Georges Azzi
Georges Azzi ( Arabic جورج قزي; * 1984 ) is Executive Director and founder of the Lebanese homosexual organization Helem , the only organization in the entire Arab world that campaigns for the respect of the human rights of lesbians, gays, trans and bisexuals across borders.
Live and act
He studied media communication in Paris. The current Executive Director of Helem was still working as a volunteer in AIDS education projects in Paris when politically conscious gays and lesbians in Beirut first got together in the late 1990s to found an initiative. Together with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNAID, he organized HIV education for Palestinian men who have sex with men. Azzi is a member of the international advisory board of the recently established Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation .
In other Arab countries, Azzi is received like a star on lecture tours. The background to this is that there are no other homosexual organizations or magazines in the Arab world. This is how Azzi brings the gays and lesbians of these countries closer to the prospects of self-organization. During these visits “… I realized for the first time what kind of responsibility we were taking on,” says Azzi.
During the last war between Israel and Hezbollah , Helem stopped his lesbian and gay work in order to use his capacities to support refugees. "We are first and foremost Lebanese," said Azzi. Only after the armistice did the organization resume its lesbian and gay work.
Web links
- Report with picture of Azzis on the Arab side of the BBC ("مثليون في لبنان في مواجهة التقاليد", "The gays in Lebanon are confronted with the traditions")
- Azzi protests against exclusion from marathon in Beirut
- Georges Azzi on CNN
Individual evidence
- ↑ ahbab.blogspot.com
- ↑ daleel-madani.org: NGO Profile Helem ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ La guerre au Liban nuit aux gays et à la lutte contre le sida ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ pinknews.co.uk
- ↑ Out into the daylight. When Georges Azzi visited Tunisia in November, he was the star. In: Berliner Zeitung , February 1, 2007
- ↑ samidoun.org
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Azzi, Georges |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Lebanese human rights activist, Executive Director of Helem |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1984 |