You can talk to me now, I am gay

On February 24, a press conference took place at Yerevan’s Media Center (media-center.am) on “Violence against Sexual Minorities: The Approaches of Law Enforcement and Healthcare System”, which was live streamed via YouTube. The speakers of the press conference were Mamikon Hovsepyan, Executive Director of PINK Armenia, Sergey Gabrielyan and Artur Makaryan of New Generation Humanitarian NGO, and Sona Harutyunyan, lecturer at the Medical Psychology Department of Yerevan State Medical University. The recent homophobic attack on LGBT activists, as well as other matters regarding discrimination and hatred towards LGBTQ people was discussed during the press conference. A journalist from hraparak.am asked a question on whether it would be admissible to see homosexual people during the day walking in the streets if anti-discrimination legislation is passed in Armenia. Hovsepyan in turn asked the journalist if she sees homosexuals during the day. The journalist said yes, and that it was “not normal” to her. In response to her statement, Hovsepyan asked if it was “normal” for the journalist to be talking to him, to which she said, “Yes.” “I am homosexual,” said Mamikon in response, coming out publicly in front of journalists and cameras.

CivilNet video-report: We are pretty intolerant

Based on the report:

In Armenia, many people do not want to live next-door to couples who are not married, speakers of other languages, or people who are disabled or wealthy. Ninety-four percent also do not want to have neighbors who are gay.

• A large majority of Armenians, more than 80% said they would not want their neighbors to be drag-addicts, AIDS patients or alcoholics.
• Lots of people would also not want their neighbors unmarried couples (48%), speakers of other languages (28%), people with disabilities (37%) or rich (29%).
• 94% would not want their neighbors to be gay.
• 70% do not want neighbors of a different religion.

Another survey also conducted in Armenia in 2012 showed that the main reason for intolerance is lack of communication and unfamiliarity with other cultures. This is the primary reason for intolerance in mono-ethnic countries such as Armenia, where more than 90% of the population is Armenian.

We deserve better!

Read also: Attitudes towards Homosexuality in the South Caucasus (CRRC - Caucasus Research Resource Centers)

sources: CivilNet and Unzipped: Gay Armenia

All 47 Counsil of Europe countries unanimously agree on historic human rights recommendations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

On March 31, 2010 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, representing the national governments of its 47 Member States, unanimously adopted historic Recommendations on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. This is the world’s first intergovernmental agreement codifying the application of human rights standards to LGBT people.

The Recommendations establish how international human rights standards should be applied to LGBT people and contain specific measures for Member States on how they should improve their legislation, policies and practices to address discrimination against LGBT people in such areas as

- hate crime and hate speech;
- freedom of association, expression and peaceful assembly;
- right to respect for private and family life;
- employment;
- education;
- health;
- housing;
- sports;
- right to seek asylum.

Additionally, the Recommendations prescribe that Member States should ensure that national human rights structures are clearly mandated to address discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. They also encourage Member States to address multiple discrimination experienced by LGBT people.

ILGA-Europe’s only regret is that the Member States did not go as far as we hoped for in some areas, particularly family rights.

Martin K.I. Christensen, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, said:
“This is a truly historical development! For the first time in history the European continent came together to codify human rights’ applications to LGBT people. As we celebrate this landmark in European human rights history, we also hope that these Recommendations will help to advance the human rights for LGBT people beyond Europe. ”

Linda Freimane, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board, added:
“These Recommendations go well beyond the current situation in many European countries for LGBT people and will surely serve as a blueprint for our members in working with their national governments. We will also follow closely the three year review mechanism agreed by the Committee of Ministers to ensure the full implementation. Finally, we encourage the Council of Europe to organise a campaign among its Member States to promote these Recommendations.”

The Committee of Ministers is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Foreign Affairs Ministers of all the Member States, or their permanent diplomatic representatives in Strasbourg.

The full text of the Recommendations is available on the Committee of Minister’s website.

sources: ILGA-Europe
Unzipped: Gay Armenia

Armenia: Gays live with threats of violence, abuse [EurasiaNet report]

Two years after Yerevan signed an international agreement to uphold the civil rights of gays, homosexuals in Armenia still face the constant threat of physical abuse and social isolation because of their sexual orientation.

