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According to a report published by the CIJ in 2015, sexual minorities are among the most vulnerable groups that constitute the subject of discrimination and hatred, and the LGBT community is a constant source of verbal attacks on social networks and in the online media. How is this seen from the inside and what are the methods to diminish hatred – this is all covered in the interview with Angela Frolov, coordinator of the LGBT Rights Lobby and Advocacy Program.
- It has been almost three years since the approval of the Law on ensuring equality. Have you noticed any change in attitudes towards the LGBT community in this period?
- Yes, the situation is much calmer now; the media do not talk so much about the LGBT community anymore. However, we have seen comments like “they have their law now and we cannot beat them or call them dirty words anymore”. People stopped expressing their homophobia because they are afraid of the law. I think that this is good, if you don’t have enough humanness to understand that you cannot discriminate somebody because it is not right, then at least because you’re afraid of the law.
- How is hatred expressed in the media in relation to the sexual minorities?
- Journalists do not express hatred directly. But one can see it in the moderator’s derisive intonation or in a merry musical background that diminishes the seriousness of the problem. These are hatred messages promoted by the media. The journalists’ attitude is copied unconsciously by the readers or viewers of such reports who understand from these reports that it is not good to be tolerant with the LGBT community. I want to specify that there are more of these reports in the Russian media, while the Romanian media are more tolerant and produce neutral reports. However, we have noticed that the journalists’ attitude has changed lately, the reports are more neutral and when they reflect our festival they do not use pictures from carnivals held in Europe but from our prides. In addition, every time the journalists take interviews from us, they are very open and understanding, but when the report is broadcast its tonality is completely changed. I assume this is the editors’ input or it’s their editorial policy.
- If the media is somehow aware and tries not to tolerate and perpetuate the hatred messages, the Achilles’ heel are the comments in the online press. Who do you think is responsible for messages that instigate to hatred?
- Exactly, the real problem are the comments under the articles published in the online press. They are not only full of messages of hatred, but also incite to violence. The problems come from two sources: when such messages are left on one of the pages with tens of thousands viewers (e.g. comments to some reports) and when the message of hatred appears on the page of a public person with authority, be it minister, member of Parliament, with thousands of friends on the social networks.
This is very serious and the responsibility does not only belong to those who write, but also to the moderators or owners of such websites. If you hold a website where you allow messages of hatred to be posted, it is the responsibility of the owner or of the editor, and if there is no moderation possibility, people who make comments on the website should not be allowed to be anonymous, so that they can be brought to justice if they instigate to hatred.
- As a representative of an NGO defending the rights of the LGBT community what actions do you take when you run across comments or press articles with messages of hatred?
- In most cases, we start by notifying the Press Council. We always write a letter to inform them about the violation of the journalism ethics and then they do their job. We do not intend to sue all the media, especially because it happens that people make mistakes not with evil intent, but because they don’t realize that what they say is inciting to hatred. In such cases, we try to solve things amicably, but in the other cases when we see no reaction from the media institution, we bring the case to justice. For instance, this is what happened with Pro TV. There were some non-moderated comments that instigated to hatred under a report that, in fact, was neutral and we did not have any complaints about. We have this lawsuit with them since the summer of 2014 and got in this situation after we sent them three or even four letters that remained unanswered. We won the case in the lower court, lost it in the Court of Appeal and are now waiting for the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice.
- One of the sources of the message of hatred is intolerance. How can tolerance be educated?
- Through information. Currently, the LGBT people are not treated like the others, people do not realize that their neighbors, colleagues, relatives may be sexual minorities and they are not different to the others. Only when there are more stories about LGBT people in the press and more information about what scientists think, when we understand that homosexuals are not “monsters” they should be afraid of, the attitude will change. We, Genderdoc-M, use all the methods to inform, hold trainings for students, doctors, journalists, NGOs, lawyers. We deliver awareness raising campaigns, produce social ads, movies, attend classes and discuss with students; we have literature, leaflets we use to inform the public.
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This material is published under the „Fighting against messages of hatred in the online media and on the social networks” implemented by the CIJ with support of Civil Rights Defenders (Sweden), partner of the CIJ. The content of the material does not necessarily reflect the funder’s view.
