IDAHOT 2017- A festival of mobilisation coming up !

From around the world, organisations, companies, governments, cities and individuals are getting ready to celebrate sexual and gender diversities.
We bring a glimpse of what’s cooking!
In Buenos Aires, the  LGBTIQ family organization AFDA will celebrate the date to increase international visibility of LGBTIQ families by projecting a specially made short film inspired by this year’s motto “Love makes a family”. The organisation will also hold a  Workshop for Diversity. In this space volunteer artists will work with children to strengthen their social, emotional, and developmental well-being through different cultural activities such as painting, crafts, dancing, circus, acrobatics, storytelling, etc.
Still in Buenos Aires, the “Tango Against Homophobia” flashmob will once more draw attention to the situation in countries that criminalise sexual and gender diversity.
The Asia-Pacific Rainbow Families Forum will hold several events over 2 days to raise awareness of the existence of rainbow families in the Asia-Pacific region and highlight the importance of family support. Personal experiences from advocates from Australia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines and Thailand will be shared in support of research findings advocating for the urgent need for recognition, protection, and equal treatment of rainbow families and LGBTI people.
In Australia, among the many IFED/IDAHOT events is a family picnic and party in Sydney Park. Not to be missed if you are lucky enough to be down under.
Still in Australia, in New South Wales, LGBTI health organisation ACON will be supporting community groups to mark IDAHOT/IFED by providing ten organisations with small grants that highlight the impact homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia have on the health and wellbeing of LGBTI families.
And in Queensland, Parliament House will have rainbow lights for IDAHOT for the first time ever. In the state capital Brisbane, three bridges, and most probably Brisbane City Hall too, will also be lit up, providing once more for stunning visual effects and massive visibility.
In Melbourne, LGBTI activists will hand out Rainbow Ribbons throughout the cities. IDAHOT events are even reported to be planned in Tasmania!
This year, Manchester Pride is launching an initiative to trek across these peaks while raising funds for the Manchester Pride Community Fund. Mark Fletcher, Chief Executive for Manchester Pride, comments: ‘This is a great opportunity to mark one of the most important days of the LGBT calendar in such a special way.’
Still in the UK, Stonewall is planning to hand out their “Rainbow laces”, a campaign against homophobia in sports an international focus for the Day, which they celebrate as “IDAHOBIT”.
In Cuba, IDAHOT will once again be the time for the national sexual education center CENESEX to hold events across the country. This year, they will be held in Havana and in the city of Santa Clara.
In Puerto Rico, the organization Comité Amplio para la Búsqueda de Equidad will hold a protest on May 17 to raise visibility of the LGBT community in Puerto Rico and hold a public discussion around the recognition of new forms of families.
The Peruvian organization Comunidad Cristiana Ecuménica Inclusiva El Camino will hold a public vigil and prayers as part of a global initiative to remember victims of homophobia and transphobia in Perú and around the world.
The Diversity Council of the Municipality of La Paz in Bolivia is holding  a series of activities focusing on families together with different LGBTIQ organizations locally.
In the city of Sucre, the organization Diversencia will host an event on the recently passed Gender Identity Law in order to sensitize society about the life of trans people.
For the newly formed European Network of Parents of  LGBTI+ persons, IDAHOT/IFED 2017 will provide the opportunity for one of their first public awareness raising actions,  a video where each member says “love makes a family” in their respective language.
In France, the national organisation “Le Refuge” which works for homeless LGBT youth will organise its annual fundraising week and the national “SOS Homophobie” organisation will again release its annual national report. Several pride marches across France are timed to coincide with the IDAHOT week end. A demonstration in support of LGBT people in Chechnya is also planned in Paris.
Meanwhile, French Embassies will organise events in many countries, including Beijing where a film screening is planned
The Rainbow Cities Network members will mobilise for IFED/IDAHOT in various ways, including a “Family in Vienna” photo exhibition. Watch out for more news coming.
 
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sarajevo Open Centre (SOC) plans to have a billboard campaign with the slogan “Love makes a family”. The first campaign of this kind in the country portraying LGBTI people, members of their families, and friends. In addition, SOC activists plan to organise a protest march against homophobia and transphobia in Sarajevo on the May 13, an important event in a country where Pride marches have not yet been allowed to happen.
In Moscow the very first Family Equality Festival will take place from May 7 to 17. The first meeting of the Russian rainbow families will surely be an exciting event where creative arts and sports will give an excellent opportunity for community building, discussing relevant issues, and jointly exploring solutions.  
The LGBT Teachers’ Group of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation is running a competition in all Irish primary schools to mark IFED and IDAHOT. The creative competition will be running under the theme “Love Makes a Family” and aims to ‘encourage teachers to celebrate the diversity of families in the community and to implement preventative strategies to combat homophobic and transphobic bullying’.
In New York City, the Family Equality Council and Camp Highlight invite families to join them for a fun scavenger hunt and tour, crafts and snacks at the Museum of the City of New York.
Workplace Pride is partnering with RELX Group and Solidarity Foundation in Bagaluru (India) to organise an LGBT Workplace Symposium in Chennai. This event  will bring together organizations representing employers, employees and civil society to address the specific challenges of being LGBT in Indian workplaces. Many more corporations will join the celebrations again this year as for example Ernst and Young who are organising a panel discussion on “finding your second family at work”, and an evening of entertainment, networking drinks and canapes to view an exhibition of the winning photographs from their  annual global photo competition, Colours of the Rainbow.
Rainbow coloured balloons will once again fly across German skies as “Rainbow Flashmobs” will be held in several cities. Still in Germany, the national anti-discrimination authority is holding a public gathering under the symbolic Brandenburger Tor with the focus on “Same Rights for every Love”. Amidst  a variety of  artistic and musical performances, discussions will focus on the rehabilitation of people condemned in the past for homosexuality and also on the remaining daily discrimination experienced by LGBTQI people.
Given the situation in Turkey, marked by massive expelling of teachers who don’t support Erdogan’s regime, the International Meeting Against Homophobia Conference organized by Kaos GL in Ankara will be held with a focus on “Labour”. The conference will shed light on the intersections between labour and queer experience and politics.
In Brazil, many actions will take place throughout the country. Main events include a public hearing at the National Congress on May 17th and a Diversity March (Marcha da Diversidade) in Curitiba.
For our allies, the joint IFED/IDAHOT celebrations also provide a great opportunity for mobilisation. To name just a few, the American Psychological Association will hold a day-long twitter chat across all departments of the organisation. The European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS), an umbrella organization for 35 national Jewish student unions in Europe, is organizing in London a 5-day seminar “Sex and the Community: Gender and Sexuality in Judaism”. The event is for activists who wish to be mobilized to counter right-wing rhetoric and xenophobic public discourses and to stand up for inclusiveness in their communities.
For more information, please see our previous newsletters on our site and stay tuned to our social media.
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