What is L, G, B, T, I, Q in our context?

At the 3rd Regional Network Against Homophobia held in Croatia during 10th Zagreb Festival, panelists from Serbia and Albania took the floor to discuss on “LGBTIQ – Are those letters enough? Is someone missinng? What is L, G, B, T, I, Q in our context?” The panel was held with the moderation of Nevin Öztop from Kaos GL on April 27, 2012.

 

The panelists and the participants of the Regional Network discussed on the cultural usages of the terms “LGBT, LGBTTT, LGBTQ, LGBTTTI, LGBTQI, SOGI, gay and homosexual”. The key questions of the forum were:

 

Can we do human rights based activism with the term queer?

The terms gay and lesbian were used to give visibility and voice to non-heterosexuals. Now does queer give visibility to certain identities among the movement, such as trans men, bisexuals, intersex?

Can queer be adjusted to all contexts and cultures?

Can LGBTIQ be adjusted to all contexts and cultures?

 

Boban Stojanovic from Serbian organization Queeria Center underlined the importance for him to use the terms for identities such as lesbian and gay instead of using abbreviations of terminologies.

 

Sasa Gavric from the Bosnian organization Sarajevo Open Center then shared his input: “I want to go back to the title of the Forum. In all these letters, our connection to anti-fascism and to feminism is not visible. We should underline our position in our politics.”

 

Regional Network Against Homophobia meeting that was initiated by Kaos GL in May 2011 and February 2012 is now being organized in the Balkans. The host of the meeting is the organization Queer Zagreb and the dates are April 25-29, 2012. The participating countries of the 3rd meeting are Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, France, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Montenegro, Palestine, Serbia, the Nedherlands, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States.