BACKGROUND: Helsinki gay community has multitude of activities
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By Tuomo Väliaho
The gay community in Helsinki has a large variety of activities. The Helsinki regional section of the gay rights organisation SETA has its own cooking club, for instance.
There is also art therapy, writing and reading groups, as well as a youth group where members make handicrafts, take excursions, practice breakdancing, or go bowling.
The Transgender Support Centre has a group specialising in Eastern dances, and the gay and lesbian sport club HOT offers aerobics, badminton, dance, swimming, and skiing.
"Many people do not feel whole in a straight environment, such as an ordinary evening education classes, for instance", explains Anita Lähde, a SETA social worker for the Helsinki region.
"Our purpose is to develop our small groups into a more active direction. We don't just want to sit around drinking coffee, pondering about how difficult things are for sexual minorities."
One example that she mentions is the Women's Coffee Evenings, whose members also travel together, hike, go to the cinema, and the theatre.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.10.2005
More on this subject:
 Out of the closet, singing loud
Links:
Finnish gay and lesbian sport club HOT
Transgender Support Centre
TUOMO VÄLIAHO / Helsingin Sanomat
tuomo.valiaho@hs.fi
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