Entertainment chief of popular Armenian daily ‘defends’ her homophobia and ignorance

She got her ‘fame’ for all the wrong reasons.

'Shocking revelation’ by Aravot daily: there are lesbians at odnoklassniki.ru, and they are Armenian

This article, along with other recent publications and statements, was one of the reasons for preparing an Open Letter Against Intolerance.

There was hope that Eva Hakobyan will recognise her mistakes, to put it mildly. Vain hopes, apparently. Head of PINK Armenia now reports that he had a meeting with Eva Hakobyan to discuss the issues.

She could not provide any proof that she used the photos of Armenian lesbians from odnoklassniki.ru social networking site with the permission of those concerned.

Then she went on saying that she “didn’t write her opinion” but rather that of “Armenian society” when stating about “99.9% negative attitude” of heterosexual men towards lesbians (?!).

PINK Armenia: “Then I asked about that 99.9% Armenian men who don't accept lesbians, how she found that percentage? She answered that it was result of simple survey among 100 Armenian men, and here is another question, how she counted 99.9% from 100 replies? This is a simple mathematics!”

This kind of “simple surveys” are becoming increasingly common in Armenian media to ‘justify’ opinion of journalists re various issues covered.

Eva Hakobyan then went a step further, reportedly saying that “homosexuality is a disease”, but that this is her personal opinion and not that of Aravot daily.

I am afraid, Eva, this is not a good enough excuse. Not even close. You are heading an entertainment section of a popular Armenian daily, and you cannot ‘excuse’ spreading ignorance and hate by your “personal opinion”.

Perhaps, it’s a time to file a complaint to the newly appointed internal Ombudsman of Aravot daily Mesrop Harutyunyan.

But this is not all. Another journalist from Aravot daily joined the conversation.

Welcome to the world of Nelly Grigoryan who was insisting that “homosexuality is not only disease but it is sexual perversion.” Any evidence? "Yes I read many books," - she replied.

I have a suspicion that Soviet era Criminal Code is part of her bibliography.