Aprovechando el impulso de los videos internacionales, el Proyecto ha implementado programas en beneficio de los jóvenes LGBT en seis continentes. En respuesta a la temática global de IDAHOT 2015 y su enfoque en Jóvenes LGBTI, todos los afiliados IGB han puesto su mayor esfuerzo para ofrecer un amplio programa de acción!

PORTUGAL: Tudo Vai Melhorar  realizara una campaña de “Abrazos Gratis” en las calles de Lisboa y Porto para promover la aceptación y el amor en detrimento de la homofobia y transfobia. Exitosamente realizaron esta acción en el pasado y esperamos que tengan mayor éxito este año. (https://youtu.be/3z43NF12Q38).

MEXICO: Todo Mejora México se encuentra trabajando con la popular YouTuber Victoria Volkóva para lanzar un compilado de vídeos de sus seguidores contando en 20 segundos como todo mejora para ellos cuando no tienen que enfrentar transfobia u homofobia  (se lanzará el 17 de mayo).

ITALIA: Le Cose Cambiano, en cooperación con los estudiantes universitarios de Progetto Prisma y mujeres del Grupo InContrO Liceo Govone, junto a otras organizaciones amigables con las personas LGBT (como Amnistía Internacional) realizarán un flashmob en las calles de Bologna para IDAHOT. Éstos grupos también se reunirán el 19 de mayo para un debate sobre representación LGBT en la tienda de libros YA y el 20 de mayo para celebrar la traducción al italiano del libro de Ian Rivers “Homophobic Bullying”.

CHILE: Todo Mejora lanzará un vídeo musical que producirán con la artista chilena Francisca Valenzuela llamado Insulto, una canción inspiradora sobre la superación del acoso escolar para los jóvenes LGBT (ver el video letras aquí). Junto con GLSEN (una red de educativa basada en los Estados Unidos), Todo Mejora también lanzará la edición en español del Juego de espacio seguro, una guía sobre cómo ser un aliado para los estudiantes LGBT.

MOLDAVIA: Egali será co-anfitrión de una serie de eventos en los días previos a, en, y después de IDAHOT. Estos incluyen el 14a Festival Anual del Orgullo (titulado “Rainbows over Dniester”), la tercera Marcha Anual del Orgullo para la Igualdad, y una conferencia de familias LGBT (titulada “Nuestras familias aquí y ahora”)

BRASIL: Para el IDAHO de este año, Tudo Vai Melhorar Brasil  será co-anfitrión de “De que lado voce samba?,” un evento para resaltar el valor de la cultura y la música brasileña, mientras también se representan los aspectos de la diversidad sexual en la sociedad brasileña. El evento contará con artistas locales, actuaciones musicales, reproducciones de vídeos y exhibiciones de graffiti.

AUSTRIA: Es Wird Besser Osterreich y la Unidad Antidiscriminación para lesbianas, gays, transexuales de la Ciudad de Viena  será el anfitrión de una mesa redonda titulada “Construyendo Puentes para la Juventud LGBT” para IDAHOT. Dan Savage y Terry Miller van a participar en el panel como invitados especiales. Durante su visita al país, también van a participar en una lectura el 19 de mayo y un espacio de prensa – “Café de Derechos Humanos ” – el 20 de mayo.

AUSTRALIA: It Gets Better Australia llevara a cabo It Gets Better LIVE, un evento de multiples actividades encabezado por el grupo populares de chicas, GRL, el 3 de mayo. Ellos estarán dando un llamado para IDAHOT durante las actuaciones y esperan subir una versión grabada del evento en YouTube el 17 de mayo.

ESTADOS UNIDOS: Durante la semana del IDAHOT, el proyecto It Gets Better (junto con ‘artivista,’ Daniel Arzola) publicará de una serie de artículos y dibujos online que retratan a las distintas facetas de la identidad gay compartida por los jóvenes LGBT de todo el mundo. Además, el Coordinador del Programa Internacional del Proyecto estará en Moldavia con Egali para hablar en la conferencia de familias LGBT y para participar en el festival del Orgullo anual y marcha en Chisinau.

Siguiendo la tradición, el proyecto también realizará posteos, tweets, y compartirá todos los momentos maravillosos que ocurran IDAHOT este año. Asegúrese de revisar www.itgetsbetter.org/content/idahot para ver todas las actualizaciones increíbles que vienen de nuestros afiliados y amigos de todo el mundo!

