In Myanmar, for IDAHOT 2014, different LGBT associations came together to create a pioneering photo competition in their context. Called the “&Proud” Photo competition, the event made part of a diverse series of events around May 17 across the country. Organised in the captial Yangon, it helped to promote alternative images of LGBT people, to encourage participation in rights and culture projects, and to create space for community-building.

We asked the organisers more about how they came up with the idea, and how they organised it. And they told us this inspiring story…

Where/how did the idea originate? What were the main assumptions behind the idea, the main expectations?

First prize in Series – &Proud Photo Competition, Yangon. Courtesy of &Proud

We always wanted to organize the photo exhibition to let the people in the country know that we are here among the citizens, and we are the same as you and as proud as you. So, Colors Rainbow and YG event decided to organize that. We had a few aims with the photo exhibition. Firstly, there are not many cultural events for LGBTs in Myanmar, so we felt that it was a good event for people to meet each other and discuss LGBT issues and culture. Secondly, we wanted to show the broad range of LGBT identities. People, certainly in Myanmar, often have a very limited idea of what it means to be LGBT. We felt that photos would be a very personal way of showing people the many different meanings of being LGBT. This links to the third aim, which was to also cater to non-LGBTs. We had quite a bit of media coverage, and a good number of interested people came to watch the exhibition. With this we hoped to bring the LGBT community closer to ‘everybody else’s’ lives. Lastly, we wanted to boost photographer’s interests in documenting the LGBT community in Myanmar, as well as giving amateur photographers a chance to show their own take on the community.

What were the risks/threats/obstacles involved and how did you mitigate them?

We did not have any risks/threats/obstacles. However we were quite worried that there would be only a few photos come in, but we received 44 photos which is ok for a first competition for the LGBT community. For the exhibition we had the photos that were submitted for the competition, as well as the award-winning photo series “The Pink Choice” from Vietnam. With this series, the photographer Maika Elan won a world press photo award for best contemporary series – pretty much the highest achievable award for photographers. By combining the local photos with a professional exhibition, we had more certainty of having an interesting mix of photos, and we were able to show an outside perspective as well. http://www.worldpressphoto.org/awards/2013/contemporary-issues/maika-elan/02

First prize in Singles – &Proud Photo Competition. Courtesy of &Proud

We will keep doing this competition every year. And after all the positive responses from the photo competition we are now organising the &Proud LGBT film festival which will be held on 15 and 16 November this year.

How did you get it done? How much time did it take? How much did it cost? How many people did it involve? What were the tactics that you used?

It took 3 months including preparation time, although it is advisable to take some more time. We had about 5 weeks for photographers to send in photos, but if you want photographers to make photos specifically for the competition, it is advisable to send out the call for photos a little earlier.

There were 3 people from Colors Rainbow involved, 2 from YG event, and the gallery owner has been a huge help. Besides that we’ve had some help from friends of course.

Our costs were around $2,500 USD. The major costs were: 1,100 for prize money (total of 5 prizes), 500 to get the photos from the Vietnamese photo series printed (they had to be printed in very high quality), 70 to get the competition photos printed. 300 for the rent of the gallery space. It can be organised quite low budget – certainly if you can find a cheap gallery and when printing costs are low.

How do you rate the impact of this action, and how did you see its effects?

It has had positive effects which caused a slight change to the people in Yangon, at least. They expected something weird, strange, or pictures of make-up artists, but what they see is something they did not expect from the LGBT community. We had over 200 visitors in our 8 day exhibition, which is quite a good turn-up for Yangon. Besides that we reached people through TV and newspaper coverage.

What advice would you give to other people who’d like to undertake this activity?

Poster for the &Proud Photo Exhibition in Yangon, Myanmar, for IDAHOT 2014. Courtesy of &Proud

Just go for it! It is relatively easy to organise and there are probably more people with photos from the LGBT community than you think. We accepted photos that were up to 2 years old, and accepted both amateur and professional photos. We had 2 categories: series and single shots. In both categories we had 2 prizes. It’s nice to let amateurs enter the competition, because it lets the LGBT community show photos of themselves. As mentioned before: it is a really good idea to combine it with a regular exhibition of LGBT photos from another country, as that will give the exhibition more body and will help you if the quality of the entries is too low. Lastly, there’s also a possibility to combine this with a masterclass or workshop for young photographers.

