LGBTI community events: Results of the research on the needs of LGBTI community in Bosnia and Herzegovima presented for the first time

Preliminary presentation of a research on the needs of LGBTI community in Bosnia and Herzegovina was organised on Friday, 22.09.2017.

Since this research was organized to cover many aspects of LGBTI persons’ lives, we wanted to present these results to LGBTI persons first.

Amar Numanović analysed the results of this research, and presented it to our community in an interesting and interactive way.

The number of people living in long-lasting unions with their partners and the number of LGBTI persons want to get registred was especially interesting.

We were suprised by the fact that more than 15% of persons who were engaged in this research experienced discrimination inside the community. This fact is overwhelming and we have to work on it in order to change it.

Other information will be available in a publication that will be published soon.

After presenting the results, we continued talking about the information and needs of our community. Though we are a heterogeneous community with different needs, the result of this research identified our major needs, problems, and aspirations.

What we concluded from an informal conversation, after the results were presented, is that many people from LGBTI community are not satisfied, and many people avoid going out of their homes or avoind using the public transportation. We need to emphasise that the people participating in our events are mostly coming from the part of the LGBTI community which is encouraged to participate in more public gatherings. We can only assume what are the needs, problems and aspirations of the part of the community that is „still living in the closet“.

Based on conversations with others, we gained knowledge that the hormones are really hard to get, or they are too expensive, which makes the process of transition more complicated for transgender persons, and we were also informed that the violence toward trans women has escalated.

It is our job to properly address these results, and to fight for LGBTI rigts in all posssible ways. The path that leads to the fulfilment of our needs, requests and desires is a long one, but we have to take it, in order to achieve equality.

If you want to participate in our events, help in creating new events, or if you have some ideas for future growth and empowerement of LGBTI community, contact us: [email protected].