How to cover issues of sexual orientation and gender identity: ZMINA held a training for the media

On July 26-27, training for journalists “Peculiarities of Media Coverage of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” (SOGI) was held in Kyiv. It was conducted by ZMINA with the support of Freedom House in Ukraine. In addition to media workers, teachers and students of journalism faculties joined the training.

During the training, the participants analyzed the issues of sexual behaviour, sexual orientation, and sexual identity as the basic components of human sexuality, the international classification of health conditions, the peculiarities of the usage of various terms, the main facts about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and intersex and queer people (LGBTQI+), discrimination on the grounds of SOGI and necessary legislative changes to civil equality for LGBTQI+ in Ukraine.

Separately, it was discussed about journalistic ethics in the coverage of LGBTQI+ issues, typical mistakes and significant inaccuracies regarding SOGI and LGBTQI+ that occur in media materials, and principles of correct coverage, including balance and respect for privacy. The issue of hate speech and hate crimes against LGBTQI+ people, their causes, scope and consequences were also revealed.

The participants of the training learned at which stage the adoption of legislation on civil partnerships (draft law No. 9103 ), its key provisions and prospects for adoption are.

Against the background of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the participation of the LGBTQI+ community in the defence and protection of the country is becoming more and more visible. A separate session was devoted to this topic, during which it was discussed how many LGBTQI+ people protect Ukraine from Russian aggression, whether there is discrimination against LGBTQI+ military personnel and how it manifests itself, as the topic of Ukrainian LGBTQI+ military personnel is present in Ukrainian and international media.

The experts and trainers were the head of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA Tetiana Pechonchyk; policy and legislation coordinator of the National LGBTI Consortium #LGBTI_PRO Sviatoslav Sheremet; member of the Commission on Journalistic Ethics and head of the NGO “Women in the Media” Lisa Kuzmenko; project manager of the NGO “Focus of Southern Ukraine” Oleh Maksymiak; head of the “LGBTIQ+ Military” association Viktor Pylypenko; advocacy expert of the LGBT Human Rights Center “Our World” Andrii Kravchuk.

“Through such training, we enable media professionals to immerse themselves in the issues, learn the latest trends and facts, hear exclusive information from primary sources – often from those who influence changes and create a safer tomorrow for LGBTQI people in Ukraine,” said Tetiana Pechonchyk.

She added that an important added value of the training is that alongside journalists and editors, freelancers who create the country’s information picture every day, students and teachers of journalism – those who shape its future – also took part in the event.