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Click map for a look at LGBTI rights in the world
Saturday May 17, 2008, marks the International Day Against
Homophobia (IDAHO); so chosen because homosexuality was removed from the
International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organisation on
May 17, 1990.
It’s a timely day to remember that, as shown by the above
map, homosexuality is still illegal in numerous countries around the globe.
“Gays and lesbians around the world cannot wait any longer
for their love to cease being made a crime. Many are in jail, or at risk of
being jailed. Some are being killed. This has to stop now,” IDAHO founder, French activist Louis-Georges
Tin told The Advocate in 2006.
One
year later, an International Gay and Lesbian Association study into
state-sponsored homophobia found that no less than 85 member states of the
United Nations still criminalise consensual same-sex acts among adults, thus
institutionally promoting a culture of hatred. Although many such countries do
not systematically implement those laws, their mere existence reinforces a
culture where a significant portion of the citizens need to hide from the rest
of the population out of fear. A culture where hatred and violence are somehow justified
by the State and force people into invisibility or into denying who they truly
are.
Here in Australia,
where the greatest battle facing the gay and lesbian community is primarily the
issue of same-sex marriage rights, it’s easy to grow complacent. But it’s
important to remember that in rural Australia, homophobia and transphobia
are still a deadly force to be reckoned with – as the statistics around youth
suicide so shockingly indicate.
We must never stop fighting until everyone is free to live
and love openly, without fear or shame.
- Richard Watts
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