October 2021 - Page 3

LEGO Is Doing Away With Gendered Toys to Help Fight Sexism

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LEGO will no longer sort its products by gender in light of new research finding that gender stereotypes affect children’s creative potential.

In a survey of nearly 7,000 parents and children, a report released Monday by the LEGO group and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media found that girls felt “less restrained by… typical gender biases than boys when it comes to creative play.” For example, 74% of boys between the ages of 6 and 14 expressed a belief that some activities are “meant for girls” and others are “meant for boys.” Only 62% of girls believed the same.

The vast majority of girls — 82% — also believed that it was okay for girls to play football and for boys to practice ballet. Although the percentage of boys was slightly lower, nearly three-quarters (71%) also agreed.

The researchers also surveyed parents in China, the Czech Republic, Japan, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to understand their gender biases and how they might affect their children. They found that most parents, regardless of the gender of their child, were overwhelmingly more likely to associate scientists (85% vs. 15%) and engineers (89% vs. 11%) with men rather than women.

Correspondingly, the survey found that parents were more likely to encourage girls into activities that were more “cognitive, artistic, and related to performance,” whereas boys were pushed into “physical and STEM-like activities.” The former includes activities such as dancing, cooking, and baking, while boys were overwhelmingly encouraged into pursuing programming and sports.

The LEGO survey even found that gender stereotypes impacted whether children interacted with their products: 59% of parents said they encouraged their sons to play with LEGOs. When the company asked the same question using an implicit bias test, the difference became much more pronounced, with 76% of parents saying that they’d recommend LEGOs to their sons.

In light of this information, LEGO said in a statement it would be working with the Geena Davis Institute and UNICEF to “ensure LEGO products and marketing are accessible to all and free of gender bias and harmful stereotypes.”

“The benefits of creative play such as building confidence, creativity and communication skills are felt by all children and yet we still experience age-old stereotypes that label activities as only being suitable for one specific gender,” said Julia Golden, chief product and marketing officer at the LEGO Group.

“All children should be able to reach their true creative potential,” she added.

The company’s efforts to combat gender stereotypes when it comes to their toys will likely be buoyed by a recently passed law in California, which mandates that large retailers must provide gender-neutral toy and child care sections.

California’s law was inspired by Target phasing out some gendered signage in 2015, including eliminating the use of pink to refer to girls and blue for boys in its toy section.

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France Is One Step Closer to Outlawing Conversion Therapy

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Following a vote in the national legislature, France took a major step towards banning the discredited practice of conversion therapy.

France’s National Assembly, the lower house of its parliament, voted unanimously on Tuesday to pass Bill 673, which will fine medical professionals caught administering conversion therapy.

The law provides for 2 years in prison or a fine of 30,000 euros. The legislation defines these treatments as “practices, behaviors, or words aiming to modify or repress” a patient’s “sexual orientation or identity.” The law inflicts even harsher penalties for therapists and other providers who offer conversion therapy to minors: three years imprisonment and a fine of €45,000 ($51,968).

Legislator Laurence Vanceunebrock tweeted on Tuesday: “Today in the National Assembly, we continue protecting our children”.

Advocates and lawmakers took to social media to celebrate the vote and thank Vanceunebrock under the hashtag #RienÀGuérir, which translates to “Nothing to Cure.” LGBTQ+ groups called it a “major victory” and a good “first step.” If passed by the French Senate, the ban could potentially be enshrined in law as soon as February 2022.

Conversion therapy is widely opposed by international health and human rights organizations, including the World Health Organization, World Psychiatric Association, and the United Nations, many of which have equated the process to torture.

Despite overwhelming evidence of the practice’s harm, just a handful of countries currently ban conversion therapy – Germany that prohibited such practice in 2020, and 20 U.S states. Countries that are currently taking action against these treatments, Taiwan, Malta, and Ecuador.

 

Source: them.us

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“The Third Gender” – the Genesis of Queer History

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People’s beliefs and views are largely driven by environmental factors. Our fundamental perceptions are often based on / coincide with the perceptions of the society in which we grow up and live. Because the beliefs of different groups were formed in isolation from each other over the centuries, as a result of dissimilar experiences, cultures also differed. This diversity has been, so to speak, destroyed by the process of globalization. Western, European, ideas became “dominant”, which had a great impact on the future of world thinking.

