Local TV programme discusses gay Armenian issues in the aftermath of UN gay rights statement

I think, there were some genuine attempts in this TV report (“Epikentron” programme) to understand the issue, to view it from various sides, inviting also gay Armenians.

However, they did not describe what exactly that UN statement says. Only brief fragments of the interviews with gay Armenians were presented, and the main accent then was shifted towards sociologist Aharon Adibekyan who is apparently considered as some kind of ‘universal expert' in Armenia on any subject matter. Here in this interview Adibekyan shares his views that homosexuality is developing due to upbringing by parents, increased rates of divorces, lack of traditional gender roles in society (he is very sad about it) and so on. He is also saying that there are no sufficient numbers of openly gay Armenians to stand up for their rights, therefore we can’t consider their problems. He does not, however, ask himself a question – why gay Armenians prefer remaining in the closet?

Journalists tried to find out data on numbers of LGBT Armenians from the national statistics centre, but obviously there were no such data available.

They also briefly reflected that infamous press conference by Karine Danielyan & co.

Still, at least more neutral reporting, attempt to understand the subject matter they are talking about, and welcome use by the journalists of “miaserakan”(the most acceptable Armenian version for “gay”).



*video via PINK Armenia