All your answers from the recent survey are included below in the format: “Answer”- author

Putting our money where our mouth is

Giving money to LGBT causes can be of the highest importance for our community. I believe we can all understand how funding NGOs that protect our members and allies, provide shelter, professional support and education, healthcare, etc. can be very beneficial for all of us.

Starting from something small 1 euro a month or aligning your contribution to something new, e.g. 1% of your promotion can make a massive impact on our community.

Often, instead of trashing, I give away clothes that I don’t wear anymore to friends. I always ask them to donate 1 euro or more to an LGBT charity. It is a small donation that creates a nice habit. Share this idea with a friend.

Globally, there are many groups, governments and organisations that are actively campaigning and funding causes against us. We need to make our money work on building a safe future for our community.

Some LGBT causes to support:

BelongTo.
Supporting youth LGBTI+ in Ireland.

AllOut.
Power the fight for LGBT campaigns.

Rainbow Railroad.
Help save someone’s life.

Greek LGBTQI+ Helpline
Fundraising by Athens Pride.

Do you have more causes? Tell me and I will share it here.

Be kind and listen

“Be kinder to all members of the community” –Josemalave167@gmail.com

“Promote love and acceptance within the boundaries of our communities, to teach people who exclude the slightly less known sexualities like asexual and pansexual that they are part of it, too.” Amie

I would say that the key here is the word “all”. We need to be united, ready to listen and accept even when we cannot understand. Most of the times, we don’t need to understand; we need to be kind.

“We can create a better and stronger LGBTQI+ Community by learning and listening. Being aware of the history of the community is something I believe is vital. We also need to listen to the experiences of members of the community who are more marginalised and figure out how best to show our solidarity and love to those who still face a struggle against inequality and discrimination. This can be achieved by supporting activist groups and facilitating safe spaces.” – A.S

Be more inclusive and connecting

“Less attitude towards bisexual people and new gays.” – @ciaranhennessy97

“Support each other; partake in activities within wider community groups as opposed to joining specific silo’ed groups that don’t interact with each other. Encourage a feeling of support and a need education across varied age groups, genders, sexual orientation (e.g. Encourage gay people to support the Trans community, join LGBT clubs and societies that are open to all gender, age, nationality, etc. as opposed to joining men-only or age-specific groups). “- Patricia_loughrey@hotmail.com

“Acknowledge that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all member of the community. It’s ironic that the very people who fought for so long for equality and acceptance are so quick to judge people who identify as LGBTQ+ but don’t necessarily conform to the stereotypes.” – Shane

“Recognise that humans are on an individual journey. Support and respect all journeys as community. The fight to be who we were born to be, should not strive to separate us and isolate from ‘mainstream’ society. We must build a fully integrated society for future generations. The goal should not be ‘them’ versus ‘us’. The goal should be, simply ‘us’, everyone together, everyone accepted.” – All together

“Like most of humanity right now we’re all looking for a sense of belonging and community but are often all reacting with an odd sense of ego and judgement towards one another.
There’s an endless conversation that can be had on this and on what attributes have caused us to be this way, but I think we all need to be a little nicer, to seek understanding and to be more compassionate to one another. We can still go to the clubs, dance, be in our friend circles etc., I don’t think we all need to be besto’s 2012, but I feel we do not even recognise one another, we’re often feeling alone even when we’re not.
This becomes worse when you think of how we sometimes talk on apps but not in real life when within the same space, things like being connected on IG, or when we have shared chats on Grindr, but then in the real offline world there’s no hello, often an obvious “I didn’t see you” like going for a high five, and you’re left hanging.
Hello world :)” – A friend of Dorothy … but she left me on read.

“Gays with no female friends in their lives should ask themselves why that is. I think in our community, there is still a big issue between the male gender and basically every other gender. Why does the white masc gay male still plays a similar role within our community as the white straight cis male does in the world? PRIVILEGE! Get woke!!! Have you come to a community so you can be the big bad guy? I hope no one actually consciously wants to be “that guy”, so GET THE F*** WOKE! EDUCATE YOURSELF!” – I would like to not sign because I was way too tired when I wrote this text and not sure I’ll like it when I am back to full mental capacity. Lol but you can use this signature if you like.

