Monitoring of hate speech in relation to LGBTQ+ in Belarusian Mass Media
‘Journalists for Tolerance’ regularly conduct monitoring studies of hate speech in relation to vulnerable populations in Belarusian mass media, including annual monitoring studies of rhetoric in relation to LGBTQ+.
The monitoring study is aimed at providing a systematic review on the use of disparaging vocabulary and manifestations of hate speech in relation to vulnerable groups with the special attention paid to the stigmatizing expressions in relation to LGBT-people.
We understand ‘hate speech’ as a special way of linguistic construction of models and practices of social inequality, and we take it as an axiom that disparaging rhetorical strategies are capable of reinforcing (and, in the extreme, generating) discriminatory practices.
We believe that the opposite is also true. The correct rhetoric can help to build relationships between representatives of different social groups, based on the principles of equality and mutual respect.
