May 17 IDAHO celebrations in the region announced

May 17, the day homosexuality was removed from the mentall illness list of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1990, is being globally celebrated in more than 100 countries from all over the globe. LGBT organizations from Albania, Egypt, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia have announed their IDAHO events to take place during the week of May 17.

 

 

“The Regional Network Against Homophobia”, established in May 2011 with the participation of LGBTIQ organizations and initiatives in the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans and Caucasus, is declaring its first Annual Memorandum. This declaration pictures how the year of 2012 looked concerning the LGBTIQ people’s human rights in all 18 countries Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Macedonia, Montenegro, Palestine, Serbia, Tunisia and Turkey.

 

This Memorandum is a true summary of the large scale of homophobia and transphobia which ranges from criminalization and executions to condemning LGBTIQ society in the name of religion, morality or even “fighting capitalism”.

 

The Memorandum will be released via kaosgl.org as well as by IDAHO Committee on May 13, Monday. It will also be given visibility in the IDAHO event programs of various Network member countries.

 

 

LGBT society in Egypt have launched a campaign to celebrate IDAHO as well as Egyptian Day Against Homophobia (EDAHO). EDAHO events will coincide with May 11 2001 which is the day Queen Boat (Cairo 52) Raid happened, on a floating gay nightclub on the Nile Egypt. From the 52 men arrested, 50 were charged with "habitual debauchery" and "obscene behaviour" based on on the Combat of Prostitution.

 

Maha Yousef, a representative of Bedayaa Organization which is a member of the “Regional Network Against Homophobia”, will be speaking at an event on May 11, also giving reference to the first annual “Memorandum 2013”.

 

 

Albanian LGBT organizations Alliance LGBT, Pro LGBT and Pink Embassy are undertaking this year’s IDAHO events.

 

Pink Embassy is dedicating IDAHO to forums, round-table panels, exhibitions and workshops on LGBT Youth, media, social effects of homophobia and anti-discrimination measures. Their poster is dedicated to the upcoming elections on June 23, 2013.

 

Alliance LGBT has cooperated with The Unstraight Museum from Sweden to organize two weeks of events around the exhibition entitled “Article 1”, to be presented in The National Historical Museum in Tirana.

 

Alliance LGBT and Pro LGBT organizations express their excitement over the success of LGBT rights in 2012. Both organizations plan to propose a prize for the “ally of the year 2012”. The winner will be picked among different people who openly, with courage and without fear, showed their support for the LGBT movement.

 

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina will celebrate IDAHO in Sarajevo between May 13-19. The Sarajevo Open Center will undertake media campaigns, sessions with journalists, and discussions around “LGBT activism in region”.

 

Macedonian LGBT organization LGBTI Support Center will do the opening of its IDAHO program by promoting the “Memorandum 2013”. The programs also promote the book “Decent life”, a collection of stories by Serbian lesbians.

 

During its 8th IDAHO, Kaos GL will host Esther Benbassa, the French senator who drafted the recent “Marriage for All” Bill, on May 18 in Ankara.