Training course "Rainbow Youth" in Scotland

I am sure you know who won Eurovision 2014, at least you have heard about Conchita – bearded male singer dressed in women`s clothes. But there is just a small percentage of people being aware of the phenomenon, while we live in 21st century! Conchita is a drag queen, and there is nothing wrong with that! 

In September 2017 I became a participant of the project "Rainbow Youth", my first Erasmus+ project about LGBT community. What was it like? 

Young people from 10 different countries came to Glasgow to discover the topic of LGBT in non-formal atmosphere. Coming from different countries and cultural backgrounds, youngsters were sharing their experience and knowledge. We discovered that in some European countries the attitude towards LGBT community is tolerant, in some – very complicated, considering politics, culture, religion, education and other aspects. But what can we do about it?

As human beings, we want to be respected and tolerated, so we should respect and tolerate other people. As stated by the president of Estonia recently, it doesn’t take anything from us, if we give same rights to people whose identity is different from ours. It is very important to make other people, especially youth, aware of the topic in order to make our social environment safe for everyone. 

During the project we learned different terms, discussed some controversial cases and put ourselves in others` shoes. Personally, I learned a lot about different identities and sexuality. For instance, you can be physically attracted to people of one gender, while being emotionally attracted to another one. You can be a woman dressed like a man, attracted to both genders, and it`s OK.

I am sure nobody will forget wonderful Drag queens Show we saw in Glasgow. Next day drag queens joined our training, telling about themselves, we had an opportunity to ask whatever we want. Another day we had two special guests, who agreed to openly tell their stories and answer questions about their sexuality – one lesbian and one transgender person. It was very important to have live conversation with the guests, which helps to break stereotypes.

All in all, it was an amazing experience, colorful as rainbow, reminding us all – it`s OK to be different, we have right for it and we should respect this right for others.

Valentina