An event on diversity (International Day Against Homophobia And Transphobia-2013) In University Of York

The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia ‘was launched with the aim to create a global community of activists and militants, sharing a common ideal: a world without homophobia or transphobia, a world in which everyone can live freely their sexuality as well as the gender identity with which he or she wishes to live’ (www.dayagainsthomophobia.org) In this event we aim to share awareness regarding the diversity of sexualities and gender identities. We want to talk to/with you about reconciling the differences and similarities.

This event is hosted by Elham Arashlu who is currently a visiting fellow at the Center for Applied Human Rights, University of York.

Many thanks to Sanna Eriksson for all her strong supports that made this event happen, and to Laurie Jones who took the responsibility of recording the event.

Anahita Ghazvinizadeh (b1989, Tehran, Iran) is a filmmaker and writer. She got her BFA in cinema from Tehran University of Art and her MFA in studio arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Anahita has studied with Abbas Kiarostami and is influenced by his cinematic style. Being inspired by the rich culture of children’s cinema in Iran, she started to work on a trilogy of short films with children as the main characters. ‘When the Kid was a Kid (2011)’ and ‘Needle (2013)’ are the first two finished pieces of series. Anahita is also the co-writer of the acclaimed feature film, ‘Mourning (2011)’. Childhood and parenthood, family theater, and exploring notions of growth and gender identity are the main themes of her work. ‘When the Kid Was a Kid’ is the winner of several awards inside and outside Iran.

Elham is an Iranian poet, who is also known as a human rights activist. She has collaboration with several NGOs, international individuals and independent groups in the field of ‘children labour’, and ‘queer rights’. Working with the ‘Children Labour Information Bank’ is part of her working experiences. Moreover, Elham Arshlu has been active as writer, journalist, and researcher in various magazines, related to women issues, homosexual issues, and literature theory. Elham is the initiative of the ‘Homophilia Campaign’, which will be introduced today, after a year of its establishment.

At the moment, Sara is working on her Masters dissertation, which discusses the aspect of fear regarding the concepts of “inclusion and exclusion”. The case study of this dissertation is a Facebook Campaign, called ‘We Are Everywhere’. A few Iranian LGBTQ activists created this page regarding the IDAHO 2011.

Elham Arshlu: “When I went to Paris to celebrate the Iranian New year (Norooz) on March with my friends, I faced several campaigns regarding the legalization of same sex marriage. There were hundreds of people who agreed with the idea of these demonstrations and who did not. At that time I was hosted by my friend at her house. She has a twelve years old daughter, called Samia. She was also concerned of the events happening in the city and the world. She was curious and asked me various and indeed intellectual questions regarding the same sex marriage. I am glad that I met this young, great painter. She is one of the extraordinary human beings I have ever met. She shared her paintings with me. I am glad that I have the chance today to present these wonderful paintings here.”

[1] http://vimeo.com/60618725

[2] https://www.facebook.com/philia.not.phobia?fref=ts

[3] https://www.facebook.com/WeAreEveryWhere17?fref=ts