International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Louis-Georges Tin at the 5th Minsk LGBT Conference, organized by Gayrussia.ru and Gaybelarus, in Belarus on Sept 26, 2009

The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) is celebrated every May 17. It is coordinated by the Paris based "IDAHO Committee" founded and presided by French academics, Louis-Georges Tin. The day aims to coordinate international events to call respect for lesbians and gays worldwide.

May 17 was chosen as the day of the event because homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 17, 1990.

History

In 2003 the Canadian organization Fondation Émergence instituted a similar event, the National Day Against Homophobia, on June 1; in 2006, they changed it to May 17, to join the international movement..

In 2006, Declaration of Montreal adopted by 2006 World Outgames also demand United Nations and all states to recognise every May 17 as the International Day Against Homophobia.

In 2010, Lula, the then president of Brazil, signed an act that instituted May 17 as the National Day Against Homophobia.

Much movement towards reaching these goals has been made achieved by the French government, particularly by Human Rights Minister Rama Yade. Working closely with the Netherlands, the French government convened a World Congress on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity on May 15, 2009.

For 2009, the IDAHO campaign was mostly focused on transphobia, i.e. violence against trans' people. The IDAHO then became the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. A new petition was launched, in conjunction with other LGBT organisations, and it was supported by more than 300 NGOs from 75 countries, by 3 Nobel Prize winners (Elfriede Jelinek, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Luc Montagnier). And on the eve of the 2009 IDAHO day, France became the first country in the world to officially remove transgender issues from its list of mental illnesses .

The latest report that the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association, ILGA, released on the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia 2009, confirms that no less than 80 countries around the world still consider homosexuality illegal and in 7 of them, homosexual acts are punishable by death. In almost all countries, transphobic laws limit the freedom not to act as socially determined by one person’s sex at birth.

Historical perspective

The idea of the Day was launched in 2004. The date of May 17 was chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in 1990.

By May 17, 2005, as a result of a year long campaigning effort, 24 000 people worldwide and reputed international organizations like ILGA, IGLHRC, the World Congress of LGBT Jews, the Coalition of African Lesbians, to name but a few, had signed the appeal to support the IDAHO initiative.

In May 2005 already, activities took place on IDAHO in many countries in the world. First LGBT events ever were organized in Congo, China and Bulgaria.

Organizations in more than 70 countries in the world now invest International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia as part of their annual mobilization plan. In some of them, the Day has become the major focal point or action.

IDAHO has now been officially recognized by the EU Parliament, Spain, Belgium, the UK, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, France, Luxemburg and lately Brazil. It is also recognized by numerous local authorities across the world, like the province of Quebec, the city of Buenos Aires, etc.

In several countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Australia, Croatia, etc. national civil society coalitions have called upon by their authorities to have the Day recognized.

Support

Very few countries are making a move towards full legal and social equality for people who want to live in a same-sex relationship or express their gender freedom, hiding the blatant Human Rights violation behind arguments of cultural sovereignty as the freedom to express one’s sexual or gender preferences is labeled as a foreign cultural imposition.

Reflecting State-sponsored homophobia and Transphobia, social attitudes discriminate against sexual minorities and Trans people, sometimes in the violent forms of persecutions, verbal and physical abuse, and even hate-crimes. As a result, in many of these countries where political and/or social homophobia and transphobia are extreme, emerging LGBT movements are very vulnerable and isolated.

• Break the isolation of local activists by weaving their actions into a global network that promotes a very large agenda ranging from anti-hate crime advocacy to criminalisation of homophobia.
• Challenge the paradigm of Western imposition by exposing the diversity of the sexual rights and gender freedom agenda and place it into national cultural and historical contexts.
• Reach out to constituencies that join the concern to fight hate crimes and violence, without necessarily making sexual freedom or gender variance a priority focus.

To contribute to answering these challenges, an initiative was developed in 2004 to create an International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

The main purpose of the day is to create a moment, a space, that local groups can use as an opportunity to take action and harness to engage into dialogue with the media, policy makers, public opinion, other civil society or religious groups, etc.

The idea behind the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia is to create something that can be visible at global level without needing to conform to one or other specific type of action as the sheer diversity of social, religious, cultural and political contexts in which the rights to express gender freedom and to engage in same-sex relationships needs to be addressed makes it impossible for a global campaigning movement to take one specific form of expression or even one central policy agenda.

The International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia is about unity in spirit and diversity in expressions.

The Day creates an opportunity for all to :

• Draw media attention to the issue of homophobia and transphobia
• To organize events which mobilize public opinion
• To engage in lobbying activities
• To organize joint campaigning actions
• To network with like-minded organizations
• To develop new partnerships
• To address new constituencies

See also

• Biphobia
• Heterosexism
• Homophobia
• LGBT rights by country or territory
• LGBT social movements
• National Coming Out Day
• Transphobia
• Declaration of Montreal

External links

• [1] — Official site (en)
• [2] — Official site (fr)
• International Day Against Homophobia Hong Kong (IDAHO HK)— Regional site of Hong Kong Campaign
• RainbowFlash (ru) (en) (de) - Russian-Germany Campaign
• Project IDAHO launched by the social network Gays.com and the Committee for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO)
• International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA)
• Cuba & World Day against Homophobia, Havana Times, May 16 2009
• The WWP's Images Against Homophobia- 'Images Against Homophobia' photography exhibition helps mark IDAHO Day 2011 in over 20 cities worldwide.