Switzerland

Various actions took place to commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia 2014 in Switzerland, in different cities, and spanning a great diversity of types of action and themes addressed.

Dialogi actions in Geneva – Love Does Not Differentiate

The association Dialogai in Switzerland developed, in cooperation with the municipality of Geneva, 3 main activities for IDAHOT. Firstly, a communication campaign on equality of all love, which was promoted in Geneva’s public transport systems from May 9 to May 18. During 10 days, all screens in the Geneva transport system showed a short slide show featuring three couples kissing: one straight, one lesbian and one gay. The 20 second long slide show concludes with the slogan ‘Love does not differentiate’.

Stop Homophobia in Sports
Secondly, in collaboration with the City of Geneva, information booths were set up at the Jeux de Genève, as part of a campaign against homophobia and gender discrimination in sports. For this action, they worked with the visuals of the Stop Homophobie dans le sport campaign of the Swiss association of Sports services. 500 rainbow coloured wristbands were given out to young sportsmen and women aged 10 to 18 with the motto ‘Freedom to Love’ engraved in them.
UNAIDS Placemats Campaign
Finally, developed in partnership with UNAIDS, 10,000 placemats were distributed in restaurants and UN and school cafeterias. The pic and the list of restaurant can be accessed here.

Marriage Rights Event
A coalition of Swiss politicians from several political parties organised a gathering in the Capital city Bern in favor of same-sex marriage rights, thereby countering a current campaign by conservative movements to restrict marriage rights constitutionally to the union between a man and a woman. A march also took place in the city.
During the meeting, the city of Bern’s educational authorities presented the French and German versions of the ‘IDAHO lesson’, an official UNESCO lesson plan to fight homophobia and transphobia in schools.

IDAHOT Switerland Equality Video
Activists also produced this promotional video for IDAHOT 2014 actions in Switzerland:

Other Events
Various other events, such as a special club evening by the organisation 360°, or a dance evening in support of a Nigerian gay man who is threatened to be deported back to Nigeria, also marked the day in the country.