The speaker at this Thursday's Work in Progress seminar will be Hadi Damien of Beirut Pride. Hadi will reflect on his experience in Lebanon and working for LGBTIQ+ rights in the context of economic recession, protracted refugee crisis and the ongoing revolution.
Hadi states in his personal reflections that “I use the verb ‘to understand’ instead of acknowledge, tolerate and accept.” He rejects the expression of sexual minorities because of the heteronormativity that it indicates and suggest that we must move away from hierarchies of identities. With these insights also come the need to discuss politics of representation and, for Hadi,
It is in the process of creating this platform that we must also ask: How can change happen, how we can support each other through initiatives that may help to make change? Beirut Pride is an example of such an initiative that is making change: a multisectoral and multi-partner approach that can address the manifold aspects of the LGBTIQ+ file. Pride is an example of visibility which is key to deconstruct myths, lies and prejudice that surround the LGBTIQ+ file: “a framework that brings several sectors to work together such as the executive sector (government, ministries, security agencies and their respective directions), the legislative sector (parliament, members of parliament and relevant committees), the judiciary sector (general prosecution, judges and courts), the academic sector (universities, schools, institutes, research centers and institutions of learning), the civil society (LGBTIQ+ people, key populations, opinion makers, celebrities, their fanbase, NGOs, social and political organizations (unions, syndicates), religious institutions, the silent majority, the critical mass, the general public, elected officials, present politicians, and the Lebanese diaspora), the human rights structures (OHCHR, IE-SOGI, HR Defenders, European Court for HR), the corporate world (businesses, insurance companies, employment and labor laws), the development partners (international programs, international NGOs and embassies) and the media (TV, radios, Portals, newspapers, advertisement, storytelling, etc).”
Hadi continues: “The goal is to multiply the shared, common spaces where people can be, where they can express themselves, where they are seen, where they can speak, where they are heard, where their contribution is noted. We often seek to develop procedures and methods to be able to include the others - I trust it is time we focus on deciding to include people, and then the procedures and methods will be organically developed. It’s the practice that produces theory.”
The potential of moving mountains and creating change through Beirut Pride is then ultimately to accept that may not strive for ‘safe spaces’ but ‘brace spaces’: ‘safer spaces’ “where you get emotional and mental support to fight your battles, a few of which you share with people who go to this same brave space. The intersectionality of the LGBTIQ+ file, the way our layers interlace and affect each other, renders unique every one of our experiences, and therefore, there is no one, common, global battle to fight or one safe space to build. Each one of us requires our own customized safe space to recollect thoughts, to recharge energy, to get support, and then go back to all the spaces, safe or not, and make them inclusive.”
The seminar is at 16.30-18.00 on Thursday 27 February in room JHB303 in the John Henry Brookes building, Headington Campus. (The full list of seminars for this semester is here - but please note that the seminar on 12 March has been postponed until the autumn.)
Please get in touch with the Oxford Human Rights Festival (OxHRF@brookes.ac.uk), if you would like to read some of Hadi’s reflections before the seminar.
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