"When my parents learned that I was homosexual, they first beat me and then kicked me out," Armen, a 22-year-old Yerevan resident who works as a teacher, told EurasiaNet.org. "Even now, after years have gone by, my mother doesn’t let me in, and some of my friends keep asking whether I’m really one of ’those’ people."

Armen (not his real name) says he realized he was gay at the age of 13 when he fell in love with his classmate. He met his first boyfriend in an online chat room when he was 20.

"I introduced him to my parents as just one of my friends. But one day my mother saw me kissing him, and that’s when all this started," Armen said. "My mother yelled that I’d better be dead, and my brother left the army to come home and beat me. So I went to live in the streets." Armen now lives with his grandmother.

Homosexuality has not been a criminal offense in Armenia since 2003; two years ago, the country signed the United Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which asserts the right to equal treatment regardless of sexual orientation or gender. It has also ratified a protocol to the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms that bans all forms of discrimination.

But gay Armenians are still often the targets of discrimination. Aside from the risk of losing work, homosexuals face becoming social outcasts - a heavy burden in Armenia’s communal, family-centric culture. Some families have been known to emigrate to escape the stigma of having a gay family member. Similar social prejudices prevail in neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan as well.

The United States Department of State’s 2009 Human Rights Report described the Armenian public’s views on gays as "highly unfavorable;" homosexuality is "largely" seen as "an affliction," the report found. [For additional information click here].

"Armenia has always been intolerant toward homosexuals," commented Mikael Danielian, the chairperson of the Helsinki Association of Armenia, a human rights non-governmental organization.

Danielian says that his organization regularly receives alarming calls about attacks on suspected homosexuals. But criminal cases for the assaults usually are not filed because victims are afraid of publicity and additional public scorn, he said.

"Frankly speaking, we cannot do anything in these cases," Danielian said. Sometimes, gays who have been the alleged victims of discrimination simply want attacks mentioned in the organization’s reports, he added.

One recent assault was reported in mid-February when local media outlets claimed that Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglarian had ordered police officers to use force against suspected homosexuals and transvestites who allegedly routinely gathered in a park adjacent to the mayor’s office. Yerevan mayor spokesperson Anzhela Martirosian declined to comment on the reports, maintaining that the incident "didn’t concern the mayor’s functions."

One new political group has welcomed what it sees as the mayor’s decision to rid the Armenian capital of homosexuals. The National Conservative Movement, a small right-wing party founded last year, hailed Mayor Beglarian as a "true Armenian man" and urged supporters to continue attacking homosexuals.

Gay rights and violence against homosexuals are not issues that other political parties -- whether members of Armenia’s governing coalition, or in the opposition -- discuss publicly.

The Armenian Apostolic Church is similarly reticent. Father Vahram Melikian, spokesperson for the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, identified homosexuality as "a sin" and "negative phenomenon."

"[B]ut even these people can be granted absolution and come back to the right path," Father Melikian said.
Anti-gay attitudes appear to run particularly strong in the military. Since 2004, gays have been exempted from military service for supposedly being mentally ill.

One man, who gave his name as Narek, told EurasiaNet.org that an army officer had beaten him when he revealed his homosexuality during a psychiatric exam for military service. Narek claims that he spent three days in a mental hospital and was discharged from military service with the diagnosis of a "personality disorder."

One non-governmental organization, Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK Armenia), was formed in 2007. It aims to raise awareness about minority rights, and advocates for a break with traditional prejudices. "We live in an atmosphere where people are full of hateful words against homosexuals, and this drives them to commit hate crimes," commented Marina Margarian, PINK Armenia’s project coordinator. "An atmosphere exists where being gay is a terrible disgrace and beating a gay person is an honorable act."

Given the fear of reprisals, many Armenian homosexuals try to keep their contacts with other gays as discreet as possible. The members-only Armenian gay social network www.GayArmenia.com thoroughly scrutinizes a candidate’s personal data before admitting him as a member. The website has about 1,000 registered users, half of whom live in Armenia.