These processes have, of course, left their mark on queer history as well. In particular, if we look at the ancient cultures and their views, we will see that the unrepressed queer variety (which we call “queer” in modern terms) existed even centuries ago. On the other hand, religions of Judaic origin (Christianity, Islam), which were widespread in some parts of Europe and Asia, were particularly dogmatic in their views on gender binary. According to them, people are divided into two categories, women and men, and have strictly defined gender roles. That is why, if we look at the map of queer cultures in modern terms, in some parts of Europe and Asia, similar traditions are almost non-existent.

Beliefs in other cultures are often associated with the notion of “third gender” and “third sex”. It is important to understand that in these cultures, “third gender” did not mean people who were transformed within a binary system, but people who did not consider themselves, in modern terms, a cisgender woman or man, and therefore belonged to another, third category, culturally and socially, which was considered permissible. Sometimes, the “third gender” did not have a specific name, but was reflected in the transformation of social roles. The concept of “third gender” is still found in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and early European cultures.

On the island of Madagascar, there was a concept of “third gender”, which in the local language was called Sekrata. Young men, who felt more comfortable with feminine self-expression, resorted to cross-dressing, wearing traditional women’s clothing and jewelry – their identities were never perceived negatively by those around them. On the contrary, the locals believed that the Sekratas were carriers of a magical spirit. They worked as performers, dancers and sometimes even engaged in sex work.

In Africa, in the Kingdom of Dahomey (modern-day Benin), there was a group of fully female warriors, the Mino, which in translation means “our mothers”. Women fighters did not marry, had no children, and were distinguished by masculine behaviors and characteristics. Later, European colonizers called this group the “Dahomey Amazons”.

Mino – Dahomey Amazons. Paris, 1891

Kind of a similar tradition existed in Eastern Europe, in Albania, in the form of Burneshas. Burnesha is a woman who, in a strictly patriarchal Albanian culture, has the social role and privileges of a man, but in return vows never to have a family. That is why they were often called “sworn virgins”. Like the Albanian tradition, there was a similar tradition in the Islamic Mamluk sultanate that offered girls of masculine qualities the legal and social privileges of a man.

Burnasha – “Sworn virgin”

In Nepal, in the Himalayan culture, there were people of the “third gender” centuries ago who were called half-breeds. The half-breeds were male feminists that wore traditional female clothing. In recent years, they have been mainly involved in sex work.

In South Asian cultures (parts of modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh), the “third gender” existed from the earliest times, in the form of the Hijras. Hijras are intersex or male people who cross-dress, look feminine and wear traditional women’s clothing and jewelry. Some of them resort to castration to sacrifice their genitals to the goddess Bahuchara Matha. Discriminatory attitudes and policies towards the Hijras increased particularly during the period of British colonization, and although the political approach has changed since 1952, negative public attitudes still exist. Hijras live in groups, they have a leader, and their source of income is mainly sex work.

According to the 2014 statistics, there are up to 5 million Hijras living in modern India.

In South India, there is a culture named Aravan, which takes its name from the character of the ancient Indian poem Mahabharata. Like the Hijras, the Aravans are also males with feminine self-expression and social roles. According to Aravan legend, the young prince Aravan was to take part in a sacrificial ceremony, and before his death he demanded the fulfillment of his only wish – he wanted to spend his last night as a married man. No one wanted to marry Aravan because of the fear of becoming a widow, so Krishna transformed into a woman, Mohina, and spent the night with Aravan. The legend is of great significance to the Aravanis living in South India, who celebrate the Aravan and Mohina weddings every year.

Bakla is a term used in the Philippines, which includes males that have feminine identities and appearances alongside many other identities. They have their own language, which they use to communicate with each other, and which is a kind of mixture of Filipino, Spanish and English.

Hijras live not only in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh

There is a distinctive queer culture in Indonesia, where, traditionally, there were five genders with different names. In modern terms, along with cisgender women and men, there are Kalavas (male people who identify themselves as women), Kalalevs (female people who identify themselves as men), and Bisu (people who do not identify with the gender spectrum at all, or identify with all genders). In addition, there are other groups in Indonesia that resort to cross-dressing and are known as Warias. It is noteworthy that the Warias are quite fluid – they feel comfortable with their biological sex, although from time to time they resort to cross-dressing, and some of the Warias also fit the social role of a woman.

