It took place in Genoa from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th May 2009, at the Arci Zenzero club, the first training appointment of the national project by Arcigay, co-financed by the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Policies, (pursuant to Law 383/2000, year 07, letter F) which aims to create interventions for the prevention of homophobic bullying from the title The Bully: Discovering its Habitat
In recent years, the association's experience with interventions to educate about otherness in schools and the need felt by many operators to intensify support in institutions for LGBT youth who are unable to find a welcoming environment, have pushed Arcigay to structure a project path that can grow a large national network that can work against homophobic bullying and for inclusiveness in schools, with quality preparation.
The strong expectations of activists who want to become trained operators is precisely that of finding ways of dialogue between adolescents to "dismantle" the roles of bullies. and no longer hear insults like this in all the schools faggot, lesbian or bully, derogatory Genoese expression to indicate a gay person.
The methodology used in this first meeting by the trainers was that of interactive work in small groups, which encourages the comparison of local experiences and fosters teamwork.
This first workshop was dedicated primarily to the development of a National Network which will be able to continue its work through online communication, but which will meet again for three more seminars during the next school year.
The interactive activities focused on giving tools for approaching schools and all school bodies, attempting to shed in-depth light on the structures of institutions that often fail to provide education on otherness and the comparison of different identities for their students.
The event opened on Friday 22nd evening at the Hotel Astoria which hosted the participants with an evening of welcome and socialisation and with a guided tour of Genoa by the volunteers of Arcigay The Approach. While the actual activities were distributed on Saturday and Sunday, thanks to the work of the young group of trainers, composed of Amber Guarnieri, training facilitator of the project, Marco Coppola, head of the Arcigay School, Fabio Saccà, responsible for the youth network, Rebecca Zini, trainer and member of the national secretariat, Fabio Astrobello, school worker and president of Arcigay Reggio Emilia.
There were 34 participants in this event, coming from the Provincial Committees of: Syracuse, Cosenza, Bari, Naples, Pesaro, Pisa, Grosseto, Rimini, Ferrara, Bologna, Modena, Piacenza, Genoa, Trieste, Padua, Verona, Rovigo, Milan, Mantua, Turin, Verbania.
Genoa, the city that hosts the National Pride 2009 She was the cheerful and welcoming protagonist of this new opportunity to strengthen the Arcigay network. On the final evening, the Pride spokesperson Alberto Villa and the national secretary Richard Gottardi they thanked the participants, inviting everyone to the great demonstration for rights and against the hunt for the “different” which will be the June 27 the GenovaPride.
