PRESS RELEASE

October 4th 2009

The start of the campaign “Right to Work Without Discrimination” organised by Lesbian Group Kontra was marked by the erection of jumbo billboards in five Croatian cities (Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, Split and Pula).
The campaign is part of the project “United Against LGB Discrimination in the Workplace”, financed by the European Commission, which is being carried out by Lesbian Group Kontra. Partner organisations in the project are the organisations M.I.A and Iskorak.
Photographs which have been taken as part of the campaign depict different workplaces (bank, dentist’s surgery, shop, cafe, school, theatre etc) and are an integral part of the campaign’s billboards, agendas and calendars.
Stickers for the jumbo billboards with the slogans “We do not employ faggots” and “We do not employ lesbians”, which we later placed with the aim of attracting attention to this problem, point to the homophobia present at a great number of employers in Croatia.
The original idea for the campaign was photographs of LGB persons in various workplaces to promote the right to work. Unfortunately, because of fear of discrimination within the LGB population, we were not able to find a sufficient number of people who would pose for photographs with their name and occupation.
In 2007, the agency Puls (an independent agency, commissioned by Iskorak and Kontra) conducted a survey in Croatia (N=800). 49% of those asked answered that homosexual persons should be banned from work in public services. Furthermore, 67% of those questioned stated that homosexual persons should be forbidden from working with children within the education system. Only 28% of those questioned did not display a negative attitude towards LGB persons.
For these reasons we have decided to bring attention to the problem of discrimination in the workplace with which LGB persons are faced every day.

As part of the campaign there will be actions of distributing campaign promotional material which contains information about LGB employment rights in five Croatian cities – Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, Split and Pula.