In Australia, in Aboriginal cultures, there were groups called Sistergirls, i.e. male people who identified themselves as women, and brothersboys – female people who identified themselves as men. As in many other cultures, pre-colonial Australia had a much more open and tolerant attitude towards gender diversity.

he increased negative attitudes toward Sistergirls and Brothersboys caused by the colonization of Australia are slowly changing 

Beliefs about the unity of feminine and masculine origins in any god or man were quite popular in different cultures. Such characters are also found in Greek mythology (Hermaphrodite) and in pre-colonial cultures in modern-day USA. The culture of the “third gender” on the American continent was often backed by the belief in two-spirit people who were respected in society.

In pre-colonial Canadian culture, there were people called Ninauposkitzipxpe in the local language, which, in translation, means “woman with a man’s heart.” They were females who did not always resort to cross-dressing nor look masculine, although they did have the privileges of men in the society.

There were four genders in some of the pre-colonial American tribes

In the Navajo language, Nadleehi referred to males who were equally feminine and masculine, while Dilbaa referred to females who also had feminine and masculine characteristics. Similar groups existed in other tribes of the Indians, such as the Nadlehehs in the Lakota language called Vinkte, which means “one who wants to be a woman”. In the culture of another tribe of Indians, the Zuni, the male Nadlehes were called Lhamans. The Lhamals were male people who wore the traditional clothing of a man and a woman at the same time, did household chores and hunted, performed an important function in religious rituals. The concept of “third gender” is also found in Central and South American cultures.

In other Indian tribes there was a tradition of dividing people into four groups, which included gay men and women, male-identified female (Hwame) and female-identified male (Alyha).

After the colonization, these cultures were named Christian by the Europeans, therefore labeled as a sin, a deviation.

The notion of a “third gender” also existed in the modern Dominican Republic, specifically for intersex people.

At birth, as a result of a genetic disorder, the first sex characteristics do not develop enough, so newborns were often considered female, although after the appearance of secondary sex characteristics at the age of puberty, it was considered socially acceptable to classify these people as “third gender”. This tradition is really different from the repressive experiences that other cultures have had for centuries towards intersex people.

In modern Peru, in pre-colonial Inca culture, there was a bisexual god, the rituals of which were performed by people of the “third gender”, called Quariwarmi in the Inca language. These people were distinguished by their feminine and masculine appearance and were mainly involved in ritual activities.

“The Third Gender” actively appears in Europe in nineteenth-century writing, for the first time in the texts of Karl Heinrich Ulrich, and becomes the logical basis for the later queer movement.

Karl Heinrich Ulrich is one of the first activists to fight for queer rights

During this period, the “third gender” was often used in relation to both queer activism and feminism, but in the twentieth century, since the 70s, it has more or less lost its relevance. Today, the notion of a “third gender” has legal significance, and modern activists are calling for its official recognition so that people who do not feel comfortable in the binary system can legally establish their gender identity.

Resources:

WISG Feminist Videotheque | ფემინისტური ვიდეოთეკა

A Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures | Independent Lens

A Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures | Independent Lens

Third gender | LGBT Info | Fandom

 

Author: Anamaria

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Marvel’s first openly gay couple in Eternals

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In the latest trailer for Marvel’s highly anticipated new film Eternals, we get one of our first real glimpses of the first gay couple to appear in one of the comics juggernaut’s films. All we have to do is wait until November 5 to see the history-making moment on the big screen.

Bryan Tyree Henry stars as Phastos, one of the Eternals — that is, a bunch of immortal superheroes who have lived for millennia and are now fighting to save humanity. Phastos is the Eternals’ weapons maker and “tech guy” who happens to be married to a handsome man. As a scene from the trailer reveals, the couple also have a cute kid.

Technically, Phastos isn’t the first queer character in the MCU. Tessa Thompson, who confirmed she’s bisexual in 2018. She’ll next be seen in Thor: Love and Thunder, set to premiere next year.

Phastos will be Marvel’s first openly gay character to appear in an MCU film. “I got to humanize an LGBTQ+ family and show how beautiful they are,” he said.

Source: them.us

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Nepal will include third gender for the first time

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Nepal has introduced a “third gender” category on its 2021 census in a move applauded by some LGBTQ+ advocates. Others question whether it will be enough.