Actions for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia 2014 took place across the country in more than ten towns and cities. Local authorities and community allies flew the rainbow flag up and down the country, roundtable discussion events were held, as well as film screenings, barbecues, art projects, installations and exhibitions, theatre performances and many more kinds of events. Just some of them are captured in this country report for IDAHOT 2014 in Australia.

Nationwide

World Love for IDAHOT 2014!

Participants of the group IDAHOT Sydney and Pride in Colours organised a major participatory art project & exhibition called out for contributions from people worldwide. Commemorating Freedom of Expression, the ‘World Love’ project invited people to send in the word for love in their own language, to form a short 3-minute video, shared online for the IDAHOT 2014.

The project was created to bring hope and create awareness that all LOVE is equal and beautiful. For more info you can contact Nick Baldas, creator of the project, at prideincolour@gmail.com.

The finished video is now available to watch here:

The Freedom Stories

A powerful new series of short films called The Freedom Stories was also launched in the week of IDAHOT 2014. Produced by ReachOut.com and LGBTI community health project ACON, the short films highlight the experiences of LGBTQI youth and aim to inspire and give hope.

Comedian Rhys Nicholson, who appears in one of the films, said “I remember being very disappointed to discover that after coming out, nothing really changed in my life. This thing that I had agonised and stressed over for so long was suddenly just a mundane fact. So this is a video about that… with swearing and innuendo. Everyone likes swearing and innuendo right?”

You can watch the films here:

To learn more about the project, visit ACON’s website.

Darebin

The Darebin Intercultural Centre hosted the event ‘Sexuality, Culture and Identity: exploring the connections’, on May 15, 2014. The event featured a screening of the short animation film In My Shoes, produced by the Centre for Multicultural Youth. Guest speaker Alyena Mohummadally also started a conversation around sexual and gender diversity in various communities. See the website for more details.

Melbourne

In Melbourne, communities came together for the IDAHOBIT 2014, in the form of a fundraiser event on May 16, in support of the (Re)framing Gender project. This initiative was created in March 2014 by YGLAM Queer Youth Theatre, with support from Ygender, to support young gender diverse and trans* communities, in and around the Darebin area, in meeting and discussing issues around gender diversity.

The event featured live music, poetry, puppetry, visual art, zine and art stalls and free food. Bitch Please, Trans Woman Distro and Possum Parcel had stalls, and featured performers included:

– YGLAM queer youth theatre group
– Tonié Field, ARIA-winning classical guitarist
– Geryon, lo-fi dream-pop and intricate loops
– Nicolette Forte, roots singer
– Fury, poet
– Ashley Ihasz (Crumbles), singer/songwriter
– Mick Roe, performer/writer
– Coral Ceto, aquatica/folk duo
– Sally Goldner, spoken word and stand-up comedian

The event took place at Northcote Town Hall, and the facebook event is here.

Yarraville, Melbourne

Hobson’s Bay City Council hosted a Premiere of the film
WESTANDPROUD as well as a flag raising ceremony, in commemoration of the IDAHOBIT 2014. The event was held at the Sun Theatre in the district of Yarraville, in the Melbourne area, on Monday May 19th.

Mayor Cr Sandra Wilson and keynote speaker and author Daniel Witthaus officially opened the event at 7.15pm.

The WESTANDPROUD project documents the lived-experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) individuals living in Melbourne’s Western Region and aims to expand understandings of local history, by incorporating the voices of GLBTIQ people, who have often been excluded from traditional narratives.

The lives and stories of eight individuals are documented through a series of short films by film maker Caitlin Byran, writer and producer of independent short film ‘The Outside Light’ which was selected to screen at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and the St Kilda Film Festival 2013, as well as a number of international film festivals.

In the morning of May 19, there will also be a IDAHOBIT flag raising ceremony where everyone can attend. This event began in 2004 and marks the IDAHOBIT as the international day for taking action for a prejudice-free world regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Communities also came together for a flag raising ceremony, speeches and morning tea on Monday May 19th, at the Civic Parade, in the Altona district.

The organisers said that “Supporting and acknowledging IDAHOBIT is one step forward in strengthening human rights for everyone regardless of their sexual orientation, sex or gender identity. It symbolises our support for and commitment to reducing the barriers faced by GLBTIQ people in our communities.”

