Inspired by human rights activists in Liberia, who organised for IDAHOT 2014, a Freedom Festival is a bundle of different expressive actions and events, which creates space for community-building, creativity and acceptance…

Mauritius In Mauritius, local LGBTQI communities came together for a participatory art exhibition – “I Love Rainbows” – involving body painting and encouraging participants to freely express themselves, on May 17. Many also joined, together with allies, for the 9th Rainbow Parade at the start of June. The legal situation for LGBTI communities is ambiguous in Mauritius, where colonial era …

Brazil According to final figures released by ABGLT – the Brazilian national umbrella group for LGBT associations – a total of 183 events were held in Brazil around the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in 2014. Actions were held in at least 20 states, and in at least 55 towns and cities. Once again, this makes Brazil (along with …

Uzbekistan In Uzbekistan, a small underground group of LGBTI and human rights activists commemorated the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia for the fourth time, in 2014. They advised that, due to the dangerous situation for sexual and gender minorities in the country, it was not possible to mark the Day openly. We have removed all identifiers for security reasons. …

Canada In Canada, 85 organisations co-signed a special May 17 open letter, calling on the government to affirm its support for LGBTI rights internationally, which included a 10 point plan for dealing with human rights abuses of LGBTI people around the world. Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, responded with an official statement underscoring the strong commitment of the Canadian government …