Hoshen: Education & Change
Hoshen, the Hebrew acronym for "Education & Change", is the education and information
center of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) community in Israel.
It is a nationwide, non-profit volunteer organization whose purpose is to fight
stereotypes regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.
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Over 200 volunteers work daily to achieve this goal via a wide array of educational
activities: personal meetings, academic lectures, workshops, and seminars.
Those are aimed at many different target audiences: high school students and teachers,
university students and faculty members, police and border guard corps officers,
soldiers, army cadets and officers, medical staff, social workers, and guidance
counselors.
Hoshen is officially recognized by the Educational Psychological Autority (SHEFI)
of the Israeli Ministry of Education.
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The Personal Story
Hoshen's main educational activity is The Personal Story: two LGBT individuals
share their own personal story with their audience. This allows for the creation of a stereotype-free
environment, with the unique attributes of each story-teller.
The way that the personal story is conveyed by the volunteers helps the audience relate to them,
sympathize with the difficulties and hardships they had to face, and sometimes the price they had to pay.
Hoshen's educational activities help LGBT teens tremendously; teens that yearn for
a positive LGBT role-model, who they can relate to, ask questions and receive first hand
information regarding their experience.
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LGBT Civic Studies Program
Following the Ministry of Education's decision to reform and extend the current civic studies
curriculum, Hoshen's Content Development team put together a program which would educate
high school students regarding LGBT history, and familiarize them with various activists and their
fight for civil rights and equality, as well as shed some light over less familiar parts of the
LGBT community, such as transgenders, bisexuals, religious LGBTs and others.
The Civic Studies Program consists of 33 meetings, each 45 minutes long, and are facilitated
by Hoshen representatives, while cooperating with other LGBT organizations such as
IGY (Israeli Gay Youth organization), Tehila (the Israeli PFLAG), and the LGBT Community Center
in Tel Aviv.
Our hope is that such a program, which exposes teenagers to the history of the community and its
fight for equal rights would encourage them to become activists themselves.
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Kindergarten Teachers' Program
With LGBT parenthood on the rise, there's a need to introduce these new and non-traditional
families to teachers and school administrators in the kindergarten system.
For the past six months, a team of psychologists, education counselors, kindergarten teachers
and representatives of the education system has been developing a unique program, which would
help kindergarten teachers deal with children who are raised in LGBT families, and acknowledge their
special needs.
On the upcoming November the first group of kindergarten teachers will undergo our first training
session. During the upcoming year, additional trainings are planned to take place, in collaboration
with the education system and the kindergarten departments in several municipalities.
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Academic Research
Hoshen also comprises an academic research team which conducts studies in LGBT related
topics.
A study conducted in 2010 examined chronological milestones in the life of LGBT people,
such as the age at which LGBT individuals discover their different sexual orientation, the period
in which they decide to hide their orientation, and the processes they go through before coming out
of the closet.
In the past few months, a survey regarding LGBT health and medical care has been
conducted by Hoshen in collaboration with Ben Gurion university and the Ministry of Health.
The results of this survey are being processed these days.
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Hoshen and the Israeli Military
Hoshen's activities in the IDF have been taking place for several years, following a
struggle which resulted in the IDF's recognition that advocacy of LGBT issues is crucial
for the LGBT soldiers.
Hoshen activities in the army, as well as those in the civil sector, are intended to
create a more enabling and accepting atmosphere through knowledge of LGBT history and personal
acquaintance with people from the LGBT community.
Hoshen works regularly with diagnostics NCOs, squad leaders training courses, cadets and officers
training courses, in addition to special activities that were commissioned by the Ombudsman for
soldiers, mental health officers and more.
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Contact Us
For further information, please contact Irit Zvieli-Efrat at irit@hoshen.org.
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