Theoretically, the data will allow LGBTQ+ people to advocate for better legal rights and protections from the government. Nepal has in place legal quotas for certain vulnerable groups in workplaces and educational environments, and also offers discounted healthcare to designated minorities. LGBTQ+ people have, thus far, been omitted from these benefits because their numbers were not tracked in the census.

Advocates estimate that roughly 900,000 of the country’s 30 million residents are queer or transgender.

While Nepal technically included a third gender option on its previous census 10 years ago, the data collection process was marred by problems ranging from discrimination from census takers to respondents’ fears of being outed, according to The New Republic. These administrative problems ultimately resulted in a lack of usable data.

The government was also met with criticism during the 2011 census for including all LGBTQ+ identities under the “third gender” category.

But some advocates argue that adding just one question to the census is not enough. Activist Rukshana Kapali, along with several others, has filed a complaint against the methodology in Nepal’s Supreme Court, as well as with its National Human Rights Commission. “Using ‘Others’ as terminology to refer to gender identity is highly contested and even considered derogatory for many,” told Kapali. “Not acknowledging different identities is failing to realise the different forms of oppression, marginalisation, exclusion, discrimination, violence and non-representation of those distinct social groups.”

Others hope that the census will pave the way for the collection of more comprehensive data on the country’s LGBTQ+ population in the years to come.

The mountain nation, which began including a third gender category on citizenship documents in 2013 and passports in 2015, has some of the most progressive LGBTQ+ rights legislation in South Asia. The country outlawed discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation in 2007 and expanded those protections to areas like employment and housing in 2016.

LGBTQ+ people have maintained, though, that these legal protections do not necessarily translate to social acceptance. Members of the community still face discrimination in all areas of public life, a fact that lawmakers have largely ignored, according to the Associated Press.

Source : them.us

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CARIOCA, NEGRO & QUEER – Queer Photos by a Brazilian Artist

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Rodrigo Rody Oliviera is a Brazilian photographer that lives in Rio De Janeiro and has been photographing every-day life of Brazilian queer community for years.

The photographer grew up in one of the suburbs of Rio and he had never thought that anyone would take be interested in his works. The queer artist viewed photography as a hobby and he had to go through a very hard path before one creative studio – Rocket Science noticed his works.

The photographer is interested in the queer people and people of color that lives in Brazil – group that is most marginalized and experiences the most oppression.

The artist says that the country is not safe for queer individuals and they have to deal with all sorts of oppression; however, despite everything, the resistance is still strong and in this resistance the artist sees the most freedom and that’s where he gets his main inspiration from.

The artist is an author of a few photo-projects. Here are some of Rody oliviera’s photos:

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Valita Gorelchaniki – The Strongest Woman in Georgia

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I’m Valita Gorelchaniki, a fitness instructor and the founder of the first fitness academy in Georgia. In addition, I am implementing an educational project in a penitentiary institution – I help convicts get a professional education in fitness and when they get out of prison, they too have a profession that they will use in the process of re-socialization.

Rejecting classical female models since childhood

 My last name is Ukrainian and that often confuses people. This is my step-father’s surname, I’m Georgian on both sides of my parents. I was born in Russia, spent 8 years there and then my family and I returned to Georgia. I had a very contrasting childhood and I remember the years spent in Russia well. When I came here I didn’t know any Georgian, I learned it only by listening. Recently I’ve been trying to improve my grammar as well.

I remember my favorite book used to be “The Beggar Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree” – a small but dramatic story by Dostoevsky, which describes social injustice, how unsafe children are and how they need to be protected. I always liked negative characters since being a child, I related to them more. One of them was The Snow Queen – a woman that didn’t represent a classical female model. The classical female model was too basic for me, and I always searched for something special and in this case, this special type was The Snow Queen.

Sexuality

I always had a feeling that I never found out anything new about myself. I’ve always thought and still think that it’s absolutely normal to be the way that I am, the way I was born. I have always been the way that I am now and I do not remember the change from one state or to another, or the process of realizing something. Consequently, I’ve never had a problem of accepting myself.

I never even tried to hide my identity. It just never happened that I realized something, identified it and then thought that it might affect my life negatively, or that it damaged my environment, people around me… I didn’t have to come out either. I just started being friends with girls and people started asking me questions – if I liked them and so on. That’s when I said that yeah, and it’s completely normal for me.

