Thursday, November 17, 2016 12:00 PM - 1:30 PMInternational Affairs Building Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room, 1219Please join the Harriman Institute and the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at the Columbia Institute for the Study of Human Rights for a talk with Nvard Margaryan, Chairperson of PINK Armenia and participant in the Human Rights Advocates Program. The LGBT movement in Armenia has made significant progress in recent years. Though the visibility of the LGBT community is increasing, the struggle for the human rights of LGBT people continues. LGBT community members remain one of the most vulnerable groups in Armenian, and LGBT issues are often subject to political manipulation. Due to the politicization and polarization of LGBT issues, a new discourse of opposition has emerged between nationalists and LGBT activists. The manipulation of LGBT issues through nationalist forces is one of several mechanisms through which state authorities mobilize the public, using it to establish and secure their own power.