Gender Democracy - Armenia

On October 25-28, 2016, the Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office, in cooperation with partners, hosted a group of activists, representatives of Armenian CSOs and LGBTI organizations in the scope of a capacity-building tour, which aimed to connect these actors with LGBTI organizations, other NGOs and equality body representatives in Georgia.

“Every single time we gather and discuss the issues which are more than important nowadays for achieving equality and non-discrimination towards the LGBTI community and allies, I proudly understand one simple fact: Who, if not us? And, when, if not now?" – Arman Sahakyan, New Generation Humanitarian NGO, Armenia

In Armenia, everyone is proud of Sergei Parajanov. He is characterized among the most original film directors of the 20th century and has as a result been recognized by colleagues in the same league as French director Jean-Luc Godard. The fact that Parajanov, who died in 1990, spent five years in prison during the Soviet era because he supposedly propagated homosexuality is mostly kept quiet, however. When people refer to this, it is immediately assumed that they do so in order to denigrate Parajanov.