May 17th: the 2nd Annual International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO)
Wednesday 17 May 2006 is the 2nd Annual International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), a event aimed at decreasing homophobia worldwide.
May 17 was chosen as the day of this annual event because it was on this date in 1990 that homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO).
However fight for the recognition of equal rights for lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender people did not end there though.
Today around eighty (80) countries in the world still criminalize and condemn consensual same sex acts with imprisonment. Of those countries nine (9) [Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen] still have the death penalty. Additionally discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation and gender identity is still not recognized formally by the all member states of the United Nations, [including the United States of America which only recently decriminalized consensual same sex acts in 2003].
IDAHO has been endorsed by the European Parliament, in its landmark resolution condemning homophobia as well as the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). Not yet that well know in the US, this year, it has been endorsed by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Bialogue and the New York Area Bisexual Network to name just a few.
Seen as a complementary action to LGBT Pride Day, which is meant to emphasise pride in one's orientation and refusal to be ashamed of it, as explained on IDAHO's website "in reality it is homophobia that is shameful and must be deconstructed in its social logic and fought against openly."
The brainchild of
Professor Louis-Georges Tin author of “Dictionnaire de l’Homophobie” [Presses Universitaires de France (2003)]. Originally from Martinique, Professor Tin, 31, is not only one of the most creative gay leaders internationally, he is also a rising star of France’s emerging black activist community.
This year International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) will be observed with public actions and demonstrations in more than 50 countries, including China and Iran.
Interestingly, May 17 2006 is also the second anniversary of the date that same-sex couples could begin to get legally married in the state of Massachusetts in the USA, currently the only state in that country to recognize marriage equality.
please note that owing to the subject matter, two (2) of the article linked to are in French