Basic List Info

Omofylofilia is a list for discussions and announcements on topics of all kinds of LGBT+ issues in Greeceand in the International Greek community.
Interesing issues and news concerning the European and the Global community may be posted, but please keep in mind the basic Greek interest of this list.

The basic languages are Greek and English. If you need to post in any other language, please add a summary of the message basics on top, in either Greek or English.

List membership is open to everyone, and even non-members may ask the moderators to forward their messages, as long as the posting is related to the general purpose of the list.

1. How to subscribe?

1. Through email: If you wish to subscribe, send mail to majordomo@groups.queernet.org with the following command line as the only message content:

subscribe omofylofilia YOUR@ADDRESS

unsubscribe omofylofilia your@address

You don't have to write a subject. If you encounter any problems with subscribing, send mail to:
omofylofilia-owner@groups.queernet.org

2. Through the web: An alternative way to subscribe is online, at the QueerNet Groups site: Omofylofilia basic information where you just have to enter your email address and a name (nick), and click on the "Subscribe" button.

3. Use the member application form, after carefully reading the Terms of Use.

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2. The digest version

The digest version of Omofylofilia is an alternative to receiving all postings separately. There will be packages containing several postings collected into larger pieces of mail.

How to subscribe to the digest version?
1. - If you're already a member, or if you subscribe to the list first, using the command

subscribe omofylofylia YOUREMAIL

set omofylofilia digest YOUREMAIL

2. - If you want to do both with a single command, then send a request to majordomo@groups.queernet.org with this combined command:

subscribe-set omofylofilia digest YOUREMAIL

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3. Omofylofilia sites & emails

The address of the Omofylofilia www page is http://geocities.com/omofylofilia
The english homepage is http://geocities.com/omofylofilia/indexeg.html

The basic list information can be viewed online at Omofylofilia - Basic Information (in English), where you can see the current number of subscribers (54 on June 30, 2003), the number of posts in the last 30 days (usually around 50), the welcome message, etc. and you may subscribe online if you like !

The Omofylofilia email address for members posting messages is omofylofilia@groups.queernet.org

The Omofylofilia Owner email for inquiries, help and non-member messages for the list is omofylofilia-owner@groups.queernet.org

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4. Who can join Omofylofilia?

Any person may join the list, no matter what their geographical location, gender or sexual orientation. This list is realy straight-friendly. New subscriptions are not moderated. Everyone joins the list automatically as soon as they apply. But due to past experiences with mailing lists that ended after various kinds of abuse or attacks, people who post messages failing to comply with the simple rules of our list will be banned from posting messages.

The rules are very basic and self-evident: no abuse, no racism, no ads, no personals, no flame-wars, no chain letters. (Please refer to the posting rules & restrictions). If you are someone that has been banned from this list, you're welcome to re-join with a new email address and a fresh friendly attitude.

5. Who can post messages to Omofylofilia?

Any person may post messages to omofylofilia, member or non-member, as long as the message is relevant to the broader list subject (homosexuallity in Greece, Cyprus & the international greek community, and LGBT rights and issues) and is not infringing our posting guidelines.
See also Non-members messages

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6. Members Personal Data

The Omofilifilia mailing list and the support group DO NOT collect any personal data of the list members.
The only information list members have to provide is the email address through which they receive the list messages. The members emails are accesible to the support group, and each email address sending a post to the list is visible to all the list members receiving it.
Since participation in this list is free for everyone and we know nothing about each person behind each email address, nor their personal reasons for becoming members, we advice members wishing to remain anonymous and to protect their privacy, to prefer using some really "anonymous" email - that is an email that is not in any way connected to our personal data, and that does not show our real name in place of our e-address, not if we don't want the www to know.
An anonymous email is one through which no-one may guess or track down our real name and more information about us, ie. a. does not comprise of parts of our first and family names, nor our initials, b. does not auto-replace our email address with our name in the messages we sent out, and c. we have not given out real personal data when we started this email. (If you're not sure about b. email yourself to check the apparent sender name, if you're not sure about c. you'd better start a new free type of email in some provider that does not require you to file in all your personal data).

Queernet.org that's hosting the Omofylofilia mailing list, has a good privacy policy .. (& we intend to find their relevant privacy policy webpage and add a link here.. someday).
In any case, if you're using an anonymous email, the only danger is the possibility to receive unwanted messages (from possible members that know not how to respect themselves, the internet & this list).

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7. Eucharistoyme (we are thankfull) !!

We are gratefull to persons and groups listed below, for without their invaluable help this list would probably not exist, and even if it did, would surely not have the current profile and structure.

* - Eva Issakson - for through her online personal work has taught us what is a real, well-organised mailing list, how to make one, and where to find a free host without adds and without exploiting our personal data.

* - People that participated in the 2nd meeting of the "rainbow forum", at the Lamda club, Athens Greece, on the 12th of March 2003, and through their presence there, their expressed care and worrying, and their suggestions, showed clearly that there are people who really care about homosexuallity in Greece, and especially those people that suggested the onset of an open communication list with this main subject.

* - Everyone that supports this mailing list as best they can, especially the support team, people that help spread the word about this list, and people sending in interesting information and announcements.

