Our board is made up of eight Directors who are elected by membership.

The Board

The Board of the European Pride Organisers Association are elected by the membership at the Annual General Meeting. They must be nominated by a member organisation, and serve for a maximum of four terms of two years each. The roles are voluntary and unpaid, though board members can claim expenses for their travel and other out-of-pocket costs.

Patrick Orth, EuroPride Coordinator and interim President

In 2014 Patrick started volunteering at Hamburg Pride where he took care of the cooperation with other Pride organisers and LGBTI+ organisations in Hamburg and beyond.

He has been involved in HIV and STI prevention for over ten years and is now the head of the department for prevention among men who have sex with men of Aidshilfe NRW, the largest state association for HIV/STI prevention in Germany.

Patrick was elected to the Board in 2021 as Conference Coordinator. In 2023 he was elected EuroPride Coordinator. On 1 October 2024, following the resignation of Lenny Emson, Patrick was appointed interim President by the remaining board members and this was confirmed by a vote of members at the AGM.

Email patrick.orth@europride.info

Lars Arnesen, Secretary

He works at the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo, teaching and researching human rights law and technology law. He has previously worked on a research project on gender identity and sexual orientation in Norwegian and international law, resulting in a series of books and academic articles.

He has a background in several civil society organizations, working on topics ranging from discrimination law, transgender rights, and regulation of surrogacy. He has also been part of the Norwegian UNESCO delegation in Paris, working on sexuality education in particular.

Email lars.arnesen@europride.info

Uwe Hörner, Treasurer

Uwe represents CSD Rhein-Neckar / Pride in Mannheim in Germany where he has been a board member since 2008. His responsibilities there are as treasurer and the national and international networks.

Uwe is also on the board of CSD Deutschland (our associate member), the German national pride organisers platform and InterPride regional director for region 12 – the German speaking countries. Uwe has been working in the finance sector for over 30 years. He joined the board in 2018 and was re-elected in 2020, 2022 and for a final term in 2024.

Email uwe.hoerner@europride.info

Isobel Stainsbury, Human Rights

Elected November 2024. Biography to follow.

Email isobel.stainsbury@europride.info 

Julia Maciocha, Membership & Outreach

Julia is a Polish LGBTQIA activist and Obama Foundation Leader 2022. She has been associated with the human rights sector since 2011. With roots in feminist and environmental movements, she represents cross-sector inclusive activism. She was a chair of Warsaw Pride – the largest pro-equality event in Poland until 2024 and is now representing Instytut Równości Zielona Gora. Julia is also founder and member of the Board of the Polish Pride Alliance.

She joined the Board in 2022 and was re-elected in 2024 and is responsible for membership and outreach.

Email julia.maciocha@europride.info

Goran Miletic, Conference

Goran represents Belgrade Pride where he has served on the Organising Committee since 2009. Goran started his activism in the LGBTI+ community in 1991 as a member of Arkadija – the first-ever LGBTI+ organisation in Serbia. Decades later, he is still one of the key leaders of the LGBTI+ movement in Serbia, and he was a coordinator of EuroPride 2022 in Belgrade.

Goran is a Director for Europe and MENA and a Deputy Global Director for Civil Rights Defenders, where he has worked since 2004. In this position, he has mainly focused on drafting and lobbying for the adoption of inclusive anti-discrimination legislation in the Western Balkans, as well as improving the legislative framework for the LGBTI+ community in the region. He prepared and conducted numerous training sessions related to human rights, prohibition of torture, prison monitoring, advocacy, lobbying and monitoring of human and minority rights. His training sessions focused on various aspects of respect of human and minority rights, as well as the legislation and practice of law in the countries of the region. At the moment, Goran is working on lobbying for the adoption of the law on same-sex unions and the law on gender identity in the region.

Goran is a member of the European Commission of Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL) and the Expert Council of NGO Law within the Council of Europe. Since its establishment, he is a member of the Board of the Heartefact Foundation. He is finalising his PhD thesis on the subject of civil protection from discrimination.

Email goran.miletic@europride.info

Catarina Almeida, Media & Communications

Elected November 2024. Biography to follow.

Email catarina.almeida@europride.info

Join the board

For more information on joining the board, click here.

Image: Steve Taylor