More an more actions announced for IDAHOT

The IDAHOT info flow has now reached its annual hectic peak, and we can once again marvel at the fantastic creativity of LGBT campaigners across the world.
Like every year, we are receiving many messages from local groups and even individuals, confirming the IDAHOT is a moment that is accessible to everyone. In line with this year’s very popular theme on LGBTI youth, we receive a lot of information on events by local students and school students.
The events we have listed here are just a small snapshot of the wide range of activities taking part across the world. We try our best to keep the country pages of the Day’s website updated, so if you haven’t yet shared with us info on your IDAHOT plans, please do send us a couple of lines.
And whether or not you are planning action on IDAHOT, we hope you will consider joining this year’s “Thunderclap” campaign for LGBTI Youth. This action has been developed by a large alliance of networks of LGBTI Youth organizations and mainstream youth movements, with leadership from IGLYO and technical support from the IDAHO Committee. You can join this action as an individual or as an organization. Your support is important. Take a second to discover the action and please consider joining it and disseminating the call for action as broadly as you can!
From around the world, news keep getting in, though a lot of organizations have requested confidentiality of information so as not to jeopardize their plans.
Active as ever, the ongoing Free & Equal campaign of the UN Human Rights Office will release an inspiring new video a few days ahead of the IDAHOT. The 2-minute video will highlight the diverse roles that LGBT and intersex people play in communities around the world and will feature a cameo appearance from a prominent straight ally in the video’s closing segment. The video will be launched on a 7-storey screen in Times Square, NYC, and disseminated through social media. Activists wishing to screen the video at events will be able to download a high-res version on or around May 15th.
The global It Gets Better project has mobilized all its 10 affiliates for a vast and diverse program of online and offline actions across the world, including special video clips by celebrities, flash-mobs, musical performances, video displays, graffiti exhibits, and much more.
 The International HIV/AIDS Alliance worldwide will mark the Day with their new special campaign “Write us in”  to ensure the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are  fully inclusive of LGBTQI people, including Youth.
 In Latin America the regional UNAIDS office will hold an online campaign about LGBTI Youth on social networks and their website. The campaign is being developed with the support of the IDAHO Committee and the Latin American LGBT Youth Coalition.
Meanwhile the Brazilian LGBT federation  reports plans for IDAHOT actions in an amazing 10 states and 222 cities.
To mark IDAHOT in China, UNESCO Beijing, in partnership with Lesbian organization Common language, has launched a campaign called “Be Myself”, aimed at raising public awareness on LGBTI youth in China, and encouraging young people to be their true selves, to respect differences, and to be kind to each other. The campaign calls for people to take and share a picture of themselves and any type of rainbow item, along with a written message which best represents their support/attitude in relation to LGBTI youths.
IDAHO in Riga, Latvia will be the main starting point of warming up with excitement for the start of EuroPride-2015 Riga June 15-21!
The Association of LGBT and Friends MOZAIKA will organize a flashmob in front of the Latvian National opera and will be joined by Embassies from many European countries and the USA as well as the local student organizations to show support for creating positive change for LGBT community all around the world!
Trans* groups will also once again generate specific attention to the cause.
 The Transgender Murder Monitoring project will publish a new TMM IDAHOT report two weeks before IDAHOT to enable NGOs, institutions and the media to use the data in their actions and publications.
 Trans people in rural area will be the focus of IDAHOT public discussions in Burundi, organized by LGBT organization Humure.
Next May 16th, Chilean organization Movhil will mark the 10th consecutive IDAHOT commemoration with a national pride march in capital city Santiago. The organizers call to stop discrimination inschools, to end hate crimes and for the development of a Gender Identity Bill. The march will also celebrate the very recent enactment of civil unions, which passed earlier in April.
In South Africa, Durban based Same Love Support Group Toti will launch a participatory You Tube video campaign called “Your LGBT Story is Important”, focusing on the good parts of life.
Also in Africa, the « None on Record » project is joining the global IDAHOT celebrations by collecting video messages from LGBTIQ persons and allies across the African continent and those in Diaspora. Click here to find out how to participate.
In Moldova, Egali will be co-hosting a series of events in the days around IDAHOT. These include the 14th Annual Pride Festival titled “Rainbows over Dniester”, the 3rd Annual Pride March for Equality, and an LGBT family conference titled “Our Families Here and Now”.
In New Zealand, university groups will campaign to promote non-binary gender representations.  Activities in Australia will include a IDAHOT Movie evening, a choir performance by the Brisbane Lesbian and Gay Choir, and a series of local Youth community events supported by ACON.
