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’ !

Since 2010, Portuguese LGBT rights group, rede ex aequo, has been organising ‘Free Hugs’ events for IDAHOT. They told us a little bit more about where the idea came from, how they organised, and what the impact has been.

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

“A hug against discrimination” – Poster for the 2014 campaign in Central Lisbon

The first time rede ex aequo did an action on IDAHOT was in 2010. The idea was to go to a public space and bring visibility towards the discrimination LGBT people are facing, and through a simple gift – a free hug – accompanied by a bag with info on the day and data on discrimination and souvenirs, the people on the street would be engaged and informed, and by hugging people they would develop empathy towards the other.

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

The biggest obstacles lay in the permission of the Municipal authorities to hold the action in the public space, and getting media coverage in order to achieve higher visibility.

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

We had a member of the board entirely devoted to the event (free hugs). It was necessary to get the Municipality’s permission to use the public space, to produce the souvenirs and t-shirts (including the design), contact famous people (in order to get more visibility), coordinate volunteers, and publicise the event.

Celebrities were invited to join the action for May 17, 2014 – giving free hugs to passersby

For the conference (in 2014), it was organised in partnership with the National Youth Council, so our contribution was mainly in the draft of the program and the choice of the guest speakers. And of course, advertising the event.

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

The action had a great impact. More than 200 people hugged, and we had media coverage (1 TV channel, 3 newspapers)

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

Just do it. It takes some planning, and some effort. But if you can get volunteers, it is feasible.

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

We are planning to do it next year. We will do it later in the afternoon (it was too hot). We’ll plan a little bit earlier in the year. And we will try to integrate the action with other actions in the same day.

Photos from Free Hugs for IDAHOT 2014 in Lisbon