Social Work with People Practicing Same-Sex ... - ILGA Europe

9. Sociological studies.
Results of various sociological studies are another serious argument, which can be
always used during the advocacy campaign. It is very good, when such studies become
an integral part of the campaign. However, advocacy campaign can utilize not only
results of special studies, commissioned by the advocacy agents, but also results of
external research that deal with the advocacy issue. Key task here is to find them.
10. Petitions and appeals to international bodies.
It is excellent advocacy tool: we basically secure external support. We can appeal to
both governmental and non-governmental bodies regarding the subject matter of our
advocacy. The former include the office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights; the latter include the International Lesbian and gay Association (ILGA).
The efficiency of this advocacy tool is vividly illustrated by the words of well-known
opponent of LGBT movement, communist Leonid Grach (March 2007): “I received this
angry letter from America. When they were translating it, I though it concerned my
anti-NATO statements. It turned out to be from American homosexuals, who criticized
my words…”
A number of international organizations have their representative offices in Ukraine.
In some cases cooperation with Ukrainian offices of international organizations can
contribute to fulfilment of advocacy objectives.
In 2007, during the development of Ukraine's proposal to the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Ukrainian LGBT and MSM-service organizations, which
advocated the MSM component in the proposal, were actively cooperating with the
UNAIDS (the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS) Country Office in Ukraine.
It was one of important factors for the success of advocacy efforts.
Males do not represent
two discrete populations,
heterosexual and homosexual.
The world is not to be divided
into sheep and goats. Not all
things are black nor all things
white. It is a fundamental of
taxonomy that nature rarely
deals with discrete categories.
Only the human mind invents
categories and tries to force
facts into separated pigeonholes.
The living world is a
continuum in each and every one
of its aspects.
Alfred Kinsey, an American
biologist, 1894—1956. Sexual
Behaviour in the Human Male,
1948
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