpal Scheme/IGLYO PO Box 542 NL-1000 AM Amsterdam The Netherlands (people under 26) *men only: Intergay Voorstraat 12a NL-4033 AD Lienden The Netherlands Gay Hot Shots Po box 525 1411 Kolboth Norway Free ads of up to 30 words can be published for 12 months in the magazine RG. Write to them for more details. RG Box 915, station C, Montreal, PQ H2L 4V2, CANADA *Links gays in prison: Joint Venture PO Box 26-8680 Chicago IL 60626 USA *A few years ago, the Afro Gay and Lesbian Club arranged penpals in Ghana. They even published their address in the Spartacus guide in c/o ILGA. While ILGA is still in contact with this group, I do not believe the service is still operating. ILGA has received a letter from a self-described gay traveler and tour operator who invited those interested in visiting Ghana to contact: New Image Travel & Tours PO Box 2689 Accra, Ghana (W.Africa) ph/fx: 233 21 300030 (please note, I am only supplying information. This is not an endorsement and I have no idea of the quality of services provided). For those interested in African penpals, personal ads can be placed in the South African newspaper EXIT. Contact for info and costs: EXIT po box 2165 Johannesburg 2000 South Africa ****** *Finally, a variety of lesbian and gay newspapers around the world publish ads. If your magazine publishes free ads and would like to be on this list, send your address to ILGA. Also, please contact us with additions and corrections to this list. Is there an e-mail volunteer out there who would like to help get this list up on queer web pages, and also be responsible for additions and corrections. Please contact me immediately. I would appreciate it, and so would a great many other people! Best wishes to all Andy Quan coordinator ****** We have received the following additional information on penpal and ad services: FOCUS ON: International Lesbian and Gay Correspondence Network The Rotterdam department of the COC is organizing a network of correspondents who are writing personal letters to each other. The network is of course open to anyone who wants to participate. But we especially try to establish contacts that are supportive to those who are not in easy contact with lesbian and gay organizations. How does it work? - participation: Anyone who is interested in the network can ask for our information and participation form. The information of filled-out forms sent to us will be put into a computerised database. - listings: Participants can also ask for a listing of other participants according to a set of selection criteria. Some examples of possible selection criteria are: part of the world where a possible correspondent is living, age, sex, etc. - costs: On the one hand we try to cover the costs of the organization of the network by donations of the participants. On the other hand we want the threshold for participation to be as low as possible. Therefore we do not require a contribution of those who just want to paticipate. Donations will only be used to cover the costs of the organization of the network, such as postage and materials. What can you do to cooperate? - You can participate yourself. - You can ask for the information sheet and participation form and hand out copies to those who are interested. - You can give publicity to this initiative. For instance by writing about it in the paper of your organization and by telling other lesbians and gays about it. It is of course important that the initiative is published all over the world, but it is especially important that it is passed on to those who are not directly in contact with lesbian and gay organizations. For instance please think of the ones you have met or are going to meet on vacations. - You can give our address to those who are contacting your organization seeking for friends of correspondence. You are very welcome to ask for more information. Our address is: International Lesbian and Gay Correspondence Network c/o N.V.I.H. COC - Rotterdam Postbus 768 3000 AT Rotterdam the Netherlands or you can email me at: boer@fgg.eur.nl ****** FREE OFFER FROM RG MAGAZINE RG IS PUBLISHED ONLY IN FRENCH BUT THE PENPALS/DATING SECTION CONTAINS A LOT OF ENGLISH ADS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. To read these personal ads, check out the WEB SITE AT: http://www.gaibec.com/rg AND CLICK "LE COIN DES RENCONTRES". You can find out how to respond to the ads directly on the Web Page. To place an ad FREE OF CHARGE, during 12 months: Please send us your 30 word personal ad in BLOCK LETTERS, stating you height, weight, age, and all pertinent detail; specify what type of people you want to know. Since we ONLY publish a confidential CODE NUMBER with your personal ad, we need your postal address to forward to you the letters we will receive for you. Specify if we can WRITE THE MENTION "TEL" in your ad. In this case, we do not publish your phone number, but we keep it on file and supply it ONLY to our subscribers with your first name. For more information on ads, subscription information, gay Montreal and more, contact ALAIN BOUCHARD PUBLISHER. alain@accent.net or: RG, Box 915, station C, Montreal, PQ H2L 4V2, CANADA ****** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ILGA - International Lesbian and Gay Association 81 Kolenmarkt, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Phone/Fax +32-2-502-2471, E-mail: ilga@ilga.org A federation of over 300 groups from 75 countries fighting for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We also have over 100 supportive associate and individual members. Will you join us? Contact us for more info!