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

Media campaigns Large groups, entire
population
Working with media Large groups of people —
occasionally
Purposeful shaping of
generally neutral attitude
to homosexual people in the
case of long-term and wellplanned
media campaign
Raising awareness of
a problem. Possible
strengthening of a negative
affect as counter-balance
Comparative tables below highlight pluses and minuses of various approaches and
methods following the description of these methods.
Individual method of responding to homophobia may be applied by practically any
member of the LGBT community, who reads popular science books/sites and is able to
clearly express one's ideas. This method does not require any material expenses and
combines a low coverage with a high quality impact.
To begin with, this method is based on personal experience of discussing with people
various LGBT stereotypes and myths. For different target audiences you may act as
either an interlocutor or expert in this area of knowledge.
For instance, with your close environment (family, friends and work colleagues),
at a convenient occasion, you may conduct educational discussions, share your life
experience as a homosexual person, tell them about problems and pleasant events, lend
them books on the subject or watch movies together (e.g. “If the walls could speak“).
At the opportunity of talking in person to specialists or government officials (MPs, civil
servants, journalists, academics, students etc.) you may act as an expert, demonstrating
not your personal difficulties but generalized tendencies and problems characteristic
of homosexual men and women in our society and in the world, referring to research and
scholarly papers in this area.
The individual method also include various methods of individual counselling provided
by social services as well as such outstanding project, in terms of their impact, as “Living
Library“ 1 , where every “living book“ is an expert in his/her area. In the framework of
such project, everybody has a unique opportunity to meet members of stigmatized
communities. For the first time “Living Library“ was held in Kyiv in 2008 on occasion
of AIDS Memorial Day. More than 20 “books“ participated in it representing a vast
diversity of subjects: refugees and migrants, HIV/AIDS, Roma, drug use, history of Kyiv,
sex business, travelling around the world, gays, lesbians etc. On LGBT subjects there
were 6 “living books“, and it is worth noting that these “books“ enjoyed the highest
popularity among the “Living Library“ visitors.
Individual method:
1. Communication with the close environment: family, friends and colleagues
2. Personal contacts: with opinion leaders, members of local self-governments
and MPs, civil servants, journalists and media editors, academics, experts, and
students.
3. “Living Library“ Project
4. Counselling for the close environment of LGBT, experts and media.
Pluses Minuses
• provides significant personal
experience of positive
communication
• Changes attitude to specific
person and LGBT in general
• Does not ensure broad coverage
• Delayed impact
• Ad hoc nature, hard to plan
• Once started one has to continue educating
people all one's life
My sexuality is my own sexuality.
It doesn“t belong to anybody.
Not to my government, not to
my brother, my sister, my family.
No one.
Ashraf Zanati
Homosexuality — is not
perversion. Perversion is grass
hockey and ice ballet!
Faina Ranevskaya (nee
Feldman), Russian actress,
1895—1984
1 In Living Library project people
appear in the role of living books.
For more detail see http://www.
livinglibrary.org.ua/
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