This article is taken from Stonewall UK’s International Campaigner’s toolkit
For two years Dotyk worked closely with a peer support group for parents of LGBTQ people at their LGBTQ community centre. What started as a meeting space allowing parents to pose questions to, and better understand their LGBTQ children, became the inspiration for the #stophateby campaign implemented by Dotyk in cooperation with Journalists for Tolerance.
At the end of 2017, Dotyk engaged with five relatives of LGBTQ people ready to speak out on behalf of their families. Although initially worried the relatives would back out due to widespread anti-LGBTQ sentiment, Dotyk and Journalists for Tolerance were able to shoot a series of video interviews and write supporting articles as part of the #stophateby campaign against homophobia and hate speech.
The response was surprising.
Expecting a negative backlash from the media, much of the coverage was in fact described as neutral in their reporting of the campaign – no publications insulted the campaign. The video interviews themselves received over 200,000 views and the articles got more social media ‘likes’ than ‘dislikes’. While negative comments were still common, it was clear that people were listening to the stories of these relatives. When asked why the stories of family members seemed to generate less negative attention than LGBT people themselves, a representative of Dotyk said: ‘No matter how homophobic or biased [a commenter] is, there are less reasons to attack parents as compared to when they direct their assault toward LGBTIQ people…’.
To promote the campaign, Dotyk and Journalists for Tolerance held a public presentation of the videos inviting 30 organisations and journalists from across Belarus to hear in-person accounts of those engaged with the project. The family members described their processes of acceptance and their difficulty in witnessing their loved ones being discriminated against due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Nominated by the Office of European Expertise and Communication (OEEC) for best civil campaign of the year, #stophateby won with its positive, emotional and simple message that love
This article is taken from Stonewall UK’s International Campaigner’s toolkit
For two years Dotyk worked closely with a peer support group for parents of LGBTQ people at their LGBTQ community centre. What started as a meeting space allowing parents to pose questions to, and better understand their LGBTQ children, became the inspiration for the #stophateby campaign implemented by Dotyk in cooperation with Journalists for Tolerance.
At the end of 2017, Dotyk engaged with five relatives of LGBTQ people ready to speak out on behalf of their families. Although initially worried the relatives would back out due to widespread anti-LGBTQ sentiment, Dotyk and Journalists for Tolerance were able to shoot a series of video interviews and write supporting articles as part of the #stophateby campaign against homophobia and hate speech.
The response was surprising.
Expecting a negative backlash from the media, much of the coverage was in fact described as neutral in their reporting of the campaign – no publications insulted the campaign. The video interviews themselves received over 200,000 views and the articles got more social media ‘likes’ than ‘dislikes’. While negative comments were still common, it was clear that people were listening to the stories of these relatives. When asked why the stories of family members seemed to generate less negative attention than LGBT people themselves, a representative of Dotyk said: ‘No matter how homophobic or biased [a commenter] is, there are less reasons to attack parents as compared to when they direct their assault toward LGBTIQ people…’.
To promote the campaign, Dotyk and Journalists for Tolerance held a public presentation of the videos inviting 30 organisations and journalists from across Belarus to hear in-person accounts of those engaged with the project. The family members described their processes of acceptance and their difficulty in witnessing their loved ones being discriminated against due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Nominated by the Office of European Expertise and Communication (OEEC) for best civil campaign of the year, #stophateby won with its positive, emotional and simple message that love
