Round table discussion on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community issues

Institute for War and Peace Reporting Armenia Branch will at 2 p.m. on 24 September, 2010 hold a round table discussion on LGBT community (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders) problems and possible ways of their solution.

Since no official surveys are conducted regarding LGBT community in Armenia with different structures claiming the community doesn’t experience problems at all, this round table discussion is aimed to raise some problems facing LGBT community.

Armenia’s LGBT community constantly faces discrimination in employment, legal and social fields. To show employment problems community currently deals with IWPR’s Caucasus Reporting Service published an article “Armenian Gays Face Intolerance, Discrimination in July, 2010 (http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenian-gays-face-intolerance-discrimination).

During the round table Mamikon Hovsepyan, head of Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK) NGO, will present a report, called “We and Our Rights”, published as a result of qualitative research and legal analysis conducted by his organization in 2010.

Lusine Vayachyan will also present her thought on issues related to sex reassignment surgery (SRS), legal and other obstacles that make impossible to perform transsexual surgery in Armenia.

Representatives of Armenia’s Ombudsman office, police, ministries of justice and labor and social affairs, government officials, as well as representatives of local and international human rights organizations, media and LGBT community are invited to take part in the discussion which will take place at IWPR’s Armenia Branch office at 39 Yeznik Koghbatsi St, Yerevan, Armenia.