#JustLikeYou International Video Contest
It is all about freedom! Freedom to live in a society, which is built up of individuals, each of them unique in their personalities. Within all this diversity, we are united by commonly shared values and dreams. We are all eager to have access to proper education, to find jobs easily, to have friends, and families, and to raise children. To love and to be loved. To feel as a part of a community.
However, dogmas and cultural prejudices, deeply rooted in the society, hinder some people from expressing their natural personality and from being the ones they truly are. Nowadays, more than ever before, people are judged by their sexual orientation and gender identity. If they do not comply with the commonly accepted norms, they do not only face a wall of ignorance but, quite often, they are subjected to offensive and undignified treatment. They are deprived of basic rights, which everybody is entitled to enjoy in a free and modern society.
It is high time to respond to the dishonourable voices, which aim to divide and not to unite us
For two months, May and June, the Project Office for Southeast Europe of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom has been leading a campaign in support of the rights of the LGBTI community. Simply because they are not special rights, but the fundamental human rights of equality and non-discrimination, which every one should enjoy by nature.
The international campaign was launched with the #JustLikeYou Video Contest, which was open from 4th May until 10th June, for participants from the Council of Europe member states. Under the slogan “I am a human being just like you – I deserve the same respect, the same rights” the contest provided an opportunity for LGBT people to step forward and tell their personal stories in short videos, thus sending a strong message to the international community.
The contest itself featured two categories of participants – Bulgarians and internationals. By 10th June, contestants from Bulgaria, the UK, Romania, Montenegro and Belgium uploaded their video entries on the specially created event page in Facebook. The videos were judged according to the number of Likes they had received. The award for the winner from Bulgaria was a three-day trip to Vienna for Vienna Pride 2015, whereas the international winner was granted a trip to Bulgaria for Sofia Pride! The two winners, already announced on the FNF SEE Facebook page, are the following:
Daniel Tanahatoe from Brussels, who wins a trip to Sofia Pride 2015:
Georgi Iliev from Sofia, who wins a trip to Vienna Pride from 19 June until 21 June
What is next?
The FNF will support the Sofia Pride 2015, which will march across the streets of Sofia on 27th June. A day earlier, in cooperation with GLAS Foundation, NELS and the Sofia Pride Organising Committee, the Project Office for Southeast Europe of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom will organise an international conference #JustLikeYou. The event will be a podium for discussion on this year`s Pride two topics – Discrimination and Hate Crimes, and Discrimination in Education, as these matters remain still largely unrecognised and unaddressed within Southeast Europe.
For more information about the #JustLikeYou campaign, please visit the website of FNF Southeast Europe www.fnf-southeasteurope.org.