Community events in October
Pink’s new resource-community center continues to operate despite the challenges and new developments of the ongoing pandemic. Our new space provides more opportunities and resources for Pink’s staff and LGBT community members. English and German language clubs as well as a film club will soon kick off in the center. In the meantime, we started the month of October by celebrating Lesbian Day with a stencil-making workshop. On the 8th of October, we talked about messaging and expressions of political activism through graffiti. Then we painted on shirts with the stencils that were made. We continued the celebration of Lesbian Day on October 15 at the FemLibrary by reading Adrienne Rich’s essay ” Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence “, discussing the text and our personal experiences. These events were intended only for people who identified themselves as women.
On the 11th of October, we celebrated the important day of coming out. We discussed together what circumstances should be taken into consideration before coming out, as well as the importance of coming out for the community members. It is noteworthy, that friends and family members of the participants were also invited. In the end, the participants discussed their experiences and personal stories about the journey of self-acceptance and acceptance by their loved ones. These stories were the inspiration for those who are still hesitating to openly speak about their sexual orientation and gender identity with their family members and friends.
We also want to highlight that a series of meetings with a psychologist for LGBT people has begun at the Pink Resource-Community Center. Community members have continuously mentioned that they want to know themselves better, take care of themselves whilst facing their own emotions and thoughts. During these meetings there will be an opportunity to discuss different topics, such as the different areas of the psyche, listen to the experiences of others and share personal stories if desired, get to know to our personal emotions as well as that of fellow community members. Additionally, we will be able to observe the mental structures of the psyche, to study the individual interactions and expressions of the psyche and body and try to find ways to build healthy relationships. These meetings are already underway, the format is open and organized in a way that everyone has the opportunity to come to the meeting as they wish.
Lastly, we summed up the month with a meeting-discussion on asexual attractions on October 22 ahead of the Asexual Awareness Week (Ace Week). The participants learned more about asexuality and addressed their questions to an asexual woman. During the meeting, the report of the online survey of the Gender community in 2019 was presented. Finally, we discussed the differences between assexual attractions, sexual desire, sexual arousal, the report can be found here.
Thus, despite the challenges, we were able to stay in touch with each other. During the last month we had opportunities to discuss very important issues together and to celebrate significant days. We hope to continuously make use of the possibilities provided by our new resource-community center.
