DYLBERIZM THE INCLUSIVE PLATFORM FOR QUEER PERSONS

Dylberizm is the first platform in Albanian dedicated to information and education on LGBTQ+ matters.

 

Illustration: Argjira Kukaj

 

Dylberizm was created on March 19th 2018 by independent queer activists in Kosovo, as an educative page in Instagram. For two consecutive years Dylberizm has served as the only Albanian page which offered queer only materials. In very little time the page became very popular through interaction with its followers and necessary educational materials. 

On June 28th 2020, on the anniversary of New York’s Stonewall Riots, which are the start point of the modern LGBTQ+ movement, Dylberizm became the first platform on the internet, which specifically serves to inform and educate about this movement in Albanian. Dylberizm.com became an archive of queer topics in Albanian. 

What differs Dylberizm from other platforms is that it is run completely voluntarily from queer activists from Kosova. Dylberizm activist prepare and produce queer materials in Albanian daily.  

The internet platform includes news from the country, region and the world o topics that affect queer people and causes that have to do with LGBTQ+ rights. Among other things, the platform covers cultural and artistic queer lives, informing the readers on events and activities within the country and region. A very important component on this platform is offering educational materials on queer causes, all prepared in Albanian like: queer terminologies, events and historical personalities, biographies of well known queer personalities, biographies of Albanian queers, information regarding health, and important dates that mark LGBTQ+ events.  

Other than informing and educating its readers, Dylberizm also works to empower LGBTQ+ persons by offering opportunities for them to share their stories on the platform. Through the “Share your story” rubric, queer persons from Kosova, Albania and diaspora can share different stories on queer life, coming out, transitioning, secret meetups, mental health problems, happy stories and more.  Ndër të tjera, Dylberizm shumë shpesh del edhe në rrugë, ku përmes aksioneve rrugore në hapësira publike, ngrit debat dhe dukshmëri për çështjet LGBTQ+ në vend. 

Dylberizm was formed as a need for proper representation of queer causes. In a society captured by the heterosexist system, albanians who aren’t part of the heterosexual/ cisgender majority are denied from being part of main economical, political, cultural and social activities. Educational institutions, other than having failed to educate young people on sexuality and gender, they have also fed discrimination and hate towards queer persons, using old facts with sexist and homophobic terminology. 

Among others, most albanians believe they are a heterosexual nationality with only two genders. If someone does not identify within this binary they are not considered albanian. 

Dylberizm was created to prove that all these prejudices, beliefs and hate come from irrational fear that has been so internalized within the collective albanian awareness as a result of heterosexist and hetero patriarchal society. 

It is time that these damaging myths to go awar and to be replaced with the acceptance of the simple fact that: you can be albanian and dylber/queer. 

LGBTIQ+ Albanians have been and will always be part of the Albanian society. Old songs about the love between albanian men, ashike and dylbera, tell us that homosexuality is not a new thing in our culture. The breaking of traditional gender roles of boys and girls is present in these songs. Albanian burrnesha show us that gender is not always fixed in man/boy or woman/girl, rather it is a construct of the norms we live in. Old songs and legends in albanian of crossing the rainbow to change the gender/sex show us that this is not a mental disorder, but a beautiful journey to living life as yourself.  

Dylberizm is the umbrella of all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, intersex, non-binary, androgynous and all other albanians who are not a part of the heterosexual/ cisgender majority. 

So, if you want to be a part of our cause for freedom and equality, join us by contacting us at kontakti@dylberizm.com, or in our social media: Instagram @dylberizm, Facebook: Dylberizm, Twitter: @dylberizm, or at www.dylberizm.com.

 

About the author: Dylberizm, was created by independent LGBTQ+ kosovar activists and is the first online platform which specifically serves for the information and education queer in albanian and is maintained completely on volunteer basis. 

 

This grant is supported by the Balkan Trust for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States