‘Marriage is not the end of what you would wish to get.’

 

We are the “Rainbowhouse”. It is a Brussels-based organization. We are a bi-lingual organization. There is also the “Çavaria” for LGBTI people in the North which is the Dutch speaking region. Then there is the “Arc en ciel wallonie” which is for the French speaking part in the South. A lot of the advocacy on legislation is done by Çavaria. They were influential for the gay marriage law for instance.

 

What the Rainbowhouse is doing is that we are there for other organizations. French speaking gay students’ organization is having a meeting below, as you saw. “Merhaba” has an office upstairs for instance. Most of the work is done by volunteers here. “Fuchsia” organization for instance is working for elderly Dutch speaking lesbians. And they are all a part of the Rainbowhouse.

 

The Belgium Pride started an initiative for LGBT asylum seekers; that shows me people in Brussels really try to do a change for the whole community.

 

“Merhaba” is working on migrants, religion and racism. I have a friend named Zahra. “My sister Zahra” is a documentary done by the sister of this lesbian with a Moroccan backgound. Her father was Moroccon and her mother was Flemish.

 

Brussels entertainment scene is mostly for men and it is very much commercialized. Our place is for cultural events and run by volunteers, not for commercialization. We don’t yet have a place for lesbians only. This place is open everyday except for Monday. It can be rentet for free by member organizations.  The philosphy of this place is to be welcoming and be affordable. That is our philosophy. Every afternoon is a good time for people to drop by and get answers for their questions. We always refer them to experts.

 

We also get a lot of asylum seekers, but we are not supposed to “promote” migration. That is why it is a sensitive issue.

 

Anti-Discrimination law is very important for LGBTI people. It protects people based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex and so on. It gives legal protection, which is very crucial. That means in Belgium homophobia is punishable.

 

The second part of the legal aspect of rights is the gay marriage. We are the second country in the world for having gay marriages, which happened in 2003. So we get the same rights of straight couples.

 

However there are still some troubles for adoptions, so that should be revised immediately. Also for lesbians, adoption is so much easier; for men, it is a journey. But even for lesbians, it takes 2 years to adopt the child of your partner. Also you have to go through a 30 hours of “parenthood classes” to see if you are fit for it or not.

 

All the work starts with the political leaders, and it takes a while to spread it to the society itself. In the last year, there has been 3 cases of homophobic attacks which made it to the media. Marriage is not the end of what you would wish to get. Belgium is a very good bad example of this.

 

(Joris Gilleir)  

After 6 months, even foreign couples can get marriage recognition. But one day these people could go home and loose all the rights they have. Brussels offer adoption, but when they go back to where they come from, the children recognized as not having parents.

 

One of my friends who is French gave up on her life in France and came here and got married. And she invited the whole organization to the wedding, as we were the only people who she knew.

 

I am from the “Homoparentalites” organization, I am the father of a young girl. The organization is active since three years.