However, there was a moment of realization that what’s normal for me might not be normal for others – for example, my mom, who has always been quite homophobic. Now, years later, her active homophobia has become more passive and at this point, it’s more or less acceptable for me as well. I think this is her freedom of choice – just the way I have the freedom to be the way that I am, other people have the freedom to like me or dislike me, accept me or reject me. The same way that I don’t allow other’s to violate my freedom, I do not want to violate anyone else’s freedom and its quite a thin ice to walk on for me.

The title of the strongest woman and the project for convict women

 I used to be a professional sportsman and I ended my career in 2016. The first sport in which I was internationally successful was powerlifting – a strength sport, and I became a European and World champion. Then I switched sports and I got into Mas Wrestling – it’s a board wrestling match, and here as well I won the World Cup. In 2016 I got a trauma and gave up sports, because it’d take me too long to recover from it and I was getting too old anyway. At the same time, I started doing other stuff and sports was not a priority anymore.

When the Weightlifting Fitness Association and the Sports Ministry in Georgia granted me the status of the strongest woman, I decided to use this status in the correct direction. I really wanted to go to a penitentiary and hold a Fitday, to popularize healthy lifestyle. When we actually did it, the feedback was so good that on the way back in the taxi, I told my partner that I thought that the girls needed way more than this one-day event, that a long-term project was needed. I started thinking about a long-term project and realized that it had to be related to vocational education, it had to be interactive and not online teaching. The Pandemic was an additional difficulty, but with the help and engagement of the penitentiary service, to which I’m really thankful, everything turned out to be successful.

For me, this project is a new experience. The only thing I knew was that there was a subordination and a particular format of interacting with the inmates, but by the end we arrived at a point in which besides learning, we entertained each other in so many ways. We have 20 girls that are engaged right now, they are working hard and the results are great as well. The project has been on-going for 4 months and we have 4 more months left. When we are done with this, we want to continue afterwards, if we have enough resources.

Protesting Inequality

When I was involved with sports, I never felt discriminated as a woman by the Georgian teammates. There was one time when I was in Kyrgyzstan for the world championship, where up to 30 people from different countries lived in the same space (The sports base has always been considered a neutral area where people from many different countries, faiths and cultures live together). It was summer, and it was hot, so I was wearing just a normal sports T-shirt, I was standing and rooting for our teammates.  A Kyrgyz guy came up to me and told me that he thought that women shouldn’t wear such clothes and they should cover up their tattoos. As this happened I had a terrible feeling of injustice, so I turned to him and said – I am a citizen of a free country, I wear what I want, especially that I am in a neutral territory. I am neither Kyrgyz, nor Muslim, I am here for a world championship and you are just telling me to wear a long-sleeved shirt. This was the one moment of discrimination, more particularly – an attempt at it, that I didn’t allow.

I also recall this one time, when I went to a wedding in Tianeti. It was absolutely shocking to me that they had two separate tables – one for the men and one for the women. To this I said that I would sit wherever I wanted to, so I sat down at the table that men were at. This was my protest, it was quite positive – I smiled to everyone, I didn’t feel aggression toward anyone, but I still stated my position.

In general, I think the problem is the unambitious character of a Georgian woman. In Georgia, women are often financially dependent on men. So what if you got married, you still should get education, work… This is a problem in mentality, families, the upbringing. A woman should have her own source of income – I have heard so many stories that a woman has been beaten by her husband for 10 years, but she has neither anywhere to go, nor any resources to live alone. This is an absolute financial dependency, when you cannot do anything on your own. This violates your rights, and you yourself violate your rights when you have no ambition to be a fulfilled person.

We have to become normal for our own sake

The fact that Georgian law does not allow queer marriage, for me personally, is not really an issue, because I have never thought about getting married. I do not have to be in a specific legal relationship with my partner in order to leave them some property – I can just simply re-register the property if I need to. However, the fact that I don’t need it, doesn’t mean that others don’t. I think that the government should think of other alternatives, but I can’t really say how much of a perspective it is for Georgia. People are particularly against gay marriage, because they believe that two men/women should not live together, that they cannot raise a child together, etc. I know a lot of heterosexual families in which the child isn’t brought up in a healthy environment – I have seen children be beaten by their mothers many times, this is not a norm. Meanwhile, they might have husbands too, and their family to be considered a “good” one, but that doesn’t really mean that it’s a healthy environment.

