Together for better

I am in Zagreb this week with one of our active volunteer, participating in International Conference. Different organization from Balkans, Arab World and Caucasus are here, sharing their experience, success stories, difficulties and developments.

Another team of 4 people are in Greece now; they are involved in environmental project there, presented environmental issues of Armenia, mainly the problems of Teghut Forest.

And the editor of “As you” e-mag is in the USA, participating in the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

The rest of our team with the help of international and local volunteers are conducted seminars and meetings, preparing new activities, getting ready for historical upcoming events.

What gives us power and makes our work more effective is positive attitude of our supporters. When I look around to see international experience and also developments in my country, I understand that this young organization with a pink heart gained a lot in its 5 years.

This year is so important for us, this year we celebrate the 5^th year of our activism as an organization. This is not only our anniversary but also for those who believe that one day the world will become a safer place for all of us to live in.

And this is really exciting to see the link that our friend and famous blogger Mika shared on his Facebook wall that via socialbakers.com PINK is among the top 5 Armenian brands in Facebook. Based on the same source PINK is also among the top 5 Armenian brands in Youtube and its “As You” e-magazine is in the top list of the media in Facebook.

Mamikon Hovsepyan

proud to work with the team of professionals at PINK

Day of silence

On April 20 we keep silent to be heard, what do you do to break the silence?

The main purpose of this day is to get the public’s attention, by raising awareness on the issues of violence, intolerance, harassment, and discrimination and by developing relevant and effective solutions in an effort to eliminate them. The International Day of Silence is directed to the world wide public and aims to capture people’s attention on the spread of hate crimes against LGBT communities, homophobia, bullying, physical and psychological abuse, discrimination and intolerance. Every year, thousands of people take part in the events dedicated to the Day of Silence in an effort to increase participation and activism for the reduction of homophobia in educational institutions. This is an opportunity to show the public that this problem concerns not only the LGBT people, but also us, our family members, relatives, friends and all layers of the society.

Day by day, thousands of people keep silent. They keep silent because they are afraid. They keep silent because they are what they are. Our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our friends and coworkers are among them, homosexuals and heterosexuals keep silent, you keep silent and I also keep silent. This is the silence of the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people about discrimination, violence, harassment, which they permanently face. On this day, their silence will be heard all over the world. Millions of people will keep silent in different parts of the world, regardless of their nationality, religion, sex, age, profession, sexual orientation and other personal qualities. They will keep silent because they believe that harassment and discrimination must end. In countries where LGBT rights are better respected, they will keep silent for the educational institutions on its mission to become safer for everyone, regardless of nationality, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics. Finally, in countries where LGBT rights are not protected, the Day of Silence is dedicated to the elimination of homophobia and prevention of hate crimes. People are taking part in the Day of Silence to elucidate this issue and let LGBT people feel that they are not alone.