"The access to the website is limited for security reasons because many people were afraid to place their photos. And we had to create a place where homosexual men could meet safely," said GayArmenia.com founder Micha Meroujean.

Reason exists for such caution, states one gay young man, who claims that some his friends were badly beaten by unknown assailants after trying to establish contact with an allegedly gay man through an online dating service.

Chances for change appear slim. Said Meroujean, who emigrated from Armenia to Europe to escape mistreatment: "Society’s bad attitude again and again shoves Armenia’s homosexuals into the closet."

Marianna Grigoryan
freelance reporter based in Yerevan

source: EurasiaNet

Each illiterate gives him/her right to express an opinion

You know now I’m sitting trying to express my opinion about Armenian journalists’ illiteracy and permissiveness on a sheet of paper but when I remember what kind of people they are I just can’t find words to fully describe, but anyway I’ll try...
It’s a pity but again l have read a homophobic article in an Armenian newspaper lately. Getting acquainted with the authors writing style I remembered fragments from my work experience with mentally ill people as the author were periodically trying to touch different topics not keeping logical connection and of course trying to devote the most part of his article to the slander of homosexuals.
It makes an impression that our journalists don’t have any other topic to write an article, don’t have any other way to get the name of cool people and also earn a few coins more. Each illiterate gives him/her right to express an opinion about the issues concerning which he/she doesn’t have any idea. I think that it is meaningless to explain that kind of narrow minded people what human dignity, respect, philanthropy and these kind of high ideas mean.
I don’t know why but almost all journalists mainly discuss the topic of homosexuality, I don’t know why but they never remember that there were and are many outstanding people among them, they just insist that it is amoral. It is evident misinformation of the society.
I don’t think that people deserve respect when they have an opportunity to provide information to wide masses and do it by spreading their personal opinion besides that when they dare to perform it in statistical indicators without taking into consideration the real opinion of the society.
I won’t forget to mention that in the last article that I have read was a call to abuse and even kill homosexuals. I think that many will agree that appropriate punishment must be applied toward such people. Fortunately there are already brave and courage activists who are standing behind those who need help and support and with the help of their activities are trying to ensure worthy life for everybody.
I consider it my duty to inform all the people who have fallen behind of the world’s events, all the more journalists and people who confidently announce that homosexuality is a disease and say that in 1973 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality as a mental disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which was adopted by World Health Organization too.
Concluding I would like to say stop violating others right to have private life and lets use our energy and time to do constructive steps.

M.M.

May 17: the day of Armenian fears

While in cities like Riga, Kiev and Moscow, LGBT demonstrations are being blocked by authorities, in more than 50 countries in the world there are activities to celebrate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.
There is every reason to have a day against homophobia and transphobia: 80 countries in the world consider homosexuality illegal, 5 of them punish homosexual acts by death.
We don't speak about Armenia even. It is not illegal here and there is no punishment by law but still society and authorities are homophobic, they have their methods to punish those people.
Such kind of fears and phobias are result of acknowledgement and lack of information.

