We all remember that in October 2022 in the evening, a homosexual couple jumped down Davtashen bridge. The suicide of the young couple spread immediately until the end of the day. Before committing the suicide, the boys had published photos on their Instagram account where they kiss raising their hands to the far. The pictures had the following Russian caption, “The happy end: the decisions about our next actions and to publish the photos were made together”.
After the suicide of the young homosexual couple, when their post and the pictures were spread quickly on various social platforms, social chats, news websites and channels, hundreds of people started to spread hate speech against the young and LGBTQ+ people and allies in general. Boys’ suicide was an excuse for xenophobia and homophobia rooted in the Armenian society to come to the surface. This case proved once again that many people in our society act violently against LGBTQ+ people: they considered the suicide a normal thing since they were homosexual; moreover, a lot of people advised other LGBTQ+ people to take the same step.
“DiverCity” Social-Cultural, Human Rights Defender NGO as an LGBTQ-based organization, has recorded that hate speech was exacerbated not only by many citizens but also several political, civil and public figures which helps the hate speech to get more publicity and reinforcement.
Collecting millions of such announcements and exploring the calls for hate speech and insults against the young couple, the organization has revealed their causes:
- The fears from LGBTQ+ people in the society (homophobia, xenophobia),
- Lack of awareness about LGBTQ+ people’s issues,
- Not enough knowledge about sexuality and gender,
- Conspiracy theories and fake narratives that are ascribed to LGBTQ+ people,
- A number of political motives in which LGBTQ+ people’s issues are manipulated deliberately and parallels are drawn between the army, war events.
In this context, “DiverCity” NGO considers it intolerable to devaluate the suicide of the young homosexual couple, speculate the case about human right defenders and organizations. It is obvious and undeniable that the couple committed suicide because of homophobia, calls for violence rooted in Armenian society and hatred. Hence, based on this fact, we consider various exploitative interpretations, comparisons with other issues and devaluing the right to life of young people, which was not actualized.
We speak out again that the LGBTQ+ community is not protected and safe in Armenia, LGBTQ+ people need opportunities and platforms for free self-expression, realization and protection of rights, not only by the society, but also by the government.
Noting that one of the most painful consequences of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), we call on everyone to refrain from hatred and violence, we call on the government with an urgent agenda to establish sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds protected from discrimination, as well as to implement anti-discrimination Law “On Ensuring Equality”.
Also studying the reasons for the suicide of the same-sex couple, we raise the issue of domestic violence on the basis of SOGI, about which the friends of the couple spoke. Below you can see one of the young men, Arsen’s mother’s call for death to her son as well as the publicized private conversation that conveys about economic violence, including taking the phone. It is obviously mentioned that if the father knew he would kill his son. All this affected even more on the boy to run away from home after which he committed a suicide with his boyfriend.
Thus, we call to everyone to rely on the supremacy of fundamental human rights and freedoms, to speak out about discrimination cases against LGBTQ+ people and violations of their rights.
The infographics include Armenian notes.
#DiverCityNGO #ԲազմազանությունՀԿ #ДайверСитиНПО #Diversity #Բազմազանություն #Разнообразие #LGBT #HumanRights #LGBTRights #DCNGO #DCYouth #YouthVoice #DCRights #Gay #Lesbian #Bisexual #Trans #Queer #LGBTPeople
