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Description
According to recent research, as well to our experience in Association Bonsai (elaborated on in question 4.1), young LGBTIQ members do not feel safe openly acknowledging their gender identity, they instead witness a high degree of social distance toward gay people, and do not know who to turn to at school in case they experience peer violence. Every school year there is one or more interventions in Dubrovnik high schools due to violence caused by homophobia or transphobia.
This project aims to support young LGBTIQ people in Dubrovnik through active involvement in support groups, individual psychotherapy, networking opportunities, socializing, entertainment, networking, and volunteering against prejudice through the Living Library - a very effective tool in which the "Living Books" are people who have experienced discrimination, and who can provide readers with a unique opportunity to gain insight into otherwise “invisible” spheres of negative social phenomena. Fighting prejudice in this way contributes to reducing discrimination in society.
By educating and strengthening the competencies of professional staff in institutions and associations, as well as youth workers, we will strengthen the support available for young people in our main target group, while providing the general population of high school students with basic knowledge of identity construction and related discrimination or marginalization. We will be building a community of young LGBTIQ people. Using the premises of Youth Center Dubrovnik (which is also a civil-public partnership) as well as the knowledge and experience of partner organizations, we will create a unique opportunity to expand the local civil society scene, through an initiative that is informal for now, but which we hope will someday develop into a new association that supports democratic inclusion, visibility, freedom, and rights of our LGBTIQ citizens.