Home Personal is Political I Am Queer, but Am I Safe?

I Am Queer, but Am I Safe?

Four interviews on the relationship between LGBTQ+ communities and public spaces in Chișinău bring to the fore the need for a safe and inclusive public landscape for all.

17 July 2023

Constanţa Dohotaru, Clara Abdullah, Mariana Agleanov

#OmulFaceLocul is a project of Constanta, Clara and Mariana who live in Chișinău. As architects and urban planners, they explore different aspects of community urbanism and formulate what we, as a society, can do together to make the cities we live in a bit friendlier. A sustainable city is a safe place, one that allows movement without fear of crime, victimization, or harassment, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. Under the tagline I am queer, but am I safe? the Loc de Dialog (The Place of Dialogue) series invites queer people of Chișinău to reflect upon what their city does to ensure the safety needs of LGBTQ+ individuals. The interviews explore Chișinău’s places of vulnerability and victimization, as well as places that represent queer resistance, activism, and empowerment, as they are experienced in everyday queer lives.

In this first episode, the Loc de Dialog talks to Katisch, a decolonial activist and independent researcher, about her experiences of in/visibility as a queer woman in Chișinău.

Noise pollution threatens us on every street corner. Chișinău is growing. But does this progress meet the needs of queer communities? In the second episode Marin, a civic activist, talks about his experiences of life in Chișinău and his own definition of an inclusive city.

In episode number three Constanta and Mariana talk to LGBTIQ+ activist Leo Zbancă about how he develops resilience to discrimination, but this is not the outcome he wants. It’s important to have an open dialogue about how we create a society where everyone will enjoy equal rights.

Chișinău became a second home for Anhelina, who was forced to run there after the full-scale war in Ukraine began. In the fourth episode, she talks about equal rights for all and shares her experiences as a queer refugee in Chișinău.