As for the non-legal aspects, I can recall one story. When I won the world championship, I had a wonderful resume and I was looking for a job. One of the clubs straight up told me that I wasn’t attractive enough and that I looked like a boy, and they were searching for a girl that would wear crop-tops and attract men’s attention. About this I asked – “what about professionalism?” Sadly, this is a normal thing for Georgia. There are plenty of companies in which people are hired depending on appearance, and then these employees fail to fulfill their responsibilities and meet the previous expectations. I have never felt anything negative from the clients, because I am normal for myself as well.

We have to become normal for our own sake. As long as we keep hiding within ourselves, nothing will change.

The freest person

 I am a normal person that chooses their own partner, the way of expression of their inner or outer worlds, whom to be with, how to be, how to act… The main thing is that I do not break any social norms, the rest is my privacy and freedom that doesn’t concern anyone.

I think that there is no such thing as absolute freedom, because humans are dependent on so many things – their instincts, their close friends, environment, politics, the situation in the country, etc. Generally, there are people around me that have an adequate perception of the world, I do kinda leave in a bubble. When I see that someone around me tries to pressure me, I change the environment. I never stay in the destructive environment because it’s not worth it. I don’t stay in places in which I’m restricted or misunderstood.

A person cannot live in a hostile environment and be happy at the same time, it’s impossible.

We exist and we are Georgians!

I think Pride is one of the means of communication with the public. I think that public should be held in a way that is more acceptable for our society. The politics of more visibility have the same aim, but the society should be prepared for this. However, even if Pride is being held in such a country as Georgia, still no one has the right to do the things that happened on March 17 and July 5.

Sometimes I have to be tolerant of homophobes as well, because often those people do not know why they don’t like me, they can’t identify their emotions and hatred toward me; they hate me before they even know me. When I think about it I say that it’s a result of an effect of a particular environment and of that person’s narrow worldview, however, whatever happened on July 5 was utterly disgusting to me. There were people there that do not have a narrow worldview at all, but were encouraging others to go and fight – those people were out there to beat someone up. When a person wants to cut off a gay man’s head or chase after some kids that have long hair, that’s just removing one’s own pent-up aggression. I look at this problem in more depth and do not think it is only related to homophobia, biphobia or transphobia. The problem is that so many people in our society have feelings of extreme hatred and disgust – it scares them.

We don’t have a culture for caring for a person’s psycho-emotional state, people don’t go to therapists, psychiatrists. We don’t have a way to fight this aggression. To find this, there is a need for human and financial resources – people with good incomes go to psychologists, because such services are expensive, and education in this aspect is very needed. It is crucial for the state to take care of this, the way it happens in developed countries.

I remember, a taxi driver once told me – “People like that shouldn’t exist in Georgia!” I asked him – “why? Are you more of a Georgian than I am? Do you love the country more than I do? Do you do more things for this country than me? Why am I any less of a Georgian because of my different orientation?” His answer to this was “that’s not appropriate behavior”. You know what the problem is? For them a sexual orientation and behavior is the same thing, they have no knowledge of social psychology, they cannot identify either of those and they think that being gay equals bad behavior, being gross and perverted… It’s hard to oppose everyone, to argue with everyone, it’s impossible and besides – we need a more large-scale approach.

Another big problem is the lack of communication with the queer community – in Georgia no one comes out and no one communicates with these people as with gays. We communicate them as with people that hide their identities. I always say that if you are hiding or ashamed of something, or you have some reasons to not be showing it, then this communication will never happen and the society will never realize that gay people are just normal people and there’s nothing special about it. There’s such a misconception that there are no gay Georgians and all of us are hiding under it. What should I, a fulfilled person, be afraid of – losing my family? A family that will reject me because of the gender of my partners is not a group of people that I view as close to me. I’m talking about those people that have succeeded in life, that have the ability to come out and say that yes, we exist, we are Georgian, we do a lot of things around here. I’m not saying that they need to constantly talk about this – come out once and support those people that do not have enough resources for the given moment. Tell them – “Here I am, everything is okay for me and everything will be okay for you as well.”

Sexual orientation should not be assigned such a tragic meaning that can scare, bully, and stress people out. People in Georgia are really afraid of being judged – we constantly think about what others will say about us. We try to fit everything around us and this will never work out – we have to be happy ourselves and we should live for our happiness.

