Gay Rights Unr Attack Armenia | Instute for War and Peace Reportg

Contents:

• IT'S HARD TO BE GAY ARMENIA
• GAY RIGHTS UNR ATTACK ARMENIA
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• DEATH OF YOUNG GAY UPLE REFOC ATTENTN ON HOMOPHOBIA ARMENIA

IT'S HARD TO BE GAY ARMENIA

Armenia SurveysOrthodox Christian Support for Church's Posn of Refg to Perform Same-Sex MarriageHistoryHomosexual activy Armenia? Homosexual activy Armenia is legal. Servg openly ary Armenia is don't ask, don't 't Ask, Don't Tell Acrdg to the Helski Rights Commtee Armenia, 2004, an ternal fence mistry cree effectively bans gay men om servg the armed forc.

In practice, gays are marked as "mentally ill" and sent to a donatns by MSMs Armenia? Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people Armenia ntue to face harassment, discrimatn, and vlence.

Durg the pre-electn perd, policians ed homophobia to advance their mpaigns by smearg LGBT people as a threat to the fay, natnal inty, and natnal secury. A homophobic attack a small village southern Armenia has generated a public discsn about human rights Armenia and a challenge to the new prime mister. Last week, imag of a bloodied face of a lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) rights activist spread wily Armenia – a victim of a mob attack Shurnoh village, where he and several others were guts at the home of fellow LGBT activist, Hayk Hakobyan.

GAY RIGHTS UNR ATTACK ARMENIA

They shouted homophobic slurs and threats, mandg that Hakobyan and his guts leave the village. Hakobyan and his iends fled the hoe and the crowd ran after them, htg, kickg, throwg ston, and shoutg “get rid of those gays” and “tch them and beat them up. Last April, Hakobyan was the victim of a homophobic asslt Goris.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

Homophobic ments the Armenian media – cludg by public figur – lored the public bate on the attack. It’s hard to avoid the imprsn that some officials are g Armenia’s pervasive homophobia to mobilize the public agast new Prime Mister Nikol Pashyan, who embrac human rights cludg LGBT rights. Earlier this month, Armenia’s Crimal Court of Appeal led there had not been a proper vtigatn to a vlent homophobic attack two years ago agast a group of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) activists.

The crowd shouted homophobic slurs and threats, mandg the activists leave the village. They chased members of the group, htg, kickg, and throwg ston at them, and shoutg “Get rid of those gays!

DEATH OF YOUNG GAY UPLE REFOC ATTENTN ON HOMOPHOBIA ARMENIA

For years, the Armenian ernment has failed to effectively vtigate anti-LGBT vlence the untry, and homophobia remas wispread. It would be a step the right directn the fight agast homophobia the untry.

Life for LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr) people Armenia, a socially nservative society where homophobia remas entrenched, is not difficulti are multiplied for those livg outsi the pal, where society is even ls tolerant towards LGBT people. Socialisg is particularly difficult, wh no LGBT-iendly venu and few public plac where gay people n be sure they will not be subject to (not his real name), 25, said that there were no public entertament spac Gyumri or Vanadzor, the untry´s send and third largt ci rpectively, where LGBT people uld feel safe. “Yerevan also do not have a particularly iendly attu towards gays, but this is the only place Armenia where you n feel relatively ee, ” he Gabrielyan, head of the New Generatn NGO, believ that such tolerant attus towards LGBT people more remote plac of the untry has ed ternal migratn.

Outsi the pal, is extremely difficult to live a gay liftyle, ” Gabrielyan said, whose anisatn works to protect the rights of LGBT people across Armenia. 8 per cent of the 1, 017 people terviewed said they did not want to see gay upl holdg hands the street and 97. Among the hundreds of rtrants, pubs and ffee shops Yerevan, not a sgle public entertament venue ters to the members of the LGBT 2012, the DIY Club Yerevan - known as a gay hangout – was firebombed and s owner harassed.

(See also Gay Rights Unr Attack Armenia) then, no one has dared to open a public entertament venue for LGBT people Armenia. There is a private social club for gay men and transgenr women Yerevan, which is open daily to members and their (not her real name) the club’s 32-year-old director, is origally om Vanadzor. When she moved to the pal to jo her brother, she found out that he was gay.

Sometim I jt say that this is a gay club, and people will go away. It proved that the muny needs such events, ” Sarkis Ishkhanyan, edor--chief of Inknagir Lerary Magaze, has wrten about LGBT issu for a long first article on gay men was published 2002, when homosexualy was still officially illegal Armenia. When I published my first article, after readg , one of the lol edors said wh fear that he wouldn't like his son to read this article, ” Iskhanyan followg year Armenia joed the Council of Europe and homosexualy was crimalised.

“Today, there are homosexuals who publilly acknowledge their sexual orientatn, ” Ishkhanyan said. “In the 2000s, there were many s of homosexuals who were murred.

Authori drafted a law on the rights of people wh disabili, but at time of wrg, has not yet been troduced Orientatn and Genr Inty (SOGI)Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people often face harassment, discrimatn, and vlence. The crimal do not regnize homophobia and transphobia as aggravatg crimal circumstanc. PINK Armenia, an LGBT rights group, documented at least 17 cints of physil attacks based on sexual orientatn or genr inty om January through Augt Febary, Max Varzhapetyan, 24, a gay activist, was asslted and beaten on a Yerevan street.

Three men chased him, shoutg profani and homophobic slurs. Law enforcement refed to lnch an vtigatn, cg lack of crimal gay men fear for their physil secury the ary, and some seek exemptn om obligatory ary service. For example, January, officers at a ary draft board subjected Artak Arakelyan, a 19-year-old queer activist, to abe and discrimatn, g homophobic slurs to scribe him, mockg him, and threateng to out him to his parent.

Gay Rights Unr Attack Armenia Firebombg of bar, and the approval met wh, are tellg ditors of hostily towards sexual mori. (Photo: Anah Hayrapetyan) Police stand between anti-gay monstratn and diversy para.

(Photo: Anah Hayrapetyan) Attacks on a bar central Yerevan and trouble at a march support of tolerance show jt how far away Armenia is om the equaly s nstutn proclaims, activists DIY Club, known as a gay hangout, was firebombed on May 8. This outraged civil right activists, who said the statements ntributed to cg attacks that took place on a diversy march that monstratn was held to mark World Day of Cultural Diversy on May 21, and clud refuge and ethnic mori as well as homosexuals.

However, s opponents were nvced was a gay pri para, so they staged what they scribed as an “anti-para”, which end wh them nontg the marchers.

And on Diversy Day, there was an even bigger clash, ” said Mamikon Hovsepyan, one of the anisers of the diversy para and head of the PINK group, which mpaigns for public awarens of gay rights issu.