Britt-Inger Hedström Lundqvist works at Dikko, which publishes Roma literature, and together with the publisher, participates in the project Antigypsyist homophobia and LGBTIQ Roma rights in the Nordics, which received funding from the Nordic LGBTI Fund in 2022. Also involved in the project are the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Södertörn University in Sweden and the LGBTI organisation Seta in Finland. The project will culminate in an anthology on the conditions of Roma LGBTI people in the Nordic region.

− It is important because there is a taboo around LGBTI issues within the Roma minority. Many people do not dare to say that they are queer, but queer Roma exist! The book is also important because it highlights the double discrimination faced by LGBTI Roma in majority society.

− There are of course a diversity of experiences, but it is clear that many feel a great sense of loneliness, and those stories have affected me. Family is very important among us Roma and Travellers. Staying together is important. Yet there are those among us who are so alone. That grabbed me.

− This book is one step. I hope it will help us improve visibility for the LGBTI community within the Roma minority. I think we can learn a lot from how the Sámi community has worked. There is greater visibility and openness. The most important thing now, I think, is that Roma LGBTI people need to find each other and come together, both to counteract that loneliness and drive change, because I really believe that change must be driven by this group. There is a need for Roma LGBTI organisations or Roma communities within the broader LGBTI movement.

− You become a much larger group and can support each other. My impression is that it is currently somewhat easier to work on this issue in Sweden than in Finland and Norway, and then we can take the lead. In another situation, the conditions will be different and someone else can take over the wheel.

− There are differences in how the Roma minority is defined. In Sweden, more groups are included. This can be challenging in some ways, but it makes us a bigger group and better heard. It seems that Roma and Travellers have a stronger position here in Sweden than in the other countries, and this helps.