Tribute to the association It Gets Better Portugal
Aril 21st
21h15
Batalha Centro de Cinema
Once again, Porto Femme is paying tribute to an institution with which it shares the same values.
In this edition, the Sorority Prize will be awarded to It Gets Better Portugal. An award due to one of the institutions that has worked hardest in defense of equality and LGBTQ+ rights, distinguishing itself for its activist work. With this association, we not only share a space, a common house, but also other causes.
It Gets Better Portugal
It Gets Better Portugal is a project of the Tudo Vai Melhorar Association, a non-profit NGO founded in 2015 to demonstrate to LGBTQI+ young people the levels of happiness, potential and positivity that their lives can achieve when they manage to overcome the difficulties of their adolescence, namely bullying and discrimination.
An affiliate of the international project of the same name, which began in the United States in 2010, the It Gets Better Portugal Project's mission is to communicate with gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex young people around the world with the aim of giving them hope and creating the changes they need to make their lives better. Among the various activities already carried out, the following stand out: (i) gathering and building a library of online videos with empowering messages aimed at LGBTQI+ young people, with over a hundred videos already published and more than 600,000 views in Portugal; (ii) building and promoting a library of videos with first-person messages from LGBTQI+ people; (iii) producing the "Já Melhorou" web series, an online series that shares stories of people with public notoriety who publicly self-identify as LGBTQI+.
At the time of the video, one of the participants was Portuguese MP Alexandre Quintanilha. This project won the Porto Youth Prize awarded by Porto City Council; (iv) production of the web series "Vamos Falar?", in which, for the first time in Portugal, LGBTQI+ young people and their families spoke together about how they experienced the coming out process. (v) organizing school sessions to promote the rights of LGBTQI+ people, and to combat discrimination and bullying based on sexual orientation, identity, gender expression and sexual characteristics at birth; (vi) preparing and publishing the e-book "Come to the Rainbow School - Guide for Inclusive Teachers", funded by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG).
Currently underway are the "Arco-Iris ao Cubo" project, also funded by the CIG in a school context, with the aim of training teachers, staff and students to promote safer and more inclusive schools, and the latest audiovisual production, entitled "Fora da Caixa" (Out of the Box), due to be premiered on May 15, International Family Day. This will be an engaging work that delves into the lives of rainbow families, exploring their stories, configurations, challenges and, of course, triumphs.
We want to always remind you that LGBTQI+ young people will never be alone, assuring you that Everything Will Get Better.