For the 3rd year in a row, organizations in Suriname are gearing up for IDAHOT. Plans this year are likely to involve the neighboring countries of Guyana and French Guyana for a first time « 3 Guyanas IDAHOT ».
In Jamaica, J-FLAG will host it’s annual Larry Chang Symposium. This year, the symposium will be held under the theme: “The Jamaican LGBT Community, A Resilient People” to bring the LGBT community and allies together and raise awareness about the negative effects of intolerance while at the same time celebrating resilience and the progress made over the years.
The LGBT center in Mongolia is once again planning an arts-oriented IDAHOT while further south in the Philippines, the LGBTS Christian church will hold its Grand LGBTS Flores de Mayo Pride on May 17th in Quezon City.
In Bangladesh, LGBT groups are deploying a large program of action which includes dialogues with creative media, film screenings, an adaptation of the NoH8 campaign, photo exhibitions, and more.
In Bulgaria, the GLAS foundation aims to encourage exchange of best practices of police forces in Europe and to promote inclusive policies, but also to train the Bulgarian police officers on how to tackle homophobic hate crime cases and support victims. The organization is seeking qualified speakers to be invited to the event. Please contact organizers directly.
Colors Rainbow, which serves as an umbrella LGBT organization in Myanmar are reiterating last year’s national photo exhibition for IDAHOT, coupled with a 3-day photography workshop for contestants.
In Malta, Drachma LGBTI and Drachma Parents Support Group will be celebrating the day with a celebration of Mass at the University Chaplaincy on Sunday.
In Belgium, Brussels Pride will take place like every year on the Saturday closest to May 17 and unite tens of thousands of people, as it did last year, while in the francophone region of Wallonie the IDAHOT will be marked with a strategic dialogue between LGBT Youth organizations and professionals in charge of Youth policy, in presence of the regional Minister for Youth. Meanwhile, a Belgian Scouts movement will take the opportunity of the Day to communicate on the organizations LGBT inclusive policies at all levels.
A flashmob and a theater play will be organized by Yaariyan, the youth group of Humsafar Trust to mark the Day in India, while in Indonesia, students groups and non-LGBT groups, such as minority religion groups, women groups etc. are being mobilized by Suara Kita (Our Voice).
In France, a collective of cartoonist will launch the second volume of the “May 17 cartoons against homophobia” series and several cities will again hold their pride marches on the IDAHOT weekend.
Concerts, balloon flashmobs and street demonstrations will mark the Day across various cities in Germany this year again. The national network LSVD will also organize a religious ceremony to commemorate the victims of Nazi persecution of Homosexuals during the 1930’s and 40’s and IDAHOT* Jena will again organize a multi-week festival with street fairs, music, discussion rounds specifically focusing on online provocateurs, workshops and more. And this year’s IDAHOT concert of online group « Enough Is Enough »  will be held in the heart of Berlin again.
In Geneva, Switzerland, Dialogai together with UNAIDS are preparing for the third edition ofIDAHOT placemats which will be disseminated in local restaurants, schools, institutions and  cafeterias around the city and will be used during the whole week of May 17. On IDAHOT itself, Dialogai is inviting everyone to join the “IDAHOT picnic” on Geneva’s lakeshore.
in Vietnam Organisation CCIHP will be hosting a collective same-sex wedding in public, a music event, an outdoor art performance and a workshop co-organized by Vietnam Sexual Rights Alliance  in Hanoi. In Ho Chi Minh City the organization ICS is preparing for a series of events including a leadership development workshop for transgender people, a ‘Rainbow Marriage’ event for LGBT couple to get their wedding pictures taken and a public event ‘Celebrating the Rainbow’.
This year again, the United Kingdom will see IDAHOT celebrations throughout the country, including the Sing With Pride workshop in Norfolk and a Rally in Nottingham organized by UNISON East Midlands. Also, Micro Rainbow International is planning an online campaign to raise awareness of LGBTI youth poverty through infographics for social media/online sharing and some interviews with LGBTI activists with experience in supporting LGBTI youth.
In Canada, Out in Schools, in partnership with Reel Youth is bringing back the Rise Against Homophobia Youth Short Video Contest. Youth from across British Columbia aged 12 to 19 are invited to create short films speaking up against Homophobia, Transphobia and Bullying.
From Washington, DC in the United States, the Human Rights Campaign’s Youth Ambassadors will be sharing a video message with the world on IDAHOT. Many US organizations have announced they will have special online info sessions on the IDAHOT weekend, contributing to the fantastic annual online social “noise”: last year’s study indicated that 17% of all annual communications on homo/trans/biphobia happened during the IDAHOT!