European Advisory Team

Paul Whiting (Chair) retired in 2021 from a long career as pastor and leader in the Metropolitan Community Church in the UK, US and Canada. Paul was an early member (1978) and leader of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement in the UK. He first attended the European Forum of Lesbian & Gay Christian Groups in 1984. More recently, he has been a workshop leader and co-chair of the AGM for the Forum. Paul has participated in the World Council of Churches General Assembly with the Rainbow Pilgrims of Faith.

Pritpal Bhullar is a leading advocate for LGBT+ inclusion across faith, interfaith, and international human rights spaces. His work focuses on the intersection of identity, belief, and dignity, with a particular commitment to advancing inclusion within Sikh and multi-faith and belief communities. He is the Co-Convenor of Sikh LGBT+ Inclusion, an initiative working to create safer, more affirming spaces for LGBT+ Sikhs around the world. Pritpal also serves as Co-Chair of the International FORB LGBT+ Coalition, where he works globally to highlight how religiously informed laws and norms impact LGBT+ people and other marginalised groups. He is also a member of the Global Interfaith Commission for LGBT+ Lives, contributing to international efforts to challenge religiously sanctioned discrimination and promote affirming theological perspectives. In the UK, he is part of the Ban Conversion Practices Strategy Group, a coalition of experts and survivors working to secure a comprehensive ban on conversion practices.

Kristina Buchelova is a Slovak–Albanian student of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Masaryk University, currently completing an Erasmus placement in Nottingham and previously in Padova, where she has engaged with several LGBT+ Christian groups. She serves as a board member and social media manager of SIGNUM – Rainbow Christians in Slovakia. Passionate and flexible, she is writing her thesis on the increasing openness of Christian attitudes toward LGBT+ people.

Marco Derks, Ph.D. is an Old-Catholic theologian and scholar of religion, sexuality, and gender. He works as executive secretary and programme manager of the Netherlands School for Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion (NOSTER) and as the vicar of the Old-Catholic parish in Gouda. He previously worked as a project manager on Christian LGBT emancipation (2009-2012), and he completed his doctorate at Utrecht University in 2019 with a study on Constructions of Homosexuality and Christian Religion in Contemporary Public Discourse in the Netherlands (Utrecht University, 2019).

Lina Landström returned to Stockholm in 2020 after spending several years in the US, where she completed a B.A. degree in sociology in New York City and a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Lina is currently finishing a Ph.D. in practical theology at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam where she researches the role of faith-based organizations in the integration of queer refugees in Germany and Sweden. Lina also serves as president of the Swedish, ecumenical organization the Christian Rainbow Movement (EKHO) since 2024.

Elina Mäkinen (she/hän) worked as the LGBTQ-RAN’s European intern in the summer of 2025. Now, she strives to commence her Ph.D. studies at the University of Turku. Elina actively volunteers in two Finnish LGBTQ+ organizations, and she eagerly awaits this opportunity to facilitate exploration into European LGBTQ+ religious histories.

Giorgio Maria Millesimi is a doctoral researcher in the Research Unit Pastoral and Empirical Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium. He completed the KU Leuven Advanced Master’s in Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies (CADES) in September 2024. Prior to that, he spent three years working at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. He had earlier earned his Master’s degree in Comparative Literature from the University of St. Andrews in 2020. His doctoral research, supervised by Prof. Dr. Dries Bosschaert, Prof. Dr. Annemie Dillen and Prof. Dr. Nenad Polgar focuses on the formation of Catholic religious identity in dialogue with LGBTQ+ matters through qualitative empirical methods.

Jordi Padilla-Delgado works as a records manager at Lloret de Mar Municipal Archive (Catalonia, Spain). He has trained in archival sciences at the Archival Science and Records Management School, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona (ESAGED-UAB). He's in charge as Senior co-chair (2024-2026) of the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Section of the Society of American Archivists (SAA-DSGS), and co-coordinator of the Sexual-Affective and Gender Diversity Archives and Archivists Working Group of the International Council on Archives (ICA-SAGDAA-WG). His main line of research is on the world of LGBTQ+ archives and memories.

Jan Wilkens, Ph.D. is a grants manager at the Alfred Landecker Foundation, where he supervises and develops projects that both fight antisemitism and foster Jewish life. In 2026, he will start as strategic advisor in regard to the diversity of Jewish life and practice for Germany’s Federal Agency for Political Education. In his dissertation, Jan retraced the history of the first queer Jewish groups in Europe, analyzed their support network and how these groups advocated for Jewish visibility within queer spaces while promoting queer inclusion in the Jewish community.