The National Queer Organization is hosting a public meeting on queer matters this Sunday. The event is a response to the hate speech which has been aimed at queer people for the past weeks.
Remember all the fuss the media made after Hafnarfjörður town decided to add queer issues to the curriculum to educate the young people of town and fight prejudice?
On talk radio Útvarp Saga listeners called in and asked if Samtökin ’78, The National Queer Organization intended to show the kids how gay people have sex and some even went so far as to ask if they were going to touch the children.
Well, Samtökin 78 haven’t forgotten about that and are responding by holding a public meeting at Háteigsskóli, this Sunday May 17 which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia or IDAHOT for short.
“It was obvious that people are clueless about the work we do so we decided to offer everyone an opportunity to get to know us better,” says Ugla Stefanía KristjönudóttirJónsdóttir educational program officer. “The hate speech that followed the announcement of Hafnarfjörður town council’s decision wasn’t only aimed at our organisation but also all queer people in general and we we’re shocked to hear some of the opinions people allowed themselves to express in public,” she says.
“…we particularly welcome those that have loudly expressed their disgust in the media. This is a great opportunity for the public to get informed and get answers to their questions.”
That confirmed that their work is far from done so Ugla and her fellow volunteers at Samtökin ’78 have hopes that people will flock to the meeting and everyone will walk out fully informed.
“We do hope that anyone that has any doubts about the work we do will show up, and we particularly welcome those that have loudly expressed their disgust in the media. This is a great opportunity for the public to get informed and get answers to their questions. As we all know, it’s best to be fully informed before forming an opinion,” says Ugla.
“The main goal is to defeat the arguments that have been made, to talk about all the different groups of people who live under the queer umbrella, talk about prejudice, stereotypes, legal status of queer people and share personal experience on how it is to be queer in Iceland today.”
Note: Want to share this article, but having trouble using the Facebook button below? Well, then you can always copy the link and paste it straight to your wall on Facebook.
[add_single_eventon id=”11788″ open_as_popup=”yes” ]