Today our organisation turns 43 and to celebrate we have dug up this from the archives:

European Forum: 20 Year History
Leuenberg – Forum 2002 – Saturday May 11

There are always some people at every annual meeting for whom this is their first Forum. A special welcome to you into our community of spirit called the European Forum for short. We have been around for 20 years and for many of us this meeting has become an event not to be missed and a regular part of our lives.

We’re getting a history, made by all the named and unnamed men and women who have helped build what we enjoy today. I think we should be aware of our history – it’s been said that the one who doesn’t know his or her history doesn’t have a future. I want to concentrate on the first ten years, as this is the period just a handful of you – as far as I can see – have been a part of.
Every plant must have a root. Those of the Forum, which has become quite a large tree by now, were planted in Paris. Everything that comes into being starts as an idea in somebody’s mind and the person in this case was a priest from Nantes in Bretagne, who spent a sabbatical year in Paris. His name is Emil Leterre.

He was a member of David et Jonathan, and on one particular occasion when he visited a member of Quest in Britain, the vision was born. Why not extend this visit? Can we give a sign to other gay Christian movements in Europe? Can we do something together on a European scale?
An invitation to join in on this idea was printed in the bulletin of David et Jonathan (No. 35) in the summer of 1982. This bulletin had a readership that stretched well beyond France itself and the response to this idea meant the start of a process – a first gathering was held in Paris in October, on the weekend of 23/24.

There were 16 persons present, representing 7 groups from 5 countries:
Each movement introduced itself, telling about its relations to the established churches and to the secular gay movements around.

On Sunday, after a deeply felt celebration of the Eucharist, the discussion centered on whether this first gathering was to be followed by another.Those present saw the start of something and it was proposed to follow up these first steps towards an organisation, the name of which was to be decided later.

This decision to pursue the idea of getting together on a European scale was taken on October 24 – the UN day – so we may say that this is the birthday of our organisation.

The next stop was Strasbourg. The choice of this city was for symbolic as well as practical reasons. It had already been decided that the yearly meeting would be held in turn in the various countries where there are member groups.