IDAHOT Events 2015: France

To mark the Day, 30 leading French media and news agencies, amongst which major national daily “Le Monde”, sports daily “L’équipe” and leading agency “MediaPart” signed an anti-homophobia Charter, committing to fair coverage of LGBT diversities and total equality for LGBT staff.

The French organisation Comité IDAHO, which focuses on mobilising around May 17 in France, has supported the mobilisation programme of the organisation Le Refuge, which specialises in providing shelters for homeless young LGBTI people in several cities in mainly France and also in the Indian Ocean French island of La Réunion. Le refuge has made the IDAHOT week their key annual mobilisation and fundraising moment.

Still in the French territory of “La Réunion” in the Indian Ocean, a rally took place in the island’s capital city.

The national anti-homophobia project “SOS Homophobie” also traditionally invest the IDAHOT week with a loaded programme of action, including the presentation of their annual report. Check out details and local actions here

In Paris, Saturday May 16th saw a rally on the Human Rights Plaza, facing the Eiffel Tower. The rally was organised by Amnesty International, Ensemble contre la peine de mort (together against death penalty) and SOS homophobie and  focused specifically on the death penalty against homosexuality. See the event’s FB page for details

On May 17 itself, still under the Eiffel Tower, UK artist Paul Harfleet organised a Pansy Project Flashmob


Another Paris rally on the day focused on the convergence of social struggles. Migrants, homeless people, people living in extreme poverty and people living with HIV  joined the LGBT community to discuss exclusion processes. Visit the event’s FB page for details

The city of Poitiers held its Pride march on IDAHOT (More info here) while in Amiens a week long festival marked IDAHOT.

In many cities in the south of France, the IDAHOT week end was marked by festivities. From Avignon to Marseille, details can be found here

The “May 17 Cartoonist against Homophobia” project also launched their second edition to mark the day. The collection of cartoons from artists across France features stories based in real-life and aims to look at the contemporary issues surrounding the LGBTI community.
A previous edition featured personal stories, confessions, opinions and humor on a number of topics and helped people from across the world better understand the real lives of individuals within France’s LGBTI groups.

An IDAHOT picnic took place on 16th of May organised by the Youth section of the Paris LGBT Community Center in the capital’s International Students’ Residence. Open mic, poetry and of course, great French picnic cuisine was on the programme! Facebook page of the event for details

The National Lesbian Alliance held a conference on Best Practice against Lesbophobia on Sat 16th  in Paris. More details at www.coordinationlesbienne.org

In Reims, the Collectif QueersUp hosted an in-door Football Tournament. Find more information here.