* - Queernet.org and the ipg group for free-hosting the Omofylofilia mailing list without requiring any kind of return.

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List Purpose

Omofylofilia was started in March, 2003.
The purpose of Omofylofilia is both to facilitate the discussion of Greek LGBT rights and issues as well as to provide a productive online discussion forum (agora !). We encourage all members to do our part, in whatever way is best for us, to fight against homophobia, human rights violations, social exclusion and injustice. We seek to stop all kinds of abuse against LGBT persons, to protect LGBT youth, to establish equal rights and opportunities in the workplace, in partnership and marriage, in social services and benefits, everywhere.
We need to educate both our own Greek LGBT community and the broader Greek community about the basic truth that LGBT rights are human rights. It's either equal rights for all - no discrimination based on any kind of difference - or the whole rights cause would be just a big social lie to justify special priviledges for certain social groups. That's why we can't afford to allow for any discrimination nor for any kind of abuse in here.
A lot of LGBT people in Greece have expressed the need to discuss issues that concern them, issues that cannot be easily discussed in the places we usually meet like gay bars. Many LGBT people living in Greece felt they need a place to discuss with other like people, especially about subjects that are not easy to discuss in gay bars where we usually meet.

please use this list to ..
• report any homophobic attitude you notice around you - in Greece, and especially any homophobic attitude directed against you
• inform us all about any other problems for homosexual people in Greece - but please don't repeat the ones that are well-known and are already addressed in the agendas of the concerned supporting organisations.
• open discussions about all kinds of subjects and problems important for us, the ones we need to talk about and have no-one to talk to.. we may only talk about such between us, who else is going to understand ?
• participate and support any of the organisations, local groups & sectors of, concerned with the LGBTF+ related rights & support in Greece
• read carefully the organisation's and groups notifications and newsletters, and participate and support any action supporting every sexual minority in Greece. There's a lot we can do to support our own community, to make a positive difference from your own computer or phone or fax while just sitting in our warm home...
• inform us all about all kinds of happenings that sound interesting to the homosexual community
• If you own some kind of non-homophobic business, tell us about it - just once, please, and consider sticking the "Stop-Homophobia" sticker on your entrance or at some other obvious place in your business. You should be able to get this sticker from most LGBT organisations.

2. Why an international list, why not just a Greek list?

Omofylofilia was started as an International list for a couple of important reasons. There is a lot of Greek people around the world. Most of the Greek LGBT+ people that go abroad for studies find it hard to come back to homophobic "home" that will only accept them conditionally: if they quit being themselves, or at least if they successfully pretend they comply to the rules of the majority about their gender and sexuality. And this is on top of the unemployment problems and the .. "normal" ways of getting a job here, so they usually stay abroad a lot more than they originally planed. A pretty high percentage of the Greek LGBT people really concerned about gay rights and wanting to improve the current status, are the ones that have travelled to more gay-friendly societies abroad. There's some European and International Organisations about human rights of sexual minorities that need to keep updated about the real problems in every country, and to be able to communicate with local people. And the greek homosexual community needs information exchange with those organisations. The international community needs a communication avenue as much as we do. And finally, there's a lot of people interested in travelling to Greece, and they need to know what they should expect to find here, especially if their destination is not Mykonos, the gay island, nor Eressos, the lesbian place on the planet. There is also some researchers out there.. seeking for all kinds of practical information about homosexuality in Greece.

This list is still very young, and its quite early to tell where people will come from to communicate here and why. But there's a couple of facts that reveal much. One of the two women that started this list lives currently in USA. Most of the current members are LGBT rights organisations people, and most of them have studied abroad, or lived abroad for a number of years for various reasons, and have been travelling abroad as often as possible since. There's no LGBT organisation or group that doesn't include foreign members and people that have lived abroad for considerable time-periods, and half-Greeks, and occasional foreign partners of Greeks - and considering how few the homosexual activists are in Greece, this much-travelled group is quite a serious percentage.

3. Who runs the list?

The moderator team is a few volunteers, technically called omofylofilia-moderator@groups.queernet.org - in fact it's a couple of overworked activists that started it and are hoping there will be more volenteering moderators before the list needs them badly.

If you are a member of this list and you think you may help with the administration, please email the list owner with the basic facts of your list-moderation skills, language skills & your lbgt activism personal history.

The team work is a. promoting the list info, especially in the internet, untill it will be well-known, b. supporting members, future members, and anyone who will send us a request, c. periodically reporting the basic subjects of the recent list messages in alternative languages of members (we currently support greek and english, and should start on german.. and whatever the members ask for), d. support the list and the list-site and see that the basic terms of use are followed. Knowledge of HTML tags and majordomo commands is also desirable.

The moderators must agree with the list rules listed here, soplease read this web-page carefully before applying as a volunteer.

4. Who makes the rules?

We try to have as few rules as possible. However, if an explicit policy or decision on some list matter really will be needed, the moderators team has the final word, as on any list by established Internet usage. Usually, the emphasis is on being flexible and open minded, and keeping the purpose of the list in mind when in doubt.

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Omofylofilia Posting guidelines

There is a few very basic ones: