Gay Armenian man from Boston: “What would happen if people of Yerevan knew I was gay?”

On this “National coming out day” I would like to share the thoughts of one gay Armenian man from Boston who came to study in Yerevan and was an intern with PINK Armenia.

And using this occasions, few pics I made of the Arlington Street Church in Boston. [On May 17, 2004, the Arlington Street Church was the site of the first state-sanctioned same-sex marriage in the United States - Wiki]

“Love Is Stronger”. It certainly is.

*Selected extracts below. Re-posted from PINK Armenia (for Armenian version: here).

21 years old Karl Afrikian was born and raised just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, USA to an Armenian father and an American mother. He is a student at Sewanee: The University of the South studying Economics and Russian culture. He first came to Armenia in 2014 to study at the American University of Armenia for a semester, when he was introduced to PINK. He returned to Armenia for summer 2015 to intern with PINK Armenia to help the fight for gay rights.

“[…] I came in to the office [office of PINK Armenia in Yerevan] and remember being in the safest place for LGBT people in the country, which was comforting for a recently out person in a land known for its homophobia. Being from Boston, a hugely gay city, I have experienced very little discrimination firsthand; yet, in Armenia, I was again afraid in this new land, yet my time studying there and meeting fellow queer Armenians reinforced my hope for the community.”

“Right next to my apartment, I saw graffiti on a wall “vomank gay en, tetev tarek” (some people are gay, take it easy) which helped ignite my passion early on for helping the cause. ”
[Read: Armenian version of “Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!” in Yerevan to mark IDAHOT]

“I was shocked to hear of the police ignoring the rights of gay victims of assault, the horrible things Armenians would do to their LGBT brothers, and how public opinion promotes rampant hostility towards gay individuals.”

“I would spend nights sometimes walking on Northern Avenue or at Hraparak at the Dancing Fountains thinking about what would happen had these people knew I was gay. Would they beat me up? Would they kill me? How would my cousins in Armenia react to such a thing?  Being gay is not always something written on your sleeve, thus there was no way they could truly verify any of these possibilities without having me tell them. Although I did not fear being publicly outed at any point, I still had this uneasiness in my heart knowing that these people who could be so nice and friendly to me could possibly become hostile towards me all due to who I love.”

“I was really unsure why this bothered me so much – I was only in Armenia for about two months, my friends queer and straight were all very supportive, and it was not as if I was being persecuted on the streets personally. […] This time, I was aware of the graveness of the situation. Eventually, I came to several realizations about how I was feeling. In Armenia today, my gayness stands against the “traditional values” held so dearly to many of our people. The traditional gender roles in Armenia prescribe that a man must marry a woman and produce children to continue our people.

Even as I came out to my father in America this tradition has held strong, and his major concern was of course having grandchildren, even though today he has learned to accept that I am gay.

Many closeted-gay men in Armenia from what I observed married women to keep their public identity secure and to appease society […]”

Aregnazan or Magical World: queer, Armenian, futuristic video-animation - re-interpreting Ghazaros Aghayan fairytale (fundraising)

The Queering Yerevan Collective’s Indiegogo fundraising campaign is nearing its end, with only 6 days left at the time of this posting. It’s an experimental video project by Arpi Adamyan and Melissa Boyajian called AREGNAZAN OR MAGICAL WORLD. This is a unique collaboration between two outstanding artists from Yerevan and Boston respectively, who reconstruct and reinvent Armenian writer Ghazaros Aghayan’s fairytale, originally written in 1887, in a completely new way.

You can find out more about the project here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/magical-world

Please, read artists' description below and make contribution to this queer, Armenian, futuristic video-animation, where the evil witch is replaced with an oligarch.


***
Aregnazan or Magical World is an adaptation of an Armenian epic fairytale by Ghazaros Aghayan. This olden day fairytale takes place near the base of Mount Ararat, a symbolic mountain to the Armenian people. The story begins with a father and his 3 children, 2 of which are beautiful girls. And the 3rd child, Aregnazan, was the most beautiful, but good spirits decided to hide the sex of Aregnazan until a day when it would need to be revealed for the greater good of the world. Aregnazan's father chooses to raise Aregnazan like his 2 daughter's, and dress them all in girl's clothes. However, Aregnazan disliked playing girl's games and learned how to ride a horse and use weapons. After the children grew up the father realized that there was future for them and that he must send 1 of his children out to fight for the king. He devises a test for them and disguises himself as a masked thief in an attempt to test the strength and will of his children. Aregnazan wins the test and leaves on a journey to save the king from a bear, defeat an evil witch who has imprisoned the citizens of the stone city, and save the ailing princess.

We are interested in adapting the story because of the unique representation of gender of Aregnazan within the story's beginning. However, the story remains very patriarchal and sexist in it's glorification of masculinity and lack of agency with the female characters. Aregnazan does not become a true hero in the story until completely transforming into a man. And of course the tropes of the sick princess, lovesick and waiting for her prince to save her as well as the wicked evil witch are also examples.

Our fantastical video animation is about Aregnazan's journey to self-discovery, redefining of traditions, love and revolution! Our piece is very important because it is offering an alternative narrative and representation of gender within Armenian culture! While our adaptation will still be following the journey of Aregnazan, Aregnazan's gender remains fluid throughout the story and will never become a man. Our version will also be reversing the roles of the weak female characters to be strong. The piece will make connections with socio-economic conditions of present day Armenia by replacing the evil witch with an oligarch, a symbol of the small very wealthy group of men that have monopolies on most of the resources of Armenia while a staggering portion of the population is unemployed. Some of the things Aregnazan encounters on their journey are a fight on a dangerous bridge, a meeting with a cyborg woman and a girl that can fly, and a revolutionary scene in the sleeping city!

The piece will not follow in a cut-and-dry filmic narrative fashion. The scenes contain performative actions between the characters that give reference to Armenian traditions and literature and reinterpret and queer their meanings. The performative gestures in some scenes can be likened to a choreographed dance of actions.  The video and animation will be layered together in post-production editing to make the already fantastical atmosphere even more stunning!

If you have not done so already, please visit our Indiegogo page and make a contribution to our project!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/magical-world