Helem

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Helem ( Arabic حلم) is a Lebanese organization for lesbian , gay , bisexual , trans and intersex people . It is the only organization in the entire Arab world that campaigns for the protection and expansion of the rights of lesbians, gays, trans and bisexuals across borders. The name is an acronym for himaya lubnaniyya li-l-mithliyyin wa-l-mithliyyat  /حماية لبنانية للمثليين والمثليات, in German as much as "Lebanese protection organization for gays and lesbians". The wordحلم, which is pronounced in the Lebanese dialect helem (ḥelem) and in standard Arabic hulm (ḥulm), means “dream” and “patience” / “prudence” at the same time.

organization

Helem was founded in Canada in February 2004 . Today the Zentral is in Beirut in the so-called Zicco House. Sister organizations exist in Montréal and Paris . The sponsors include the New York lesbian organization Astraea , the Heinrich Böll Foundation , medico international and the Dutch embassy in Lebanon. The current director is Georges Azzi , who is also considered the founder of the organization.

aims

Helem works to ensure that discrimination against homosexual, bisexual and intersex people in Lebanon ends, both legally and socially and culturally. One of the primary goals of the organization is the abolition of Article 534 of the Lebanese Criminal Code , which criminalizes so-called unnatural sexual intercourse. From Helem's point of view, this article is a violation of human rights . Helem is also involved in the fight against AIDS .

Helem maintains a hotline and the first officially recognized advice center for lesbians, gays and bisexuals in the Arab world.

Publications

Helem was involved in the publication of the book Ruhab al-mithliyya: mawakif wa-schahadat  /رهاب المثلية: مواقف وشهادات / Ruhāb al-miṯlīya: mawāqif wa-šahādāt , in German "Homophobia: views and standpoints" involved, according to Helem, the first book in Arabic on the subject of homophobia. In addition, the members of Helem give the magazine Barra (برا barrā ), which appears quarterly (براmeans “outside” in German and is a translation of English “out”, which means something like “openly gay or lesbian living” [cf. Coming Out ]). It can also be downloaded from the Helem website.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2009 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. see. Barra , No. 0 (March 2005), p. 2. The text highlighted in red at the bottom of the page reads in German: “Barra” is an Arabicization of the English word out , which means “coming out to the public”.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.helem.net
  2. ↑ Barrā at WorldCat

Web links