OUR GOALS
ANDERS & GLEICH wants to achieve acceptance and solidarity between and towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer people in NRW by creating visibility, education and awareness of LGBTIQ* issues.
visibility
education
awareness raising
acceptance
solidarity
Countless people don’t know any lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intersex, or queer people (LGBTIQ*). They lack connection to LGBTIQ* people. Thus, visibility is important in order to show and constantly remind people that sexual and gender diversity exists and is a fixed part of society. Making discrimination of and violence against LGBTIQ* people visble and fighting against it is just as important. Visibility can be created through media attention (for example in newspapers, in blogs, in movies, or on air) or in personal encounters.
ANDERS & GLEICH creates visibility of LGBTIQ*!
We engage with a lot of people through our website and our social media presence and draw their attention to the needs and rights of LGBTIQ* people as well as to discrimination and violence against them. With our array of posters everybody can create visibility of LGBTIQ* in their environment, for example by hanging them up at their place of work. We also visit community events to distribute our informational materials and to connect with people. In addition, ANDERS & GLEICH offers support to LGBTIQ* communities at events and in their publicity work.
Mainstream society is not sufficiently educated about sexual and gender diversity yet. While most people know the meaning of “gay”, “lesbian”, or “bisexual”, many still hold a lot of prejudice and reservations against non-heterosexual people. There is substantially less knowledge about gender diversity and trans, intersex, and queer people are often treated awkwardly. Many people have difficulty just making the difference between sexual diversity (e.g. bisexuality, pansexuality, heterosexuality, or homosexuality) and gender diversity (e.g. trans, intersex, or nonbinary).
ANDERS & GLEICH offers educational materials about experiences of LGBTIQ*!
The “Fibel der vielen kleinen Unterschiede” (“reader of many small differences”) – available as a downloadable or printed resource – brings the dictionary of sexual and gender diversity to life, explains situations and needs, and highlights discrimination. In doing this it offers a foundational stock of knowledge from which one can proceed.
Being aware means treating people tactfully and sensitively. It is the next step on the path towards an unforced, respectful, and appreciative treatment of LGBTIQ*. Alongside education emotion and motivation are important for awareness raising. If people only cognitively engage with sexual and gender diversity ignoring their emotions, acceptance cannot be achieved.
ANDERS & GLEICH offers lectures and workshops about LGBTIQ* issues!
We want to work directly with people in order to empower them to deal with sexual and gender diversity confidently and sensitively. To make this happen we talk about a wide array of subjects, for example LGBTIQ* inclusive language, hate speech and counter speech, or strategies for responding to verbal discrimination.
Acceptance means embracing a person as they are. Often people talk about tolerance instead. But tolerance (derived from Latin “tolerare”) means merely enduring or putting up with somebody. If the goal is respectful, equal, and appreciative treatment of each other, tolerance is simply not enough.
ANDERS & GLEICH advocates for LGBTIQ* acceptance!
We work within mainstream society and LGBTIQ* communities towards sexual and gender diversity being regarded as normal and people’s rights not being called into question over and over. We also advocate for more visibility of discrimination and violence and for firm action against it.
Acting in solidarity means supporting ideas, activities, and goals of others because one feels connection to them. Solidarity can look like a German citizen taking to the streets for refugee rescue at sea, a heterosexual person defending their bisexual colleague after them coming out at work, or a white person denouncing racism at school or in LGBTIQ* communities.
ANDERS & GLEICH encourages people to show solidarity with LGBTIQ* people!
LGBTIQ* phobia and discrimination shouldn’t solely be made visible and fought against by those affected. It can’t be made marginalized people’s responsibility to defend themselves. A diverse and accepting society is beneficial to all and should therefore be defended and shaped by everybody.