“Us respecting each other. Simple as that. What we think straight people say or treat us we are doing the same within the community. There will always be a sense of superiority, sexism, racism, etc. That needs to change!” – S.

Learn our history

“More education”. – johnny__browne

Learning our LGBT Rights history will shine light on the things we are still fighting and how we are today able to be ourselves in some parts of the world, sometimes when we feel safe to.

> A library of educational LGBT Links by QuestionMark

Vote smart

“By being more informed and involved socially, politically and support one another, especially the most marginalised parts of our community.” – Ste

Can’t find motivation to go vote? Read this

Voting and voting smart is crucial for every person of every minority. If you feel that no matter which government is in power you are not being affected, then you are probably lucky to be part of the normalised upper class of the society you live in.

Members of our community are still being marginalised for who they are. Our vote and our representation in the politic life can change their lives significantly. Our vote can also secure our future. What we now take as given can only take one government to be reverted. One generation can take politics lightheartedly and many generations will suffer.

Evolve our social spaces

“I can’t remember if I submitted this already, but the community in Dublin needs alternatives to the bars. A non-competitive weekly games night in a local community centre and likewise outdoors would be ideal. Dodgeball and kickball are super accessible and could be marketed as a way to meet new people and do sports.” – damienkelly89@gmail.com — would love to get this off the ground.

“More social spaces – not just pubs. Cafés, galleries, markets. Having multiple smaller venues where niches can come together and create and thrive. Ireland suffers from having everything focused into a main venue always at risk of breaking down when what it needs are many small venues that overlap and offer choices for different communities. Particularly in Dublin, though, the issue of leasing and rent is always an issue as well as difficulties with certain types of venues being inflexible or wary of queer communities occupying them. I was once involved with trying to set up a fetish night for men, and the number of venues who outright refused to host on the basis of presumed irresponsibility or liability made it near impossible to secure a space, and there was always a feeling that a venue could take this away at any time. Even places like London are losing some of their great spaces. I don’t think it’s enough to accept that queer spaces are not needed any more – they are always needed.” – Jamie

Other suggestions

“There is a need for broader communities. Right now, I feel like the young ones in Greece at least just learn that being mean gossiping and two-faced while throwing shade is what being lgbtqi+. Socialising as a community happens only through specific narrow events that market-specific ideas. It’s not about support and creating mentally stable people; it’s about a show or protecting ourselves against an infection.” – axdi@hotmail.gr

“Accept everyone in it. Fight for equality” – Emmanouilidispr@live.com

“LGBTQ+ is not only a community. It’s an idea — a way of how lots of people express themselves. In my opinion, the most important things are diversity and acceptance. Everyone has his beliefs. We all fight for different reasons in our lives. We are all so different! Even if we belong in the same communities or even if we share the same ideas. We need to consider ourselves different and not similar to the rest, and we need to realise how amazing this is. This is the way, for me, how a community can be evolved, stay strong, learn from the past and create a better future.” – Panagiotis Giouvanas

“Well, I think what a better community means would need to be defined.
If you mean a community that bands together globally to overcome homophobia and oppression In different parts of the world, then we need first to accept that as a challenge and then figure out the steps we can take to help combat that.
Education, Infiltration, Adoration
It probably would start with education in the countries that have legalised same-sex marriage and a commitment from large conservative bodies (the Catholic Church’s Pope would do) to not only stop the condemnation of same-sex couples for their “sinful” ways but to actively welcome them into the fold. So getting LGBT+ activists into the upper levels of society would help with this. Then, once people start to realise how pointless and hurtful it is to discriminate based on sexuality or gender identity, and with more LGBT people in visible positions of power, they might warm up to, even end up loving us as a valued part of our societies, the whatever the nation, religion or political stance.” – anon

“Thinking less and acting more” – Chris Mo

“Educate, activate, advocate.” @itsChristoforos – Instagram | @i am Christoforos – Facebook

“Try to explain to people better what is lgbtq+.” –  Vasilisvout6@gmail.com

“Ban dating apps :)” – Eugene

“Being more informed with the activities that the community does” –  Duarnes@gmail.com