Comments on: Homophobia in the South Caucasus http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/ Journalism and Photography from Armenia and the Surrounding Region Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:39:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: Vartuhi http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4265 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:42:41 +0100 http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4265 I don't see Armenia on this list of the worst nations to live in if one is gay: http://www.southernvoice.com/2006/3-17/news/national/abuse.cfm And ironically, most of those nations aren't Christian. There are a lot of other abominations. Any that you engage in? Reading your horoscope? Trimming or shaving your facial hair? Wear a mix of wool and linen? How about cotton and polyester? http://home.earthlink.net/~ggghostie/abominations.html I don’t see Armenia on this list of the worst nations to live in if one is gay:
http://www.southernvoice.com/2006/3-17/news/national/abuse.cfm

And ironically, most of those nations aren’t Christian.

There are a lot of other abominations. Any that you engage in? Reading your horoscope?
Trimming or shaving your facial hair? Wear a mix of wool and linen? How about cotton and polyester?

http://home.earthlink.net/~ggghostie/abominations.html

]]> by: Vartuhi http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4264 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:36:49 +0100 http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4264 Hovik, it is 2007. Wake up and join the human race. Hovik, it is 2007. Wake up and join the human race.

]]> by: Vartuhi http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4250 Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:50:33 +0100 http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4250 Way to publicly proclaim that you are a bigot, Hovik. Way to publicly proclaim that you are a bigot, Hovik.

]]> by: artmika http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4237 Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:05:44 +0100 http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/07/25/notes-from-the-armenian-georgian-blogosphere/#comment-4237 It’s good to see increasing number of Armenian bloggers that reflect gay issues. I completely agree with your main statement in relation to gay rights that “it’s a matter of human rights, plain and simple.” That’s exactly my point. Unfortunately, even within groups which aimed at protection of human rights and promotion of equality and tolerance (or claimed to be so), we frequently see shying away of or ignoring gay rights, or even worse, in some cases even promotion of blatant homophobia, as if it has nothing to do with human rights, as if you can promote hateful towards one group of people, one minority but defend rights of others. As one European MP recently said, there is no such thing as Human Rights Light in which you can just avoid gay issues. Yes, luckily, as you pointed out, there are currently some venues in Yerevan (handful though) where gay Armenians may go and feel reasonably safe and enjoy their time. However, other than that, in their majority, they continue leading hidden/double life, since any exposure in our conservative and predominantly homophobic society may result in abuse, from verbal to physical, ruin of career or devastations in family relationships... Even in relatively more open-minded Georgia, the situation is not too different from here, or South Caucasus, in general. One of the main reasons that Josh Haglund’s murder became so known is because he was American and his family pursue the case, although without any success so far. In fact, there are many other speculations as to the reasons of his murder… In democratic countries, any suspected hate crime would have opened up discussions and legislative measures to potentially prevent similar cases in future and to deal with the roots of the problem. In Armenia, paradoxically it may seem, as you rightly pointed out, it led to increase in homophobia and ill-treatment by law-enforcement agencies of representatives of gay community. While decriminalisation of gay male sex was an important step forward towards LGBT rights, till now Armenian legislation does not contain a single provision on discrimination based on or due to sexual orientation. It’s good to see increasing number of Armenian bloggers that reflect gay issues. I completely agree with your main statement in relation to gay rights that “it’s a matter of human rights, plain and simple.” That’s exactly my point. Unfortunately, even within groups which aimed at protection of human rights and promotion of equality and tolerance (or claimed to be so), we frequently see shying away of or ignoring gay rights, or even worse, in some cases even promotion of blatant homophobia, as if it has nothing to do with human rights, as if you can promote hateful towards one group of people, one minority but defend rights of others. As one European MP recently said, there is no such thing as Human Rights Light in which you can just avoid gay issues.

Yes, luckily, as you pointed out, there are currently some venues in Yerevan (handful though) where gay Armenians may go and feel reasonably safe and enjoy their time. However, other than that, in their majority, they continue leading hidden/double life, since any exposure in our conservative and predominantly homophobic society may result in abuse, from verbal to physical, ruin of career or devastations in family relationships… Even in relatively more open-minded Georgia, the situation is not too different from here, or South Caucasus, in general.

One of the main reasons that Josh Haglund’s murder became so known is because he was American and his family pursue the case, although without any success so far. In fact, there are many other speculations as to the reasons of his murder… In democratic countries, any suspected hate crime would have opened up discussions and legislative measures to potentially prevent similar cases in future and to deal with the roots of the problem. In Armenia, paradoxically it may seem, as you rightly pointed out, it led to increase in homophobia and ill-treatment by law-enforcement agencies of representatives of gay community.

While decriminalisation of gay male sex was an important step forward towards LGBT rights, till now Armenian legislation does not contain a single provision on discrimination based on or due to sexual orientation.

]]>