Every May 17, the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) is celebrated in commemoration of the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement in 1990 that homosexuality would no longer be listed as a mental disorder in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). In 2019, the same announcement was finally made for trans and gender diverse people!
This year’s IDAHOT theme is “Together resisting, supporting, healing”. The COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating consequences, as well as the global impact of anti-rights policies, makes it particularly relevant. For trans and gender diverse people worldwide, this theme is an urgent call to action.
At a scale never seen before, anti-rights governments and movements are targeting our communities, including adolescents, children and their families. Attacks range from hate speech in social media to anti-trans and anti-gender campaigns in traditional media; from the use of disinformation and misinformation about us to the defamation and even criminalization of those supporting us; from the demonization of our existence on the basis of absurd fantasies, to our very real exclusion from education, healthcare, shelter, employment, sports and even bathrooms.
Repealing and dismantling these attacks requires all of us to work together in resisting, supporting and healing.
RESISTING
- By speaking up against stigma, discrimination and violence;
- By confronting disinformation and misinformation with facts;
- By organizing against laws and policies violating the human rights of trans and gender diverse people.
SUPPORTING
- By uplifting the work of trans and gender diverse activists, organizations and networks;
- By engaging with legal reform processes based on self-determination;
- By protecting the health and well-being of trans and gender diverse people.
HEALING
- By addressing pathologization as a serious human rights issue;
- By building reparative and transformative justice;
- By encouraging individual and collective commitments to truth, remembrance and long-lasting change.
To find out more about us, our work, and how to engage in resisting, supporting and healing together, contact us at gate@gate.ngo.
In solidarity,
The GATE Team