Homosexuals and their relatives speak to all those interested about the problems and prejudice they meet with daily and about the fact how it is to be homosexual or a relative of such persons in Moldovan society. The Information Center “Genderdoc-M” has mounted the event “Living Library”, where the living ‘books’ are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, their friends and relatives, within the festival of the LGBT community of Moldova “Rainbow over the Nistru 2014”.

Artiom Zavadovschi, program coordinator at “Genderdoc-M”, has told IPN that the event is held the third consecutive year. Its goal is to do with stereotypes and ignorance as the homophobe people are mainly those who do not know the truth about homosexuals.

The “Living Library” is an ordinary library, where the readers come and borrow books for a limited period of time. After they read the books, they take them back to the library and, if they want, they can borrow another book. There are yet two important aspects: the books are human beings and they enter a personal dialogue with the reader. This year, the ‘books’ include a lesbian, a gay, a couple of the same sex, a bisexual, a boy brought up by a couple of the same sex, the mother of a gay and the sister of a gay.

Artiom Zavadovschi said the homosexuals often refuse to make their sexual orientation known for fear of being condemned and marginalized. From his viewpoint, this is a vicious circle as the homosexuals do not go out for fear, while the people avoid them because they do not known much about homosexuals. However, changes are felt in society and the sexual orientation is no longer a taboo subject.

The “Living Library” aims to promote the respect for the human rights and human dignity, to attract attention to the diversity in all its forms and to stimulate dialogue between people.

The event is held at the Municipal Liberty “B. P. Hasdeu”. It closes at 6pm, on May 14.