Every year, in the run-up to March 8, we tell the stories of remarkable women. About women artists who broke stereotypes, about women scientists who changed the world, about the women who fought for equality and thanks to whom we today have the right to vote, the right to work, and the right to make decisions about…
Overview of legislative restrictions on the rights of LGBT+ people in the countries of the former USSR Contents The Criminal Code of the Soviet Union contained an article punishing “sodomy,” that is, sexual relations between men. It was used from time to time to persecute political opponents of the Soviet regime, and…
Bullying is not just a quarrel or an insult. It is constant, deliberate abuse that has a very powerful effect on a child. In a child who is bullied all the time, the psyche changes: anxiety, fear and a sense of guilt set in. These consequences can stay with a person for many years and can even require treatment…
Homophobia is a set of stereotypes and prejudices about homosexual people, reinforced by an emotional charge: fear, hostility, shame, hatred. It shows up both in judgments and in behavior, from avoidance to open displays of aggression. Spending every day in a school environment that broadcasts homophobia as the norm…
How to respond to a coming out A GUIDE FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS Which questions you can ask, which phrases to avoid, and how to support the person and yourself — explained by the psychological service of Insight NGO. Coming out is the situation in which a person stops hiding their own sexual orientation or gender…
When it comes to coming out to the older generation, it can be a difficult and emotionally demanding process. Parents, grandmothers, grandfathers, or other relatives may hold ideas rooted in traditional or outdated views of sexual and gender identity. Yet it is important to remember that coming out is not only about…
Inappropriate questions to LGBTQI+ people When we talk about respect, we often mean things like equal rights, access to services, freedom of self-expression. But respect begins with the small things: with how we treat one another in everyday life, which words we choose, which questions we ask. LGBTQI+ people, like…
For a long time, diverse expressions of sexuality and gender — such as homosexuality, bisexuality and being transgender — were condemned by society and, accordingly, passed over in silence. As a result, a shortage of information about these phenomena arose, and it was sometimes filled in with stereotypes and myths far…
What rights do LGBTQI+ people still lack? The question of why LGBTQI+ people demand anything for themselves, of what it is they still lack, comes up in the public conversation from time to time. Sometimes it comes with accusations — supposedly they already have every right there is, and now they want some special ones…
In today's world, gender-based violence is, unfortunately, expanding its reach. As society, digital technology, internet access, and a degree of online anonymity develop, the space for committing GBV is shifting from real life (offline) into the online environment — social media, messengers, websites, and other…
The general situation and dynamics of changes General Context On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation started the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. Warnings emerged from various sources during 2021 that this could happen. At the same time, the Ukrainian state authorities, while making limited preparations…
This analytical piece by Inna Iryskina, transgender program coordinator at Insight NGO, unpacks the concept of “cisheteronormativity” built on the binary model of gender. She examines in detail what this model rests on and how traditionalist patriarchal attitudes affect LGBTQI+ people around the world — and in…