For more details see this page or the Hobsons Bay City Council website.

Shepparton

In Shepparton, a two-day celebration of IDAHOT 2014 took place, Friday May 16 – Saturday May 17.

The event featured: FREE BBQ 12 noon – 2pm each day; Live local performing artists; Art/Craft activities; Rainbow umbrellas & merchandise for sale; Community mosaicing project; Leave your messages of love & support on our pink make-shift wall; Flag-raising ceremony.

Daniel Witthaus from the National Institute for Challenging Homophobia Education (NICHE) also launched the ‘oi!’ to challenge rural homophobia campaign. The ‘oi!’ campaign aims to give people in rural communities simple strategies to challenge everyday homophobia and to start everyday conversations about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

‘We can challenge rural homophobia one ‘oi!’ at a time,’ say the creators of the project, which is organised by the Diversity Project Greater Shepparton and supported by various organisations & businesses, including UnitingCare Cutting Edge, Greater Shepparton City Council, headspace, The Bridge Youth Services, Word and Mouth, Berry Street, Goulburn Valley Pride, Mooroopna Cares, No Bullying, and more.

Wyndham City

Wyndham City has proudly supported the Day over the past several years by raising the Rainbow flag and inviting the whole community to take a stand against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

The event was held on Friday May 16, 2014, at the Wyndham City Civic Centre, and launched
two exciting projects: Safe Schools Coalition Victoria (SSCV) launched the new SSCV project ‘Gender is not Uniform’ campaign, and Transgender Victoria and YGender also launched a trans and gender diverse youth project called ‘What makes an Ally?’.

For more details see the Wyndham City website.

Bunbury

In Bunbury, the True Colours peer support group launched a the project ‘Pledge for a Safe Community’. As a part of the IDAHOT 2014 commemorations, young people from the True Colours peer support group in Bunbury asked local government, civil society organisations and the wider community to sign a pledge of support against homophobia and transphobia. By signing a pledge of support, agencies and individuals commit to be actively involved in promoting a safer and more inclusive community for people experiencing diversity in sexuality and/or gender.

You can find out more about the Pledge on the South West Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia page.

Ballarat

The focus was on ‘Fair Go Sport’ in Ballarat, as Zaque and Ballarat Basketball teams worked together, with local LGBTI communities, to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia 2014. Both the RUSH and MINER players wore rainbow coloured socks during their home game on May 17th to raise awareness. There were also guest speakers at the game, and announcements made throughout the evening, as well as stalls with rainbow pins, stickers and umbrellas to buy. The event took place at MINERDOME Sports Club, Wendouree, Ballarat, Victoria, on May 17, 2014.

From organisers: ‘In Sydney we will be commemorating IDAHO with the distribution of the 2013 IDENTITY Catalogue representing sexually diverse multicultural minority groups both locally and internationally and the launch of the YOUR OWN SAFETY Campaign. Pick up a your free copy of the catalogue on May 17 at: Ultimo TAFE Student Association, Building Z level 1 – Mary Ann Street, Ultimo NSW 2007. Ultimo TAFE is a place for all members of the community to learn and grow in safety and respect. Nick Baldas in partnership with Ultimo TAFE Students Association.’

From the catalogue – which can be viewed online in full here.

For more details on these initiatives please see: http://www.nickbaldas.com.au/blog/

Melbourne

In Melbourne a small group of activists staged a Flashmob Die-In action on May 17. 18:00 – 18:15. The organisers advised in the lead up to the event: ‘The Melbourne IDAHOT Flashmob this year will take place at 6pm on Friday 17th May 2013 at a secret location opposite Flinders Street Station to “dropyear is t dead” and commemorate those who have died due to homophobia and transphobia.’

As this was a Rainbow Die-in, the organizers encouraged everyone to wear as much colour as possible and, if possible, to drop dead in the colours of the rainbow.

You can see the video here:

Geelong

In total more than 20 events were held for IDAHO 2013 in the City of Greater Geelong, including at 12 schools. The City hosted a flag raising on Tuesday 14 May at 9:30 at Johnston Park, followed by morning tea at City Hall. The Mayor officially raised the flag with support from Councillor Jan Farrell.

On May 16 from 5:30 – 7:30 the gasp project (Geelong Asolescent Sexuality Project hosted a mini Queer Film Festival with two movies from the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, the films were Monster Pies (Australian film) and Mosquita Yi Maria. The director from Monster Pies was present for a Q and A at the end.

Amongst other events, a “Headspace Barwon IDAHO event!” took place on 17th May 2013 – a small scale event outside the busy shopping centre in Geelong Central.

Organisers advised about the level of organisation in the city, “The gasp project has received 24 applications for funding to run events during the week of IDAHO, this is 11 more than last year, so the message of celebrating diversity is really getting out there and there are many schools and organisations who want to do stuff… it is very exciting!!!” More information about the GASP project can be found here & on facebook.

You can see a video of events in Geelong here:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XT7R2BZTPLM%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Ballarat

Members of the LGBT Youth Group, Zaque Ballarat, elaborated on a new Iphone app to provide SSASGD young people with knowledge and resources. On May 17^th, a specific event was held to mark IDAHO. A rainbow brick road led guests into the local library for live music, theatre and most importantly the launch of the exciting Queer-Y app! For more info (times, places, etc.) log onto: http://www.youthservicesballarat.com.au

Blue Mountains

A Rainbow Flag Raising Ceremony took place in The Blue Mountains Australia. The  day began with a free breakfast, music, speeches, followed by the Rainbow Flag Raising Ceremony outside The Blue Mountains City Council building in Katoomba NSW. Find out more on www.pinkmountains.com.au

Australian Football League Players Association campaign launched: #Footy4IDAHO

The AFL Players Association explained in a statement launching the campaign on May 17:

‘Luke Ball, Jobe Watson, Lenny Hayes, Drew Petrie, Scott Pendlebury and Brock McLean are just a few of the AFL’s biggest names leading a player-driven campaign to tackle the issue of homophobia in sport, ahead of IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) on Friday 17 May.

The AFL Players’ Association has today launched #Footy4IDAHO, a social media campaign targeting the use of homophobic language. The campaign includes a series of videos featuring AFL players taking a pledge to stamp out the use of homophobic language, while also raising awareness of the damaging effects it can have within sport and the community.

Players and fans are asked to make the following pledge:
“I’m taking the pledge to never use homophobic language. Think before you speak, it’s time to stop shirking the issue.” #FOOTY4IDAHO’

The AFL Players Association also created this video, which features ‘Carlton footballer Brock McLean, who spoke out earlier this year in support of his sister who is gay, has been one of the key drivers of this campaign. McLean was motivated to speak out against homophobia in sport after seeing how his sister was treated when she came out.’:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kwRdOKlhJRs%3Ffeature%3Doembed

For more information:

• News & events related to May 17 in Australia: ‘International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia – Australia‘ on facebook.
• News & events for May 17 in Sydney: IDAHO Sydney on facebook.
• AFL Players Association: ‘AFL Players ask fans not to shirk the issue‘
• City of Greater Geelong: ‘Geelong Raises Rainbow Flag for IDAHO Day‘.
• City of Greater Geelong: ‘You Are Beautiful – Let’s Celebrate IDAHO

On May 17, the Australian Capital Territory’s Deputy Chief Minister and Sports Minister, Andrew Barr, announced the creation of a new program to tackle homophobia in the territory’s sporting clubs. The two-year program will develop resources to assist sports clubs to foster a culture of inclusiveness and to respond to discrimination when it occurs.

Marriage equality was once again high on the activism agenda, with rallies held in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

Other events were held throughout the nation and included art exhibitions, university campus activities, LGBT film screenings, a short film competition, a play launch, the broadcasting of a special radio program radio program focusing on teenage same-sex couples, family days, barbecues, and a cabaret.

Youth in Ballarat set up a stall in the local shopping mall that provided material and information on homophobia, transphobia and LGBT resources. At an appointed time, the group froze wherever they were for 45 seconds. When they unfroze, they removed their coats or sweaters to reveal a T-shirt designed by each individual.

Pink triangle beacons burned at night throughout the month of May in Parramatta to raise awareness and acknowledge that shared public spaces in our communities can also be places where predjudice, hate, intolerance and violence are experienced by LGBTIQQ people.

An awards celebration was held on IDAHO, during which the Top 10 employers for LGBT employees was announced.

A queer choir sang also out against discrimination for IDAHO 2012 with a specially written choral song. People from all over the world were able video themselves singing the song and submit it to the choir’s website. Each video submitted was mixed into a virtual choir performance which will become an ever-expanding mosaic of voices and faces.