MONITORING OF THE HATE SPEECH against LGBTQ+ in the media of Belarus in 2022. Results for January-October 2022

Journalists for Tolerance regularly monitor hate speech against vulnerable groups in the Belarusian media, including annual monitoring of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

For the ten months, from January to October 2022, we observed rhetorical fallacies against LGBTQ+.

This year, the way LGBTQ+ was presented in the media space has deteriorated significantly:

• 53% of media publications contained incorrect speech regarding LGBTQ+, and only 47% — correct. The share of incorrect materials in the media again exceeds the share of correct ones, and the trend is negative.
• • Incorrect speech has become as common in the national media as in the local media, this is a significant regression compared to the situation before the beginning of the political crisis in Belarus.
• • In 2022, almost every second publication on the topic of LGBTQ+ in the Belarusian media contained hate speech manifestations.
• • This is the first time we have seen a situation where correct vocabulary is used to incite hatred. As for incorrect vocabulary, in most cases it is accompanied by hate speech manifestations.

Monitoring of hate speech in relation to LGBTQ+ in the media of Belarus in 2022. Results for January-October 2022