picture source: www.unconditional-self-acceptance.com

86 percents would not tolerate

Most Armenians do not accept to have homosexual neighbors.
According to the Women’s Resource Center when the question ‘what would you do if your neighbor is homosexual?”was asked, 86% of the respondents answered that , they would not tolerate it. Anush Poghosian, the Centers for sexual and reproductive health issues states that a few years ago the intolerance towards homosexuality was 100%.
She continues to say: “It is normal that many of us have stereotypes. But can’t they change by reading, studying, and observing? It is encouraging that a small percentage of the population has become aware of people having the right to be as they are.”
The director of PINK Information Center, Mamikon Hovsapyan says lately, a great number of people asked him about homosexuality. According to him, the interest grew since December, when Armenia joined the United Nations statement for the protection of homosexuals. Hovsepyan states: “The basic confusion when discussing homosexuals is the belief that they are prostitutes wearing women's clothing and spreading sexually transmitted infections.” Hovsepyan wants to convince that on the exterior most homosexuals do not differ from other people. As for sexually transmitted infections, they are also spread by people who have non-homosexual orientation.
The coordinator of organization, Lilit Khorenyan believes that even the high officials of this country have erroneous ideas. When asked to give their views about homosexuality they respond by saying "It's a sickness. Go to Holland, it's the newest fashion there. We have entered the European Union and the newspapers are using homophobic phrases".
Mamikon Hovsepyan declares although there seems to be no apparent problems in Armenia, legal or otherwise, in regards to homosexuals, abuse and violence are current happenings especially during their military service. He also points out that is equally hurtful when the rights of individuals are invaded when their personal information, such as their names and photos, is made public, an event that occurred recently when a local paper printed an article about Armenian lesbians causing much commotion.

source: A1+

IWPR: Armenia gays face long walk to freedom

Society remains as relentlessly homophobic here as elsewhere in the Caucasus, but activists say there some grounds for hope.

By Vahan Ishkhanian in Yerevan (March 13, 2009)

The recent publication of Azeri writer Alekper Aliev’s gay novel Artush and Zaur, dealing with an Armenian-Azeri love affair, rocked the conservative and mainly Muslim society of Azerbaijan.

It broke a double taboo – love between Armenians and Azeris and same-sex love, at the same time.

But while the furor cast a harsh spotlight on homophobia in Azerbaijan, on the other side of the ethnic and religious divide, in Armenia, gays face just as much prejudice.

Hovhannes Minasian found this out to his cost. Now 27, he is one of a small minority of gay men in Armenia who do not fear to give out their real names in interviews.

He gained this freedom – involuntarily – after being sent to jail for his sexual orientation. After that, the whole of his former neighbourhood and his relatives learnt about it and there was nothing to hide.

His nightmare began in 1999, when police arrested him and accused him of sodomy. A man who had once had an affair with him apparently betrayed him, and four others, to the authorities.

Minasian, then 17, says he immediately admitted he had had a sexual relationship with a man. “I never thought it was a crime, so when they asked me if I did it, I confirmed it,” he said.

He says the police who arrested him beat him violently, demanding that he name other homosexuals, which he refused to do.

He was one of six persons charged for the then crime of sodomy under Article 116 of the Armenian penal code, receiving a relatively short jail sentence of three months as he was under age.

While in prison, Minasian says he came under constant pressure.
“The prisoners were as cruel to me as the jailors, I was like a toy for them, they used to bully me and throw me around the cell,” he said.

After his release, the lads living next door to him chased him around, throwing stones at him and screaming “gay” at his back.

That is not all. He says a policeman tried to blackmail him into confessing the names of wealthy homosexuals he knew about.

When he failed to extract this information, he told the manager of the bar where Hovhannes worked of his sexual orientation, and Hovhannes and his gay friend were fired.

Nine years since his conviction, the local boys have stopped chasing Hovhannes. They got used to him. He has a job. Still, he is going to leave the country, tired of the general climate of hostility.

In 1922, a few years after the Bolshevik revolution, homosexuality ceased to be a penal offence in the newly formed Soviet Union.

But it was reintroduced as a crime in 1933, and eventually removed from the penal code in 2003.

In spite of the official change in the letter of the law, discrimination and intolerance against Armenian gays remains widespread.

A year ago, Khachik, a 21-year-old student at university, was thrown out of his home when his parents found out about his sexual orientation.

Khachik says he realised he was different from the rest when he was 13 or 14 and accepted he was more interested in boys than girls.

“At that age, when you start to masturbate, I used to imagine guys,” he confessed. “I thought I was alone with all this but then I found people just like me on the Internet.”

He waited until he was 20 to have his first sexual encounter with a man whom he met on the Internet and introduced to his family as a friend.

Trouble erupted after Khachik’s mother discovered that their relationship was not entirely innocent.

“We were watching a film in my room and I didn’t know the door was open. Mother came and saw us kissing,” he recalled.

