NeprocjenjivA

The only LGBT organisation is giving its best to not only step up for LGBT+ rights, but also for other vulnerable groups. Armenia has been and remained a country deeply rooted in religion and influenced by the words of its leaders. In the midst of these challenges, New Generation is trying to break the taboos, educate the police, and informing the public about HIV, HIV prevention, and LGBT+ human rights. It seems like a long journey ahead, but one that some Armenians like Arman are willing to take.

In a second interview with Ade Adeniji, we talk about his personal story. Living in London-Nigeria-London being gay and the challenge of growing up in a cultural and religious surrounding that says “Being gay is a white thing.”

When this gets to a point where you are even blamed for the death of a family member, how do you cope? How do you shake off the shame that other people are trying to put on you?

This conversation is an addition to our first interview about shame. Below you can find the link to the first interview where Ade talks about shame in more details and how to cope with it.

RICE 2020 Research has come to life. A lot of effort was put in. Among all the people that participated, Wielie Elhorst and Misza Czerniak were involved right from the beginning. We are taking a look at the process, but also at the impact this research could have on advocacy work in Europe. Though the research was published, it is not the end. The work has only begun and you can be part of it!

It has been an effort with many people involved. Still, the end product wouldn’t come to life without experts who know how to look at those numbers and make sense out of them for all of us. The first Rainbow Index of Churches is out with a Webpage to further explore and even add information. This is a major step to have a better insight into what is happening in European Churches when it comes to LGBTIQ+ inclusion. Researches talk about the challenges, about the research as well as their insights and hopes for the future of Churches.

We are celebrating the “finished” product of RICE 2020 – The Rainbow Index of Churches in Europe. For this occasion, the researchers and Forum representatives who were working on this research were interviewed. The whole interviews (there are two) will be published on Monday, May 10th. For now, you can see this overview. Join the live presentation on Saturday, May 8th from 11:30 to 12:45.

Shanon is a life-long activist and advocate for LGBT rights. They share their process of discovering who they are in a time where Trans* wasn’t a known identity, let alone being nonbinary. They talk of their experience, blessing, and challenges of going into transition, the challenges for friends and family, but also of having fun while people try to put them into a binary context.

Many of us living in Europe fight for the rights of LGBT+ people and we see the problems and discrimination, but we don’t really think about being prosecuted. Poland wasn’t a leading country in LGBT+ rights, but it wasn’t this bad either. A populist government made it possible to scapegoat a minority that managed to make progress. For many of them, it seems like it was for nothing. What does one do when the church and government turn against them? When they make use of a law that was intended to protect minority religions? How does someone keep their hopes up when they are threatened by being locked up in a prison or mental hospital for doing an LGBT+ mass (Chruch service)?