Tunisia

Several Women’s associations mobilised this year to celebrate the Tunisian International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, whilst a Facebook campaign invited people to show resistance against homophobic hate.

A day of meetings, debates and cultural events was held to lay the foundations of an activists’ movement uniting lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and feminists in Tunisia. This event, coordinated by the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women and the organisation Chouf (“Look!”) marked a milestone in the emergence of “a space for expression and construction”, which women who have sex with other women find extremely difficult to access, given the dual oppression which they confront daily in Tunisian society.
The debates focused on developing human rights arguments for advocacy, and on web security, in a context where online activity is potentially dangerous for LGBTI communities.

The organisation Damj also launched a Facebook campaign to alert people to the state of homophobia in the country, and also to invite resistance. Campaign visuals depict a bruised face with the caption ‘your punches won’t hurt me’, in a bold message that violence will not silence Tunisian LGBTI communities. Damj also organised an afternoon community discussion on confronting myths and realities about homosexuality.