Within "LGBT Youth" project, an one day seminar was held on June 16th 2012 in Niš. This event was organized by Women's Space activists and within the premises of Center for Girls with the total of 18 participants from Niš, Vranje and Prokuplje. Three of the participants were from nongovernmental organizations, three from political parties (LDP, SDP and the Green Party) whereas others represented themselves as students.
Invitation to the seminar was sent to nongovernmental organizations working at the territory of Niš, political parties youth caucuses (DS, SPS, URS, LDP, SDU) and there were several individuals who applied but did not attend the seminar.
The seminar itself was comprised of several segments. At the beginning, participants were acquainted with the seminar objective and were presented the project that this activity is part of, after which participants' expectations were heard. Following this, we entered the session entitled "Terminology" where most interest, questions and time were dedicated to the existence of inter-sexual individuals which was expected since the public speaks the least about this subject. Session describing stereotypes and prejudices towards LGBT individuals in our society was the final one within the discussions.
Within the afternoon we organized a session entitled "LGBT Living Library" where two young people from Niš presented themselves as a lesbian and a gay and openly answered questions coming from the group regarding their gay and lesbian lives in the local surrounding. Questions they received had to do with their relations to parents, family, peers, their attitude towards religion and, most importantly, their personal safety. During this session, that underwent, in a pleasant atmosphere, several other participants felt free to share their identities with the others.
At the end of the seminar there was the screening of "Assume Nothing" documentary with a short discussion and participants were invited to follow up on this event through joining social networks and visiting organizations web sites.
The seminar underwent in an excellent atmosphere with good discussions and almost none disagreements in opinions. Participants mostly through questions and participating in discussion spread their knowledge with no prejudices and resistance towards the topic "LGBT Youth". We believe that the lack of their prejudices one of the main reasons they applied to participate in this event.
It was, certainly, very important to have this seminar in Niš because of the city size and the lack of open and visible initiatives for the rights of LGBTTIQ individuals.
