Bio notes

Rodney Wilson, USA, is an historian and has been an educator since 1990 (at high school and college levels). In 1994, as an openly gay secondary U.S. history teacher in Missouri (USA), he founded the first LGBTQ+ History Month in the world - in the USA. In 2022, he co-founded the International Committee on LGBTQ+ History Months (ICoHM), bringing together representatives of LGBTQ+ History Month initiatives worldwide. He has been a longstanding advocate for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ histories in educational curricula and public memory.

Raúl Pérez Monzón, Cuba, is a historian and PhD candidate specialising in the history of sexuality, gender and social control in revolutionary Cuba. He is the founder and coordinator of Cuba’s LGBTQ+ History Month and has led multiple initiatives focused on historical memory, digital archiving, and community-based education. His research combines archival work, oral history, and critical theory to examine state policies, cultural representations, and everyday experiences of LGBTQ+ communities in Cuba.

Bill Schiller, Sweden, is a journalist and cultural activist born in Chicago, with a degree in journalism from the University of Illinois. After serving in the U.S. Peace Corps in Peru, he was granted asylum in Sweden in 1970 due to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He worked for several decades at Radio Sweden and has been actively involved in LGBTQ+ cultural organising, including with RFSL and ILGA. Over 30 years ago, he founded Tupilak (Nordic Rainbow Culture Workers) and the International Rainbow Culture Network (ILGCN), and continues to promote rainbow culture across the Nordic region and beyond.

Sarah Guarino Werner, Sweden is an art curator and a graduate of the International Master's Program in Curating at Stockholm University. She also holds an MA from the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm and a BA in Art History from Stockholm University. At the moment, she is studying Gender Studies at Stockholm University.

Keio Soomelt, Estonia, is a teacher, conductor, organist, and activist from Estonia. In the LGBT+ community, he has been a main organiser of Festheart (LGBT+ Film Festival in Estonia) for 10 years and has served as project manager for Baltic Pride and Tallinn Pride since 2023.

Ana Cristina Santos, Portugal, is a sociologist and Principal Researcher with Habilitation at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (CES-UC). She is Chair of the Democracy, Justice and Human Rights Thematic Line at CES and co-Director of the PhD Programme in Feminist and Queer Studies at CES-UC. She has published extensively on LGBTQI+ issues, intimate citizenship, and queer ageing, and coordinated several research projects focused on LGBTQI+ life course, including two ERC grants – projects INTIMATE (2014-2019) and TRACE (2023-2027). She is the founder and coordinator of the LGBTQI+ History Month Exhibition at CES-UC.

_{All panel members are representatives of LGBTQI+ History Month initiatives within the International Committee on LGBTQ+ History Months.}