.gay Community Spotlight on Equaldex
Our .gay Community Spotlight this week focuses on Equaldex.
We chatted with Dan Leveille about the Equaldex mission of creating a global knowledge base for the LGBTQ+ movement.
Read our convo below!
How would you describe your organization’s mission?
Equaldex's mission is to create a global knowledge base for the LGBTQ+ movement, highlighting the progress -- or lack of progress -- in every part of the world.
Tell us about how that mission is brought to life through your work?
By creating a collaborative community for users to contribute and edit data about LGBTQ+ rights, we've created a way to visualize the progress of the LGBTQ+ rights movement through compelling maps, stats, and infographics. We're basically creating an equality "report card" for each country, province, state, and region that measures the legal equality and public opinion of people in each region.
What would happen if your organization suddenly did not exist?
I see Equaldex as a way to get a high-level view of LGBTQ+ rights at a global and state-level scale. There's a ton of information about LGBTQ+ rights across the web, but Equaldex puts it all in one place. If Equaldex didn't exist, it'd be much more difficult to get an easy-to-understand view of each region's progress. Equaldex has been a vital resource for LGBTQ+ people when traveling. Travelers might not know that they're about to visit a country where homosexuality is illegal, or whether it's legal but has very high anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments.
What can people do to get involved and help make sure that never happens?
One of the biggest ways people can help is just signing up and contributing to Equaldex. Laws change across the world nearly every month and we're a small volunteer team of editors trying to build an up-to-date database that also includes historical data to show how regions are progressing or regressing. It's really easy to help out -- just visit your region or country's Equaldex profile and make sure everything is up to date. If there's missing data, or you recently heard about any reputable studies about LGBTQ+ topics in the region, you can contribute it, making Equaldex more accurate for people researching or planning on visiting your region.
Why does LGBTQ+ visibility matter to you?
Visibility is super important for making LGBTQ+ people feel accepted. When I was first coming to terms with being gay, there weren't a lot of LGBTQ+ themes in pop culture, very few out celebrities, and it wasn't as big of a talking point in politics and news. Now, we have LGBTQ+ characters in a ton of major movies and TV shows, LGBTQ+ characters are often the lead stories, celebrities are coming out, LGBTQ+ politicians are being elected into office, and supporting pride month has become a "mainstream" thing.
While I wouldn't say my coming out story was as challenging as a lot of others, we all deal with our own struggles and challenges coming out, and it would have definitely been a lot easier for me in today's world.
On top of that is just the normalization of LGBTQ+ people. In my experience, there's a good amount of people with anti-LGBTQ+ views just haven't had many experiences with LGBTQ+ people or don't have many LGBTQ+ friends. When you start to see LGBTQ+ topics in everyday life, hear about their struggles, or see their stories on TV, I think it can change people's views, or at least get them to think twice about it.
In your own words, what does “LGBTQ+ safety and support” mean specifically?
To me, I think every LGBTQ+ person needs to surround themselves with a support system. This can be difficult if you're a teen and you have little control over your family's views, or if you live in a country where being LGBTQ+ is taboo. It's important to find friends and connections who support you for who you are. LGBTQ+ organizations, if available, can be really helpful, especially if you're looking for professional help like for mental health or healthcare. Online communities are another amazing way to find help when it's difficult to make real-life supportive friends.
Who are some of your LGBTQ+ heroes?
It's always so inspiring to hear about LGBTQ+ organizations in countries where being LGBTQ+ is illegal or very high anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. It's just amazing to know that some people are so brave and committed to building a vital organization in a place that's so dangerous for LGBTQ+ people. To put yourself at risk to help others is definitely heroic in my view.
If you could give LGBTQ+ youth one message, what would it be?
Stop worrying about labels and what the world thinks about your sexual orientation or gender identity. Sometimes, we spend too much time thinking about what label we put on ourselves or which bucket we fit into. Just be yourself and do what makes you happy and don't worry about what others think. Of course, it's easier said than done, but sometimes it's important to change your own mindset and just accept that you don't need a label, or you aren't sure which label fits you yet. It's okay to not be sure.
Tell us about a time when you felt like the work you do at your organization really mattered or made a difference for the communities you serve?
I've had a quite a few cases where people were shocked at how many countries criminalize homosexuality -- or coutnries where being gay is punishable by death. Highlighting shocking statistics about problems in the world was one of my goals with Equaldex. If you live in a progressive area with progressive friends and family, you might not realize how behind some parts of the world really are when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. This applies more to straight people, but it can also be shocking to some people when they realize their area is not the best place for LGBTQ+ people. It brings me back to my point about Equaldex's goal of making it easier to highlight the global progression of the LGBTQ+ movement (or lack thereof).
Anything else you would like to share with the .gay audience?
Equaldex is always looking for more contributors to help further the LGBTQ+ movement! Join us by signing up on the site and contributing!
Learn more about Equaldex’s work here.
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