If you did this action again, what would you do differently?

One of the things we would like to change is to focus more on photos from the LGBT community themselves. It would be nice to have a lot of photos from amateur photographers, who take photos of themselves and their friends. Next year I hope we’ve got a wall full of amateur photos – preferably a wall with photos of a lot of happy and confident people who are not afraid to show their identity to the world.

A Freedom Festival is basically a mix of different community activities – such as dance, music, art and photography – which creates space for people to come together to express themselves and find acceptance at the local level.

Where security is a concern, this can take the form of private or very local community actions.

Activists in Liberia reported that their Freedom Festival around May 17, 2014, was pioneering in creating a safe space for LGBT people and their friends and allies to come together, in a context where social spaces do not otherwise exist. You can read more about the initiative here.

We spoke to one of the organisers from SAIL (Stop AIDS in Liberia) who told us a bit more about how they organised, where the idea came from, and what advice they would give to others wanting to do something similar:

Where/how did the idea originate? What were the main assumptions behind the idea, the main expectations?

The idea originated in 2013 when the first IDAHOT event was held. The idea was to raise awareness amongst members of the LGBT community here in Liberia, looking at how homophobia affects us. We had a interactive community roundtable where members of the LGBT community told their personal stories, and it was quite interesting to know that there were issues like family neglect, bullying at school, stigma and discrimination, lack of access to health services, lack of protection in public spaces, hate crimes, blackmail, extortion, depression and deaths.

What were the risks/threats/obstacles involved and how did you mitigate them?

Well over the years there have been risks, threats and associated obstacles, considering the work that we do. We have been able to handle some of these incidents using our partners. We were able to conduct a security training session for members of the community and partners to sensitize them on understanding sexuality as it relates to human rights, which has been a strategy for our work. But there is still a lot to be done looking at challenges around sourcing funding for protection.

How did you get it done? How much time did it take? How much did it cost? How many people did it involve? What were the tactics that you used?

Well we use a methodology which involves like-minded or tolerant people coming together to talk about homophobia, and the situation of LGBT people. We were also able to come up with anti-homophobic messages to raise social consciousness and reduce homophobia. ACTION AID Liberia who is a strategic partner to our organization were able to fund the event from their new project titled, “Enhancing the Protection of the Rights of Women Girls and Other Discriminated Groups” (EPR Project), and our organisation is an Implementing partner (with the amount of USD $1,350). The Event brought together 50 participants including partners and members of the LGBT community. We used a private beach, whose owner is a strong supporter of the LGBT Community in Liberia.

We thought that organising social strategies is kind of more effective, when you are doing awareness. So, looking at the community at the time, and our own partners, we came up with the idea of doing the Freedom Festival, where you can just come in and express yourself, as who you are, maybe in your dress code, in the form of poetry, using your talent, that you can sing or you can model… and we wanted to open this up, because there is no social space for LGBT people in Liberia.

So if a kid gets kicked out by his parents, and he comes to a member of our office, maybe he comes to one of our houses for one or two days. But we would not have the funds to take him in for a whole month. Because there are no resources for that. So it is kind of challenging. But the freedom festival we were able to do, as I say, some action in Liberia. Where the idea was to create space and also to promote social consciousness around homophobia.

How do you rate the impact of this action, and how did you see its effects?

The IDAHOT event held over the past two years has created a medium where conversation has started around anti-homophobic incidents and situations. The EPR Project is expected to raise more consciousness on the importance of protection for discriminated groups, of which the LGBT agenda is inclusive.

What advice would you give to other people who’d like to undertake this activity?

Well you will have to create an environment where people talking about these issues can feel safe and comfortable.

I think that they should also target their audience, and be clear as to what is it that they expect. At the same time they need to take security very seriously. That’s why we put the focus on private and community activities because in Africa, and in Liberia, there is really not a lot of privacy. So security then is I think the key word in organising.

One strategy is to relate a scenario where someone has encountered a homophobic situation and use the discussion to create a platform.

If you did this action again, what would you do differently?

