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Marie Houzeau Marie Houzeau (Ukkel, Belgium) studied at the Free University of Brussels (1988 - 1994) (where she got a degree in Roman Philology and a qualification to teach in secondary schools) and at the University of Mons-Hainaut (1996 - 1997; summer school education of adults). She has been teaching in Bratislava (Slovakia) in French as a second language and French Belgian literature (1994 - 1996). She worked for the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) of Belgium in the 1996 - 2000 years as programme coordinator, and as director of francophone services in the 2000 - 2005 years. Marie Houzeau now holds a position counselor at the National Institute for Public Health in Montreéal since 2009, combining her work since 2005 with the post as general director of GRIS (= Groupe de Recherche et d'Intervention Social) Montréal. GRIS Montréal was founded in 1994 and is today Québec's largest organisation that discusses homosexuality and bisexuality in schools. Its mission is to promote better understanding of sexual diversity and improve the integration of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in society. This non-profit organisation has some 200 gay, lesbian and bisexual volunteers who meet with young people, tell their stories, and answer their questions as openly as possible, based on their lives instead of statistics or theories. GRIS Montréal's workshops let young people put a face on realities that may scare or disturb them. GRIS Montréal also carries out surveys on homophobia in schools, evaluates the impacts of its workshops, and refers people to useful resources in the LGBT community. In the last year alone, GRIS Montréal volunteers spoke with more tgan 25,000 students in 212 institutions. Marie Houzeau participated in one of the panel discussions at the Antwerp conference. |