Today is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. A day to celebrate diversity, equality and love. We must end the prejudice faced by members of the LGBTQI community
The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia was created in 2004 to draw the attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.The date of May 17th was specifically chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.
Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., has today (May 17) announced that 21 service providers around the country will receive a total of €150,000 in funding under the 2021 LGBTI+ Capacity Building Grant Scheme.
Under the grant scheme, family support services will receive up to €15,000 to support their work with LGBTI+ young people and their families. The scheme will fund evidence-based LGBTI+ training and guidelines for family support professionals and youth services, with a focus on Trans and gender-related issues.
The funding announcement comes on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, which was created in 2004 to draw attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.
The Day represents a major global annual landmark to draw the attention of decision makers, the media, the public, corporations, opinion leaders, local authorities, etc. to the alarming situation faced by people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.
Ireland showed itself to be a really giving and open-minded place when it introduced marriage equality. But that didn’t erase all the problems (with homophobia and transphobia) and while they may not be as acute here in Ireland as they are in other parts of the world, those same problems do exist.