RightsCon Tunis 2019

This session addresses pressing issues faced by the LGBTQ community in the digital environment. The panel will explore the promises and opportunities of the internet for enabling the development of a strong and thriving LGBTQ community, as well as the challenges and perils posed by new telecommunications technologies when it comes to those users. The primary goal is to move away from discussing dating apps, inviting speakers from civil society and other internet platforms in order to identify other specific issues that have proven to be particularly sensitive for the LGBTQ community and the internet. Considering the “meetup” format proposed by the organizers, participants will engage in more active conversation. At the beginning of the session, speakers will start the conversation by presenting their perspectives on the topic, based on relevant work, research and/or personal experience. They will make a mapping effort in order to identify issues that have proven to be particularly sensitive for the LGBTQ community, such as anonymity and tools for discovering sexuality and gender identity online; access to information, particularly sexual health information; digital security and surveillance, hate speech, harassment and online gender-based violence; advocacy and movement building; and so on.