At first, she wept, but later, once his father was home, the two of them became far more aggressive.

“Dad got really angry and said, ‘Aren’t girls enough for you? You want to start dating guys? My son can’t do that!’

“Mother started screaming that it would be better if I died. It would be better not to have a son than to know he was gay.

“She even tried to hit me. I tried to hold her back, but dad began to help her. Then they told me I was no longer their son and that I had to leave the house. So I went away.”

Khachik has been living in lodgings ever since and has to work in two jobs to support his studies.

Two months after being thrown out, he was exempted from military service because of his “deviant” sexual orientation.

According to the Helsinki Rights Committee in Armenia, in 2004 an internal defence ministry code effectively bans homosexuals from serving in the armed forces.

“When I told the army psychologist I was a gay, he threw the pen on the table and exclaimed ‘Damn it!’” Khachik recalled.

He says another officer struck him with a folder, saying, “You are not a man! How can an Armenian claim he’s limp wristed?”

He was then dispatched to a medical institution for official diagnosis – which duly described him as possessing a “non-traditional sexual orientation”.

On the subject of the deferment of conscription for homosexuals, Colonel Seyram Shahsuvaryan, representing the defence ministry, sent a written response to IWPR.

In it, the colonel denied the existence of any unofficial ban on homosexuals serving in the army, “The law on compulsory military service in Armenia does not allow the exemption from military service of homosexuals.”

In Aliev’s controversial novel, Artush and Zaur, the two lovers eventually decide to take their own lives, jumping from Baku’s Maiden Tower, a symbol of doomed love in Azerbaijan.

Psychologist Davit Galstian says societal pressures in Armenia have driven some gays to take their own lives in a similar desperate fashion.

Within the past three years, he knows of at least ten homosexual men who threw themselves off the Kiev bridge in Yerevan, the capital’s biggest.

He cites several tragic cases that he has come across in his practice. A man’s life that was destroyed when his family discovered his orientation; a woman who rejected her own children and sent them to an orphanage after learning that their father, her husband, is gay; and a father who threw his 14-year-old gay son out of the house, who then turned to street prostitution.

“There is a real phobia against homosexuals in our society, people consider them beasts,” he said.

“My [gay] patients learn about me from each other and come here. They say at least I listen to them.”

Politicians do little to dispel the fog of ignorance and prejudice around the subject. Indeed, some make it worse.

One former member of parliament, Emma Khudabashian, even used to say that people should throw stones at homosexuals.

Armen Avetisian, head of Armenian Arian Union, an ultra-nationalist grouping, issued a bizarre attack on homosexuals – and on Europe – in July 2006, which was published in three newspapers.

“We should form a community for them, called Hamaserashen (literally, ‘Homosex-burg’),” he said.

“Of course, it should be located in Europe, as homosexuality is a part of the European values, so let them gather there.”

The church is another conservative factor. The Armenian Apostolic Church – like most traditional Christian churches in the world – views homosexuality as a grave sin.

Gay bashing is a popular pastime among Yerevan yobs. In the city’s Komaygi park, where homosexuals sometimes gather, groups often attack and beat them.

Galstian says homophobia is harmful to society, depriving it of potential talent.

“We lost a talented singer, a computer programmer and an excellent student who could have become a chemist,” he said, mulling past suicides. Others have simply left the country.

Yet, on December, 9, 2008, the Armenian government endorsed a United Nations statement outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

That only prompted a greater outcry from homophobic elements in Armenia, however.

“This is a global plan worked out by masonic structures to destroy the world,” Khachik Stambolcian, a well known figure said in one public discussion.

The right-wing Iskakan Iravunk newspaper accused the UN document of glorifying what it termed “human driftwood - those sodomites and lesbians”.

Hrair, a 26-year-old activist, says the government’s endorsement of the UN statement may not have helped gays much in Armenia in the short term.

“Before that, we just lived our lives and worked but then they made a fuss, and it became tense,” he noted.

Avetik Ishkhanyan, chair of the Helsinki Rights Committee of Armenia, and member of Independent Observers’ Group of Penitentiary departments, says homosexuals experience the worst troubles within closed spaces like prisons and barracks.