Altering the hostile environment, accepting ourselves and constant self-development

I believe that Georgia has the resource to develop. The sad thing is that we do not use that resource. The youth gives me the reason to think positively – I see the potential, but they do not have the environment, which they can go to, get necessary information, where they can widen their worldview. We need more free educational centers; we need more professionals that can deliver information about the queer issues.

We can contribute in this process as well – for example, I am a fitness expert-lecturer, and I can educate people in the fitness field; my partner is a psychologist, she can approach people with her profession, etc. We have to mobilize our strengths and resources and pay more attention to the adolescents. We might not be able to affect adults that already have their own frames; however, with the new generation we have a chance – to help them adopt the right worldviews. Of course, the state has a big role in this as well.

We need self-development in order to survive. As long as we are dependent on someone, we will always have to give things up and it will all end in destruction, because we are giving up on ourselves, our wishes. 3 things are necessary – changing the hostile environment, accepting ourselves and constant self-development. We have to develop ourselves and others – have you grown as a person? Achieved a certain stage? Now go and help others as well.

When you have the resource, you will go and help others as well. This is what matters.

 

The interview was prepared with the support of Women for Georgia (WFG)

Author: Nina Urushadze

Photos: Vakho Kareli

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10 Most Famous LGBTQ+ Couples

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Over the past few decades, more and more LGBT people have come out of the closet and started talking out loud about their desires, dreams and goals. People are no longer afraid of talking publicly about sexual identities.

Here are 10 famous LGBTQ+ couples who do not hide their love and give a lot of people hope that the situation of LGBTQ+ people will definitely change for the better:

Elton John & David Furnish

Legendary singer Elton John met his husband, Canadian director David Furnish, in 1993. The singer decided to change his lifestyle, quit alcohol and drugs, meet new people, and it was this decision that led to the meeting of David Furnish, a long-term marriage and 2 children.

 

Rupaul & Georges LeBar

The legendary host of the Rupaul drag show, RuPaul, met her husband in 1994 at Dance Flora, one of New York’s most prestigious clubs. The couple got married in 2017 and according to various American publications, they have an open relationship, which further contributes to the couple’s long-term and peaceful cohabitation.

 

Ellen DeGeneres & Portia De Rossi 

The American TV anchor met her partner, Portia de Ross, in 2004. Initially Portia hadn’t come out in public, but soon that changed and the couple formally partnered in 2008.

 

Lilly Tomlin & Jane Wagner 

 

Lilly Tomlin is a legendary American actress, writer, comedian and producer whose career began in the 1960s. The actor met her current wife, screenwriter Jane Wagner in the 70s and they have been together ever since.

 

Neil Patrick Harris & David Burtka 

 

Neil Patrick Harris accidentally met his future husband on one of the streets of New York. At first, he thought that David Burtka was heterosexual, but he was wrong. A few years later, David Burtka proposed to Neil Patrick Harris on the same street. Today the couple has twins.

 

Cynthia Nixon & Christine Marinoni 

 

Sex in the Big City actress, Cynthia Nixon, met her future wife, Christine Marinon, in 2004. Cynthia had never had a romantic relationship with a woman before and feared it would adversely affect her career. However, the opposite happened and today the couple is happily married.

Sarah Paulson & Holland Taylor 

American actress and TV screen star Sarah Paulson met her current partner, Holland Taylor, in 2005. However, both were in a relationship at the time. The couple, 10 years later, had to work together again in 2015, after which their relationship took shape. There is a 32-year age difference between them.

 

Jodie Foster & Alexandra Hedison 

 

Oscar-winning American actress and “Lamb Silence” star Jodie Foster met her current wife, photographer and actress Alexandra Hedison in 2013, and the couple got married a year later. The actress is very careful about her personal life and tries not to disclose all the details of her marriage.

 

Billy Porter & Adam Smith 

Pose actor Billy Porter first met his husband, Adam Smith, in 2009 and after a 5-year loyal friendship, a romantic relationship developed between them. The couple got married in June 2017 and are living happily ever after.

 

Ricki Martin & Jwan Yosef 

 

The Yellow Press has been talking about Ricky Martin’s sexual orientation for many years, the actor officially confirmed the rumors in 2010. The singer met his future husband in 2016. In 2016, he announced on the Ellen DeGeneres show, that they were going to get married. The couple has two children together.

 

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Russia proposes “extremist” label for LGBTQ+ groups

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Russia has proposed that LGBTQ+, radical feminists and child-free groups should be recognised as “extremism”.

