Ban Ki-moon observed that, “In all parts of the world today, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people experience discrimination in every aspect of daily life… We have a long road ahead. It will not be easy. But we must ask ourselves: Do we want to live in a world where love is targeted or where it is celebrated; where people live in fear or in dignity?”

His message of support was also promoted via the United Nations official Twitter account (@UN), which read “Equality begins with you – Ban Ki-moon weighs in on #IDAHOT here”.

Over 2.6 million people were reached by this message, less than 48 hours before the #IDAHOT commemorations are set to start, in around 120 countries, in all world regions.

This comes just hours after the UN campaign Free & Equal launched a special #IDAHOT video “The Power of Sharing”, which you can watch here:

Today, 2.8 billion people worldwide live in one of the 81 countries, which still criminalize same-sex acts.

4.9 billion people – 2/3 of the world’s population – have their right to information or expression around sexual and gender diversity systematically censored by states.