“In prison, they have a separate cell and it’s a taboo to shake their hands, take cigarettes from them or even touch their stuff,” he said.

“If a detainee uses homosexual’s plates, even by accident, the criminals consider him а ‘pervert’ too.

“They are given the most humiliating work to do, like cleaning toilets and drains.”

According to Ishkhanian, it is hard to defend homosexuals, as few are willing to publicly complain about their lack of status.

Arsen Babayan, of the justice ministry’s penitentiary service, denies gay detainees in prison are singled out for the most humiliating tasks. Every prisoner, he says, chooses his own type of work.

“The fact that gays live separately in penitentiary departments is due to their wish. It’s the same with Jehovah’s witnesses, who also live separate lives,” he said.

Meanwhile, Galstian says things may be starting to change – albeit slowly.

Since Armenia became a member of the Council of Europe in 2001, people generally have started to more actively defend their rights, and more and more homosexuals are open about their identity.

The NGO PINK, short for Public Information and Need for Knowledge, founded in 2007, openly advocates for gay rights, as well specialising in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

PINK member Hrair broke up with his Iranian boyfriend when the latter wanted to leave for Europe.

“He couldn’t live in Iran, as they hang homosexuals there, but he felt depressed here too, so he was trying to talk me into going to Europe, but I didn’t want to,” he said.

Though well aware of the climate of intolerance in Armenia, Hrair says he is not ready to abandon his homeland now things are starting to shift a little.

“When I was a child, I suffered, trying to understand myself and nobody was there to help me,” he recalled.

“But now we are a big team, and we are trying to help the weaker ones to stand up.

“This is very important to me. I would feel defeated if I went to live in a European country, hiding my head in the sand like an ostrich.”

Vahan Ishkhanian is a freelance journalist and correspondent for Armenianow.

source: Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Vahan Ishkhanian

This world is for everybody

Here we present another social ad, which is created by the students of Yerevan State University. This video is one of their final term works, as they will graduate the University and become social workers. Marine, Nvard, Nare, Anna and Lusine started to shoot this video from December 1st, we managed to find time and take part in it, though all of us where so busy especially that day.
We appreciate their professionalism and proud of their bravery, happy to see more real social workers next to us.

English text of the video*

- Being homosexual is not a choice,
- Being infected with HIV, doesn't stop me being your friend,
- By denying me, you don't help me to leave drugs
- I am a sex worker...
- My mother is the best mother in the world
- We all are equal, this world is for everybody

Results of UN Statement

Here we'll present you Armenian and Russian article from Hetq.am and Novosti Armenii

Սեռական փոքրամասնությունների շահերը պաշտպանող քաղաքական հայտարարությունը դժգոհություններ է առաջացրել

Դեկտեմբերի 9-ին Մարդու իրավունքների հռչակագրի 60-ամյակին նվիրված ՄԱԿ-ի գլխավոր ասամբլեայում տեղի ունեցած նստաշրջանի ժամանակ մի խումբ երկրների կողմից ստորագրած «Սեռական ուղղվածության և սեռական ինքնության հարցերում մարդու իրավունքների պաշտպանության մասին» հայտարարությունը խառնաշփոթ իրավիճակ է ստեղծել այդ ոլորտով զբաղվող որոշ կառույցների և անհատների շրջանում: Այսօր «Հայելի» ակումբում հարցի շուրջ բանավիճեցին Կառավարման փորձագետ Հարություն Մեսրոբյանը, Աշխարհագրական գիտությունների դոկտոր, բնապահպան, «Հանուն կայուն մարդկային զարգացման» ասոցիացիայի նախագահ Կարինե Դանիելյանը, ԱԳՆ միջազգային կազմակերպությունների վարչության պետ Ձյունիկ Աղաջանյանը:

Ստորագրված փաստաթղթին առաջինն ահազանգել է Կարինե Դանիելյանը: Նա «Գոլոս Արմենիի» թերթի հոդվածում կարդացել է, որ սեռական փոքրամասնությունների պաշտպանության համար ստորագրվել է կոնվենցիա: Պարզվել է` ոչ թե կոնվենցիա է, այլ քաղաքական հայտարարություն, որին 63 երկրների հետ միացել է նաև Հայաստանը:

Կարինե Դանիելյանը ծանոթացել է փաստաթղթին և նշում է, որ երբ ծանոթացել է տեքստին, այն ուղղակի սեռական փոքրամասնությունների պաշտպանությանն ուղված փաստաթուղթ է: Նա նշում է, որ եթե նույնիսկ այս հայտարարությանը չեն միացել ԱՄՆ-ը, Ռուսաստանը, Թուրքիան, որտեղ սեռական փոքրամասնությունները շատ ավելի բարձր տոկոս են կազմում, ապա ինչու է միացել Հայաստանը:

Ձյունիկ Աղաջանյանը պարզաբանեց, որ այդ հայտարարությունն ընդամենը ընդհանուր դրույթներ պարունակող փաստաթուղթ է, որը ոչ մի իրավական հիմք չունի. «Այդ հայտարարությունում, ի թիվս մարդու իրավունքների պաշտպանության ենթակա օբյեկտներին, նշված է նաև սեռական փորքրամասնությունները և սեռային ինքնության առումով խնդիրներ ունեցողների մարդու իրավունքների պաշտպանությունը»:

Կարինե Դանիելյանը հետաքրքրվեց, թե ինչն է Հայաստանին ստիպում միանալ նմանատիպ հայտարարությանը. «Միշտ համարվել է, որ մարդկանց մոտ 4-5 տոկոսը ունի այդխպիսի շեղումներ , դա եղել է դարերով ի վեր և ընկալվել է որպես հիվանդություն, որպես շեղում»: Տիկին Դանելյանը նշում է, որ այդպիսի փաստաթղթերի ստորագրումը վտանգում է պետության ազգային անվտանգությունը:

«Հայաստանի վերարտադրության տեմպերը շատ ցածր է, որովհետև ունենք և միգրացիա, և ցածր ծնելիություն: Այս պարագայում ինչպես պետք է մոտենալ, եթե դա դառնում է մշակույթի մաս, դա հարվածում է ազգային անվտանգությանը: Եթե երեխան մտնում է դպրոց և կարդում է այն գրքերը, որտեղ գրված է. «սերը լինում է երեք տեսակ` կին-կին, կին-տղամարդ, և տղամարդ-տղամարդ, երեխան ուրեմն հասկանում է, որ դա թույլատրելի պահվածք է, հետո էլ կանգնում ստորագրած այդպիսի փաստաթղթերին է հղում կատարում: Դա մտավ մշակույթի մեջ: 4-5 տոկոսը կդառնա 40»:

Միևնույն ժամանակ տիկին Դանիելյանը հաստատում է, որ այդ մարդիկ չպետք է խոշտանգվեն, ծեծի ենթարկվեն և նրանց հանդեպ բռնություններ կատարվեն, բայց հիմա բարձրանում է այդ մարդկանց կենսաբանական տոկոսը, այն դառնում է մշակույթի մաս:

ԱԳՆ ներկայացուցիչն այդ հայտարարությանը Հայաստանի միանալը բացատրեց հետևյալ կերպ. «Այո մենք այդ խնդիր չունենք այն աստիճան, ինչպես շատ երկրներ, և հենց այդ մտահոգությունից, որպեսզի այդ խնդիրը մեզ մոտ երբևէ չհասնի այդ աստիճանին, մենք միացանք այդ հայտարարությանը: Որպեսզի այդ անձանց նկատմամբ բռնություններ չկիրառվեն, այդ անձիք կարծրատիպային մոտեցումների չենթարկվեն, չոտնահարվեն նրանց իրավունքները, ցավոք մենք ունենք նման տվյալներ»:

Կառավարման փորձագետ Հարություն Մեսրոբյանը բոլորի ուշադրությունը հրավիրեց այն փաստին, որ Իսրայելը ոչ մի փաստաթուղթ չի ստորագրում, առավել ևս եթե դա իր պետության շահերից չի բխում. «Եթե Իսրայելը լսեր միջազգային խոհուրդները կամ ստորագրեր միջազգային փաստաթղթերը, իրենք որպես պետություն չէին կարողանա կայանալ»:

Հարություն Մեսրոբյանի կարծիքով, ցանկացած փաստաթուղթ առնվազն պետք է անցնի երկու փուլ` խնդրի ուսումնասիրություն և այդ խնդրի քննարկումը հենց տվյալ խմբին վերաբերող ներկայացուցիչների հետ: «Եթե մի օր մի արևամոլ են ծեծում, ապա ամեն օր հազարավոր երիտասարդների, ընդ որում, չունենք հետազոտություն, փորձագետների կարծիք, և որոշում ենք թուղթ ստորագրել: Այդ փաստաթղթով վտանգվել է սեռական փոքրամասնությունների իրավունքն այն պարզ պատճառով, որ սեռական փոքրամասնությունների հետ չի քննարկվել այդ փաստաթուղթը»,-ամփոփեց կառավարման փորձագետը:

Հասարակական-քաղաքական գործիչ, կենսաֆիզիկոս Խաչիկ Ստամբոլցյանն էլ հերքեց սեռական փոքրամասնությունների գենետիկորեն շեղման փաստը և շեշտեց նմանապիտ փաստաթղթերի առկայության հիմնական պատճառը. «Սա գլոբալ ծրագիր է` մասոնական կառույցների կողմից մշակված, որոնք ուզում են աշխարհը ջնջել: Ես էլ նարկոման եմ, ես էլ դրանից եմ հաճույք ստանում, ինձ էլ տվեք փոքրամասնության կարգավիճակ և պաշտպանեք իմ շահերը»:

Присоединение Армении к заявлению о защите прав человека в вопросах сексуальной идентичности опасно с точки зрения нацбезопасности

Присоединение Армении к заявлению о защите прав человека в вопросах сексуальной идентичности опасно с точки зрения национальной безопасности, считает доктор географических наук, председатель «За устойчивое человеческое развитие» Карине Даниелян.

9 декабря 2008 года на заседании Генеральной Ассамблеи ООН, посвященной 60-летию декларации прав человека, представитель Аргентины от имени 66 государств обратил внимание на необходимость защиты прав сексуальных меньшинств и отмены уголовного преследования за гомосексуализм, выразив серьезную озабоченность тем, что лица с нетрадиционной сексуальной ориентацией во многих странах по-прежнему подвергаются запугиванию и преследованиям, а их права нарушаются.

«Присоединение к этому заявлению может создать проблему на уровне национальной безопасности, так как это может сделать гомосексуальность частью культуры страны, что еще больше сократит темпы демографического воспроизводства», - сказала она в понедельник на пресс-конференции.

По словам Даниелян, темпы демографического воспроизводства в Армении гораздо ниже, чем в той же Европе, потому что наряду с низкой рождаемостью в стране существует еще и проблема с миграцией.

«Да, я считаю, что насилие в отношении этих людей недопустимо, но нельзя также допустить, чтобы гомосексуализм вошел в культуру страны», - сказала Даниелян.

В свою очередь начальник управления по международным организациям МИД Армении Дзюник Агаджанян отметила, что заявление касается лишь борьбы с насилием в отношении сексуальных меньшинств и вовсе не призывает сделать гомосексуальность частью культуры.

«Армения присоединилась к политическому заявлению, которое показывает политическую позицию страны касательно проблемы с насилием в отношении людей с нетрадиционной ориентацией», - сказала она.

По ее словам, в заявлении говорится о том, что, независимо от сексуальной идентичности, человек не должен подвергаться насилию и преследованиям или какой-либо дискриминация. «Я не думаю, что в нашей стране найдется человек, который скажет, что это не так и что закон должен применяться по-разному, в зависимости от сексуальной идентичности человека. Закон одинаков для всех», - отметила Агаджанян.