23/10/2023 | Writer: Selma Koçak
What is Positive Space, what does it do and what does it aim?
What is Positive Space?
Positive Space has been performing as a joint working group of Kaos GL and May 17 associations since 2021.Positive Space, which was created with the aim of providing a space for LGBTI+s living with HIV to make their voices heard, acts as a bridge between LGBTI+ organizations and rights-based organizations working in the field of HIV. In this context, Positive Space has already brought together organizations working in the field of HIV and LGBTI+ organizations on a number of occasions, both in person and online. It has also organized capacity building trainings for social workers, mental health professionals and lawyers since its inception. It continues to organize these kind of sessions, and sometimes HIV101 workshops open to all.
The “Report on the Human Rights of LGBTI+ Persons Living with HIV”, which focuses on human rights violations faced by LGBTI+ people living with HIV, and the book titled From AIDS to HIV Activism: Left of Yesterday, which focuses on interviews conducted with health professionals in the field and subjects, are among the key outputs of Positive Space.
What are you doing to promote an inclusive policy?
Positive Space is the joint working group of Kaos GL and May 17 associations and acts
in the spirit of Kaos GL's past rights-based HIV policy and with the motivation of the 17 May Association to focus on LGBTI+ people living with HIV. Positive Space includes both activists and subjects as a working group. It carries out all its work in a way that focuses on LGBTI+ people living with HIV, both for itself and for Kaos GL and 17 May Associations. In this context, it organizes in-house workshops and is currently working on an HIV policy document.
What do you think we need for a future without discrimination against LGBTI+ Persons living with HIV?
For a future free of discrimination against LGBTI+ persons living with HIV, practices of discrimination and violence against LGBTI+ persons living with HIV and LGBTI+ people need to be made visible. More organizations focusing on LGBTI+ persons living with HIV and producing rights-based policies need to come together and work to create spaces where people can make their voices heard.
Tags: human rights
