by Roman Kuhar, University of Ljubljana, MSH Guest Professor 

This presentation builds on data collected in two waves of research on the everyday life of gays and lesbians in Slovenia (2004 (N=443) and 2014 (N=1145)), focusing primarily on the process of negotiating new family relations after one's coming out. The comparative analysis shows that most gays and lesbians in Slovenia experience a situation of transparent closet in which family members are informed about their sexual orientation, but refuse to accept the consequences of their coming out. Nevertheless the second wave of the research points to some positive changes in how family members deal with and react to one's coming out. Such changes, however, were not recorded in public sphere: every second respondent in the research still report being a victim of homophobic violence at least once in their life. Biography : Roman Kuhar is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, where he teaches courses on gender, sexuality, popular culture and everyday life. He holds a PhD in sociology and is currently the head of the Department of Sociology and its Research Director. He has authored several articles in academic journals, book chapters and the books Media Construction of Homosexuality (2003) and At the Crossroad of Discrimination (2009) (with A. Švab) of The Unbearable Comfort of Privacy (2006). He has also co-edited Beyond The Pink Curtain: Everyday life of LGBT people in Eastern Europe (2007, with J. Takács), Doing Families: Gay and Lesbian Family Practices (2011, with J. Takács), and Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing Against Equality (2017, with D. Paternotte). Monday 6 February from 6 until 8 pm Institut de Sociologie Room Henri Janne (15^th floor) Avenue Jeanne 44 – 1050 Brussels