We need to change our strategy now to include more members of the community and to target more strategic stakeholders, such as members of the national legislature and judiciary.

It’s surely one of the most simple human gestures of companionship, but many same sex couples feel uneasy about doing it – even in relatively free contexts, where legal equality has been won.

A hand-holding flashmob could be a great way to open people’s eyes to these issues, which affect the daily lives of so many of us.

It could also be a smart alternative to either a Kiss-in or a Free Hugs Event, especially in contexts where people could face hostile public reactions, violence, restrictions by  authorities, or imprisonment, if they were to organise something more confrontational.

More low key, but perhaps for that even morepowerful, a hand-holding action could actually attract greater public (and media) sympathy for the struggle of LGBTI communities to express their love, friendship and solidarity with one another.

Case study from Austria

Still from teaser video to promote hand-holding flashmobs on May 17, 2013.

On May 17, 2013, an Austrian network of LGBTI allies joined the Global Call to form a Global Rainbow Flashmob to mark the Day. Members of the country’s Green Party Youth section called for joint hand-holding flashmobs to be held across the country, and encouraged environmental activists, LGBTI community groups and the public in general to participate.

In the lead up to the Day they created this great teaser video which features different LGBTI young people explaining why they are organising, and calling on others to join and spread the word. On the Day, actions took place in 7 different cities (Vienna, Graz, Dornbirn, Kufstein, Salzburg, Wels and Baden), and the initiative was picked up by Austrian and international media.

To make it a flashmob style action, all you need to do is to have one couple holding hands, in the middle of the street, who are then joined by more and more couples – before suddenly there are loads of couples holding hands together. If you do it this way, it would be neat to film it (and share it on social media), and also to maybe have leaflets, stickers or print-outs explaining what the broader meaning of the action is (or directing people to a link online).

It’s also the kind of action which could work well in the form of a march, with various couples all walking together from one meeting point to another. Even with just a handful (sorry!) of couples you could easily draw people’s attention, and the photos would work well to share on social media. Such a simple action to raise awareness!

With six couples (or more) you could also organise for couples to participate dressed in a particular colour of the pride flag (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo), which could also make for great visual results.

Or, how about a human chain or collective ‘hug’?

Collective ‘Hug’ for IDAHOT 2014 in Vicenza, Italy (see cover image also). Organised by Arcigay Vicenza

That’s what a network of Italian LGBTI activists, allies and friends decided to do for IDAHOT 2014, with great visual results and a strong symbolic stance for the reclaiming of public spaces for free expression of LGBTI rights, and for companionship and solidarity!

Organised by the local youth section of Arcigay, the city of Vicenza (Northern Italy) hosted a big ‘hug’ against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, on May 17. More than 500 people gathered to ‘hug’ the Palladian Basilica, a UNESCO monument, by hand-holding around it, in the form of a human chain.

Again, this is a low cost action with community solidarity, visibility and well-being at its heart. All you need are folks in the city and a place of choice to ‘hug’ !

For IDAHO 2010, activists in dozens of countries (across Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America) came together for the “Great Global Kiss-in” for May 17. Together with Gays.com, the IDAHO Committee produced a video compilation of the different kiss-ins, which they released on the day, and was shared by tens of thousands of people on social media:

IDAHO 2010 Great Global Kiss-in

But even with just a few participants, and a smart location, the results can be very popular for sharing on social media – especially since participants often work together with organisers to spread the word online. You just need to video the action and spread the word!

To help get your message heard, you could think about asking community organisations in your local town, city or country to share your video, and also encouraging participants and their friends to spread the word too. You can also create a short text or blog post (or even write a short article) which could accompany the video, to explain what the significance of the action is.

Choosing a strong location is also key – somewhere recognisable is great, such as a famous landmark or city square. Government buildings, town halls and embassies/consulates could also be interesting choices.

Location, location, location! Activists in Paraguay hold a kiss-in outside the national Congress, for May 17, 2013.

Another idea is to hold a kiss-in at – our outside – a restaurant, bar or company in your city which has discriminated against LGBTI people, for example by not letting them show affection for each other, or by failing to take action in a case of violence or discrimination.

Different ideas

One neat idea is to ask people to attend dressed in their favourite colour of the pride flag – creating an assortment of bright rainbow colours on the day. Great for videos and photos. If you like, you could also choreograph the act, so that couples come together in the same colour, and line themselves up to form the six colours of the flag from left to right (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet). Or in the form of a rainbow arc.

Another idea is to turn the act into a flashmob style kiss-in, where one couple starts kissing, and then a few more, and then – as if naturally from amongst the crowds – suddenly tens and then hundreds of people come “out” of the crowds to kiss each other, as if a wave of love has suddenly swept people up! Especially cool for videos, and also for the reactions of people watching.

An online kiss-in is another option, where people are invited to send pictures of themselves and their partner of choice kissing – via a particular hashtag, or to your social media inbox. This could then be made into a collage of kisses for release online on the day, or as part of a community exhibition.

Kiss-in alternative? How about Rainbow Lips?

Banner printed with people’s “rainbow lip” contributions for IDAHOT 2014 in Mainz, Germany. Accompanied by a Rainbow Flashmob balloon release 

One project, from Mainz in Germany, put a slightly different twist on the classic kiss-in, for IDAHOT in 2013 and 2014.

They provided different coloured lipsticks for people to paint their very own “rainbow lips” – first in the street (and as part of an exhibition), and then (in 2014) as part of an online campaign, with people sending their “rainbow lips” photos in.

As they did, photos could either be done with different lipsticks, or by painting the different colours onto a “normal” photo afterwards, using a basic graphics programme. Once the contributions were in, they made for great campaigning visuals – like the banner in this photo!

Organised under the banner of “Kiss the Pride”, you can find out more about the campaign on their website and facebook page (in German).

For something extra, maybe you could merge these ideas, for example creating a rainbow lip kiss-in (or a rainbow lip kiss-in flashmob!) which is then shared by video on social media.

If kissing isn’t your thing, how about a Free Hugs Event or a Hand-Holding Flashmob? Similar choices with love, expression, visibility, community well-being at their heart too.

The tactic has also been popular in Germany, Ukraine, Armenia and various other countries. And, in 2013, these actions inspired the worldwide focus campaign for IDAHOT – the “Global Rainbow Flashmob” with actions in 40 countries, spanning balloon releases, dance flashmobs, rainbow kiss-ins, chalk-ins and die-ins, and many more kinds of actions in support of LGBTI rights worldwide (You can watch the video compilation of the actions here).

Because rainbow flashmob events are not usually classified by authorities as “protests”, they can provide a way for communities to meet publicly and make a visible impact, without alerting authorities to the existence of the action first. In many cases, activists organise privately and do not release the time and place of the action publicly, until after the event.

We spoke with a group of activists from Ukraine, who have been bravely organising these events since 2011, despite widespread hostility to public actions in support of LGBTI rights in their context. They told us this inspiring story, which will maybe help others thinking about organising this event, or who are also organising in hostile contexts where safety is a key concern.

Where/how did the idea originate? What were the main assumption behind the idea, the main expectations?

Participants gather to release rainbow balloons – in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. May 17, 2014.

Holding flashmobs with the release of rainbow balloons is our tradition since 2011. The format of the event was chosen based on local realities: to conduct any kind of human rights rally or activity the organizer needs to apply to the city municipality, with the exception of flashmobs, because this format is new and yet not established in any Ukrainian official documents. If we decided to apply for the action officially, then, with 100% confidence, they would have banned its conduct under any pretext. In addition, we would have also provoked a surge of homophobic activity which could affect the safety of participants. So only with the flashmob format we have a legal opportunity to join IDAHOT.

The main expectations we had were to speak out for LGBT rights regardless of the political and social situation as well as to have fun. Another expectation was to set up a tradition of celebrating the 17th of May.

What were the risks/threats/obstacles involved and how did you mitigate them?

The anti-gay movement wasn’t so well organized in our city in 2011, because we weren’t visible before. Thus, while organizing our first rainbowflash – our first event aimed at society – we knew that we would face a number of challenges, but till the end we did not know which ones exactly. A few days later after this action, after the first articles about our event were published in the media, we saw growing anti-LGBT activity. The situation worsened in the next years, together with the strengthening of the national LGBT movement, holding Pride weeks, and the increased visibility of our organization, but also with appearance of the first homophobic draft laws in the parliament etc.

A participant writes a message of hope, to tie onto the balloon.

The more we were visible, the more homophobic discourse intensified in society – created by religious fanatics and nationalists, and approved by the authorities, thereby provoking hatred, discrimination and violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. But at the same time we previewed some safety issues. For example, we decided not to spread publicly the place and exact time of the flashmob. Participants and journalists were invited either personally or through our friends/supporters, taking into account all of the same safety concerns. Since 2012 we already had this challenge not to allow violence as we observed, for instance, homophobic groups in social networks which organized a campaign to encourage people who were ready to use violence against the LGBT community, in cases where they detected attempts to carry out human rights meetings. Groups of aggressive hooligans were also created to patrol popular public places in our city, during the whole flashmob day.

How did you get it done? How much time did it take? How much did it cost? How many people did it involve? What were the tactics that you used?

The same idea of every year’s performance was to voice and to discuss the current situation – to write on a piece of paper our dreams and wishes, tie them to the balloons, before we let them color the sky. This part of our flashmob remained unchanged. But every year we tried to add something new.

Balloons colour the sky in Ukraine. May 17, 2014.

For example, this year we recorded a video media message. Last year we lined up in a row, composing the media inscriptions “F*ck homophobia” and “Love is stronger than hate”. In 2012 we composed the letter Z with the balloons like in Gender Z (the mark of our city of Zaporizhia). The main event (communication, wishes writing, balloon release) was always about a half an hour of duration. After this part we organized a kind of picnic for the participants. The action didn’t require significant expenses, only costs of balloons, stationery and/or banners’ printing.

This activity gathered about 20 participants every year, those people who decided to be open, visible and brave, despite of the threats.

How do you rate the impact of this action, and how did you see its effects?

Every year the IDAHOT performance raises a huge discussion in society about homosexuality, gender identity, and LGBTQI’s position in Ukrainian society. It’s the most important impact – to increase visibility. We also observe a rise in supporters of our organization, including among journalists – one of the most powerful tools of shaping public opinion.

Watch the video of their IDAHOT 2014 action here:

In Albania, LGBT community groups held their first annual ‘Bike (P) Ride’, through the streets of the capital Tirana, for May 17, in 2012 – braving rain and attacks by opponents. The picture (above) is from 2013, and in 2014, the 3rd annual event took place – again braving the rain – with more than 120 people participating.

More than that, in 2014, activists in various countries also started to organise bike rides for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (Turkey, Peru, Bulgaria and Vietnam).

Not only is this sort of event free and fun, it can be a great alternative to a pride march or other public procession.

We asked Kristi Pinderi or Pro-LGBT in Albania, to explain a bit more about how they came to organise Tirana’s annual bike rides.

Where/how did the idea originate? What were the main assumptions behind the idea, the main expectations?

We did our first Gay Ride in May 2012. Please check out the video because it is very emotional (especially from 0.44):

It was 2012 and the LGBT movement in Albania was working underground and mostly on a volunteer basis since 2009. One of the young environmental activists in Tirana was trying to promote the use of bicycles in the capital and he had just began establishing some bicycle stations where everyone could rent a bicycle.

From our side, we thought it was the time to stand up and have a public event, a public demonstration of our right to feel free!

I remember this guy, who is now one of our biggest allies (Ened Mato from Ecovolis) said to us: why don’t you take the bicycles and just ride at the main boulevard?!

That guy was representing those hundreds of young people in Tirana fed up with the conventional ways of protesting. It was a great idea and we came together: LGBT, young people and environmental activists, and fed up young people, it was very encouraging for us to see other people not necessarily LGBT who were willing to help us.

We didn’t think twice!

The background of the momentum was that several of those involved in the emerging LGBT movement had just came out in their families. They were proud about this and they were all eager and excited about doing something in public. We were ideally some dozens of people ready to ride the bicycle : )

Earlier that week some of us were invited to the most important political show in Albania called “Opinion”, to face some very disturbing arguments about whether it is okay for Albania to have a Gay Pride Parade or not. That show attracted around 80 percent of the entire TV audience on one night, just some few days before we did the first Gay Ride.

