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Pride Lab

Team: [user id=jorge], [user id=maria], Pedro Gutiérrez, Lourdes Illescas, Cristina Almeida, Evelyn Astudillo

Our Pride Lab is a response to the lack of trustful exchanges between civil society, universities, advocates and policy-makers, particularly on issues relating to well-being of the LGBTIQ+ community. Our staff have been working on several projects on the advancement of educational justice and the improvement of human rights, particularly around marginalized groups in an increasingly polarized region.

Research:

LGBTQI+ narratives in social media

We aim to document social media commentaries of the radio show "Sin Etiquetas" through data analysis and visualizations in order to address homophobic attitudes and sensitize communities toward confronting homophobia and violence against LGBTQI+ people in Ecuador.

"Sin Etiquetas" was the first LGBTQI+ radio show in Cuenca, an Ecuadorian medium-sized city where nation-wide pro-gay rights mobilizations emerged after an ultra-violent police raid in a gay bar that led Ecuador to the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1997, transforming Cuenca in a sanctuary city in spite of being perceived by ecuadorians as one of the most conservative cities in the country. In the last twenty years little legal progress has taken place. However, radio shows such as "Sin Etiquetas" have allowed the LGBTQI+ community to generate alternative public spheres where non-binary sexualities are brought to light and talked about by everyday citizens.

LGBTQI+ rights initiatives in Ecuador face two major problems. On the one hand, LGBTQI+ organizations struggle to develop a shared agenda due to lack of funding and limited civic and legal representation. On the other hand, the rapid shifted to neo-conservatism currently taking place in Latin America had allowed the resurgence of homophobic, misogynic, and racist discourses. One of the main places where this can be evidenced is social media.

Thus, the Pride Lab through its strategic alliance with “Sin Etiquetas” seeks to engage citizens in debating sensitive and complex issues around LGBTIQ+ topics with a twofold objective. First, we aim to generate empirical data that documents mixed and complex perceptions around matters of gender equality through algorithmic text mining. Our aim is to communicate our findings to a broad audience through a variety of communicational tools such as short films, comic books, radial programs, and national and international encounters.