The question asking what your personal opinion on homophobia is was the main focus of the first online consultation by policy officer E.G. that took place this week. The topic was not kept so much on personal opinions but did open up for many interesting areas in which AEGEE can progress on the topic of homophobia.
A mentioned before, combating homophobia in sports is a topic on the agenda of the Sports Working Group and therefore it took me only a few seconds to forward the invitation for the online consultation on homophobia by policy officer E.G. Unfortunately, the invitation was issued to ANNOUNCE-L on the day of the meeting making it quite difficult for members to plan ahead to attend it which also could be seen in the participation in the actual meeting. Nonetheless, it was still very interesting and granted knowledge about the situation of homophobia in the Netherlands, Greece, Spain and Denmark that Eline can move forward with.
Big city equals big minds and small city equals small minds?
First of all, the members of the meeting discussed the situation of homophobia in the different countries. On one side you would find countries quite religious such as Greece and Spain and less progressed in the terms of acknowledging homosexuals and on the other side there would be countries more open towards homosexuals celebrating gay parades, allowing gay marriage, adoption and more such as Denmark and the Netherlands. In one country it can be completely normal for straight people to go to parties at gay bars with their homosexual friends without friends and strangers questioning your sexuality whereas in other countries entering such a club will put a label on you in 30 seconds or less. Why do homosexual people go to parties at clubs filled with heterosexual people all the time, but if the tables were turned the frequency of club visits is much lower? This topic is not only something that has been discussed in this online consultation but has also been a suggestion that came forward when the Action Agenda Committee brainstormed on ideas for Activities for Summer University (SU) organisers to add to their preliminary program: take the participants of the SU to a gay club/bar, and it will be interesting to see if this will actually happen this summer.
Back to the online consultation, the talk went on, and the topic of big cities versus smaller cities did occur and it was discussed whether people in larger cities such as the capitals would be more open-minded than people from smaller cities. It was a pity that not more members could add information about the topic since we have members in AEGEE of a large range of different sizes. Hopefully that will happen in the next online consultation on this subject.
Are we more open-minded in AEGEE?
Question number one: Do you stop and stare in if two people of different genders kiss in public? Question number two: Do you stop and stare if two people of the same gender kiss in public?
This was an interesting topic of discussion that continued the meeting because it is not a rare case that people tend to look twice if they see something they are not used to. They might not mean harm, whereas in some cases they will try to be funny which ends up hurting other people but the reality is that when one thinks twice about the situation we might not be as open-minded as we think in AEGEE. This meeting made me wonder if we are open to inclusion of minorities in every single way in AEGEE or if the situation could be better.
In the end everybody agreed that the state of this subject differs very much from country to country and this raises the matter if it is even possible to achieve something within this area or if it is too delicate to discuss. Some people think that gay people do not exist, others use disgraceful taunts at homosexual people, and others welcome them with open arms (and hearts). Does this differentiation make it too difficult to work with homophobia in AEGEE? The Sports Working Group does it and Eline is not afraid either to take on the subject because as she said “if we don’t try then we don’t know if we can succeed!”
The session was one of many online consultations that will take place, and hopefully more people will join the discussion next time.
Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København