International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia 2021

The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia was born in 2004 to raise awareness of the violence and discrimination suffered by lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, intersexuals and all other people with non-binary sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

The date of 17 May was chosen in memory of the decision by the World Health Organization to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder, which took place on this very date in 1990.

The declassification by the WHO was only the last step in a long journey. As early as 1974, homosexuality had been deleted from the American Psychiatric Association‘s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the first version of the manual (dating back to 1952) homosexuality was considered a psychopathological condition that could be classified as a sociopathic personality disorder. Subsequently, in 1968, it was then considered a sexual deviation, similar to pedophilia, to be classified among the non-psychotic mental disorders.

The European Union officially established the day against homophobia in its territory in 2007. Since 2009, the campaign has focused mainly on transphobia, making explicit this attention to the issue of violence against transgender people right down to the name. The explicit reference to biphobia dates back to 2015.

Demonstrations for May 17 are held in more than 130 countries, including some of the 73 countries where homosexuality is illegal.

Every year thousands of initiatives, large and small, are brought back from all over the world. The official hashtag to follow this year’s events is #IDAHOBIT2021 and the theme of this year’s campaign is “Together: Resisting, Supporting, Healing!”

Discrimination in the world

According to the NGO Human Rights Watch, at least 69 countries still have laws that criminalize homosexual relations between consenting adults. In addition, laws exist in at least nine countries that specifically criminalize transgender and non-binary people.

In 2021, the last countries to decriminalize same-sex sexual activity were Bhutan and Angola (one of the few African countries to have legislation to protect LGBTIQ + people).

No European country has a law explicitly against homosexuality. The last country in Europe to have such a law was Northern Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey), but it was then repealed in January 2014.

However, it is good to remember that

• in Russia an anti “gay propaganda” law was enacted in 2013 which prohibits any positive mention of homosexuality in the presence of minors, even online;
• a similar law was passed in Lithuania in 2015. The country is considering adopting another that would impose fines for any public performance that “defies traditional family values.”

Furthermore:

• Ukraine was considering adopting laws in this direction between 2012 and 2013, but has not yet done so;
• Moldova, adopted a similar law, only to repeal it in 2013;
• Belarus was debating a similar law in early 2016;
• Poland established in 2019 the so-called “zones free from LGBT ideology” (LGBT-free zones), or areas (municipalities or entire regions) that have declared themselves hostile to the “LGBT ideology” in which equality marches are banned and other events supporting the cause of LGBTIQ+ people. In June 2020, over one hundred municipalities (about one third of the total), and five regions adopted resolutions making them “LGBT-free zones.”

Furthermore, as noted by the 2021 annual report of ILGA-Europe, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have highlighted the difficulties experienced by LGBTIQ+ people living in Europe and Central Asia. The report highlights a clear increase in abuse and hate speech against LGBTIQ+ people; but also the unease of many LGBTIQ+ people who – as economic conditions change – have been forced to return to hostile family and community situations. In this regard, the organizations that deal with the rights of LGBTIQ+ people have had to reorient their activities towards the provision of basic necessities such as food and shelter, as many governments exclude these people from their aid packages.