We didn’t have even an idea of what to call it : ) We called it Riding against Homophobia, we didn’t even notice how similar Gay Ride was with Gay Pride : ) We just NEEDED to do something publicly, we needed the most important stage in order to feel, finally, free : )

But when the day came, we were shocked to find out that it was a day of heavy rain in Tirana : ) The first Ride was scheduled in afternoon, while during all the day we were just watching the weather outside our windows. We started to discuss either we should keep doing it or skip it because of the rain. I remember I had a phone call with Xheni Karaj from Aleanca LGBT who had managed to notify dozens of LGBT people and our supporters to come to the event and we were trying to make a decision: should we do it or not? Our biggest concern was that no one would dare to go out during that raining afternoon. But we said: well, we have faced and we still face every day much more difficult situations in our lives. The rain cannot stop us, it is the less problematic issue in our lives We decided to take the bicycles and do it… And we did it

The next year we did it again and in 2013 there was no rain. It was a wonderful day of sunshine. In 2012 we were only 13 people, in 2013 we were 80, and in 2014 we were more than 120

What were the risks/threats/obstacles involved and how did you deal with them?

Tirana’s annual May 17 bike ride, 2014.

It is important to collaborate with the police in order to ensure the security of the people who are willing to ride. We had an incident during 2012 but that gave us more energy and increased our passion and adrenaline to keep riding : ) We had a less important incident in 2013 and we had no incident at all during 2014. We even took our bicycles and started to walk instead of riding at the boulevard. And we also showed a big LGBT flag, and of course nothing bad happened. We finally won the victory of feeling free to express ourselves. Because of the gay ride we did for three consecutive years, now the debate is not either we should have a Gay pride Parade or not (because everyone can notice that we are doing it since 2012. : )

If the stereotype of the gay pride parade was a concern to public opinion, now it is not a concern anymore, because we showed to anyone that their “frame” of imagination was wrong and that you can march and show your pride even with alternative “frames”.

How did you get it done? How much time did it take? How much did it cost? How many people did it involve? What were the tactics that you used?

Tirana’s annual May 17 bike ride, 2014.

You need only two, three, four, five or even 80 motivated people who know how to ride a bicycle. And you need a car for those people who still don’t know how to ride a bicycle in order to help them follow the bicycles and feel the adrenaline. It takes always from 40 to 50 minutes to ride in our main boulevard : ) It is cost-less, you don’t need money to do that. It is free of charge : ) You might spend some money to call people, or if you want to have some t-shirts. But you don’t need to have a full staff working during the entire year for a 40 minutes Gay Ride. You can also spend some 200 US dollars for a website, or you can just skip that and create a blog for free : )

How do you rate the impact of this action, and how do you see its effects?

As I mentioned above, we deconstructed peacefully and without financial expenses the wrong phobia and “frame” and prejudices that people in Albania might have had about a Gay Pride Parade. They have been fed with 80’s and 90’s images and videos which do not necessary fit with the demands or priorities of local LGBT communities. Now, by the way, we can freely walk in the boulevard for a pride demonstration. No one would be violated, no one would be thrown stones at, or would be shoot, etc. : ) We don’t debate anymore in Albania about doing or not doing a Pride demonstration.

IT IS NOT IMPORTANT THE TOOL, BUT THE MESSAGE. YOU CAN ALWAYS INVENT THE TOOL, IF YOU DON’T HAVE IT. BUT YOU SHOULD STICK ON THE MESSAGE, REGARDLESS OF THE TOOL : )

What advice would you give to other people who’d like to undertake this activity?

Be creative and stick to the message not to the tool. The tool should be creative as well. If you don’t have a tool, think twice and think locally, it is there… Don’t copy and paste! Use your imagination, because it is fun : ) And don’t forget that public demonstrations are for the public, of course, but they should be for us, for our community first of all. These events should inspire us and only if we are inspired we can then inspire others.

If you did this action again, what would you do differently?

Nothing else. Next year we might consider having young musicians with violins and guitars to play beautiful songs and music. We can stop the ride in the middle of the boulevard and listen to them peacefully, and avoid screaming and all the other standard noises of an aggressive protest. You can give the message through riding a bicycle, smiling, being happy and listening to a violin… That’s what we need : )