“LGBT ideology, radical feminism and child-free movements should be recognized as extremism — an extremist ideology,” Andrei Tsyganov, chairman of a commission for the protection of children at the Roskomnadzor communications regulator, said on 29 September.

Moscow Times reports that he claimed the proposed restrictions would protect Russian children from what he believes to be destructive content.

Tsyganov’s suggestion arrives on the same day that Russia’s Justice Ministry labelled the Ivanovo Center, a non-profit for research and education, for Gender Studies with a “foreign agent” label.

Progressive and liberal movements in the country have faced widespread crackdowns and restrictions throughout the last 10 years, which President Vladimir Putin’s conservative government is hoping will keep the population focused on traditional values.

In 2013, there was global outrage from human rights groups when Russia introduced a ban on gay content. There have since been proposals from the ruling United Russia party to restrict what it referred to as propaganda of polyamory and bisexuality.

Source: gautime.co.uk

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Who do queer people support – elections 2021

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Local self-government elections are being held in Georgia today, the results of which will be the most important for the country. Numerous observers from various international organizations have arrived in the country on this day.

A few days ago, parliamentary elections were held in Germany and for the first time in the history of the country, two transgender women were elected as members of the Bundestag. We hope that in the nearest future we will see openly LGBTQ+ community members in our country in leading positions in the legislature and executive branches.

In May, 15 political parties signed a general agreement on LGBT rights. Unfortunately, there was no ruling party among the signatory parties. Regarding the elections, we asked members of the LGBTQ + community who their preferred political party or mayoral candidate is. Although they have not named which political group they support, one thing is clear – none of them is a supporter of the ruling team. Members of the community support the changes and believe that the government should cater to better protect their rights.

Queer asked the LGBTQ community members:

Which party candidate are you voting for in this election and why? What is the most critical problem that the LGBTQ community has? How should these problems be solved? What strategies should be implemented?

Miko: “I support parties with liberal-democratic values, I will not vote for parties that do not deal with social issues. I also consider whether the party has a chance to get into parliament and vote for those who have a more or less chance of doing so.

I think that the most critical problem that LGBTQ+ community members are facing is homelessness and unemployment. But unemployment is caused by a lack of skills and more training programs should be available for them, these programs should be of very low cost, or completely free and funded by the state. This problem is multifaceted, it cannot be solved in 1-2 years and it concerns every oppressed socio-economic class. The education system and the consciousness of the citizens must change. We have a distorted mentality that has already become an identity. The state should be trying to solve this issue. They should have a long-term program that will not be partisan and will focus on the development of the state.”

Photo: Guram Muradov

 Aia Beraia: “I won’t openly talk about which party I support, but I will say that I am going to vote for the opposition candidates.

As for the problems of the LGBTQ community – in my opinion, the most critical problem is the socio-economic challenges associated with specific oppression and discrimination. The second important issue is the realization of freedom of assembly.

Representatives of the LGBT organization are working on these issues, and it is necessary that politicians also have a non-discriminatory attitude. Their goal should be for the state to be able to solve these problems.”

Kristi: “I vote for the opposition; the government must change.

 As for the problem, I think that, in general, poverty is the main problem of this country. The problem of the LGBT community is discrimination as well.

From what I have observed, community members under the age of 25 have problems with their families. There should be both financial assistance and housing for these people; because, often, they are left homeless and there are no jobs for them to be employed at.

 Also, they should not be isolated from society.”

Alex Baghdasarov: “Now I am active in my party membership, in the Labor Party I support Mikheil Kumsishvili and in the proportion – Badirov. I have had other party memberships before, for example: European Georgia, I got involved in their campaign during the presidential elections in Georgia. From day one, everyone in this party knew about my orientation. Although the party leader is more conservative (meaning Shalva Natelashvili), no one has ever had a problem with my orientation. I am a member of an ethnic minority, I am an ethnic Armenian and I am in some elections in Akhalkalaki, currently I am number one on the list in Akhalkalaki from the Labor Party.

It was my personal choice because I know the people there well and there was a lot of support from the party as well. Here, there would be a possibility of pressure on me and the competition in this city is too high.

I have developed a strategy on how to solve the problems of the LGBTQ community. First of all, we should enable the queer community to hold a peaceful rally. This is the first thing that needs to be done.”

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