Researcher – SOGIESC and the Family

The initiative isdesigned to combat mythologies and misconceptions with regards to the relationship between
SOGIESC and nature/nurture, SOGIESC change efforts, and other relevant topics to rainbow
families. The segment is designed with parents in mind in particular and offers multiple resources
for individuals looking for support, community, and accurate information. Topics would range
from psychology, education, SOGIESC, parenting, and others. The initiative is designed to equip
individuals with information to debunk harmful misconceptions and reduce domestic violence and
abuse of queer youth in the MENA region.

Desired Outcome: The purpose of this project is to provide users with epistemic information on
gender, and sexuality at a click of a button. It seeks to create an exhaustive list of Questions to the
most popular inquiries, pervasive mythologies, and hidden truths and facts and provide Answers
to them in an accessible abridged, but thoroughly researched and cited format. The Q&A segment
would concentrate on elucidating concepts related to parenting and raising queer children and to
purposefully increase the amount of available knowledge, data and evidence for individuals to
make the best decisions for themselves and their families. The gathered information will be
presented in a user-friendly and accessible platform which will serve as a reference for users to
access freely in Arabic and English languages. By surfing Helem’s digital search engine platform,
users will be able to instantly gain access to an archive of information via a simple and informative
web directory. Users will be able to explore answers about diverse family dynamics in the Arab
region within multiple Q&A formats.
Key Concepts: Sexuality; Arab queer history; identity and belonging; cultural, societal, and legal
understandings of gender; Politics; Arab queer terminologies; discrimination, stigma, and fear.

Deliverables:
● Lead focus group discussions (FGDs) with members of the LGBTQ+ community to be done

in person and/or online.
● Organize interviews with experts and specialists in the relevant fields to be done in person
and/or online.
● Conduct research on specific LGBTQ-related topics and gather references for materials as
well as guidance on how to answer questions.
● Provide complete and comprehensive addendum contents and further reading for each
question and sub-category/subject.
● Provide a clear and comprehensive topic description of each sub-category to be utilized in
promotional material.
● Convert gathered information and materials into clear, and comprehensive responses.
● Create a digitized database of information including questions, answers, categories, and
references.
● Accompany a graphic designer in the creation of all audio-visual material for the digital
web directory platform.
● Ensure all aforementioned information is correctly translated into Arabic/English through
a meticulous review of all translations.