IDAHOTB » Vietnam

Over 1,000 gathered in Ho Chi Minh City ‘Celebrating the Rainbow’

IDAHO — Sun, 17 May 2015 22:10:12 +0000

Despite the heavy rains, over 1,000 LGBTI people and allies gathered in Ho Chi Minh City for the public IDAHOT events that were organised by the organisation ICS. Across Vietnam, the IDAHOT events were a major success.

The bad weather conditions did not hold back the community to have a fantastic turnout at the IDAHOT events. Earlier, PFLAG had also organised a gathering of members of the LGBTI community and their families.

Meanwhile, in Hanoi people gathered for ‘BUBU TOWN’, a town of freedom, tolerance and equality, a place that embraces diversity and promotes freedom of expression of all kinds. BUBU stands for the town’s slogan: “BE UNIQUE. BE U”

You can find more great pictures for the BUBU TOWN event and the workshop “Celebrating Achievements and Addressing Remaining Challenges“ on the organisers page.

In other parts of Vietnam, members of the LGBTI community organised Outdoor Activities, such as Bike Rallies and spread the message of the rainbow across the country.

Find more images from Da Nang, Nha Trang and Vinh Long. Activities also took place in Hue, Can Tho

IDAHOT Events 2015: Vietnam

IDAHO — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 21:32:48 +0000

In Vietnam campaign group CCIHP and ICS marked IDAHOT in a very unique way and in Ho Chi Minh City over 1,000 people participated in the Rainbow celebrations.

We are still busy collecting information on this year’s IDAHOT activities and are waiting to hear back from activists and event organisers. If you have information to share with us, please write us at contact@dayagainsthomophobia.org

The group CCIHP, who exist to protect the rights of marginalised Vietnamese groups, hosted a collective same-sex wedding which featured a special live music performance, an outdoor art performance and a workshop led by the Vietnam Sexual Rights Alliance of Hanoi. The event, which was open to the public, aimed to promote positive attitudes towards same-sex marriage, as well as raising awareness to the ongoing problems faced by the Vietnamese LGBTI community.

In Ho Chi Minh City, ICS, the organization for LGBT rights in Vietnam held a series of events including leadership workshop for transgender people and meeting of PFLAG of transgender people on May 16, as well as a two public events of May 17: ‘Rainbow Marriage’ event for same-sex couples to have their wedding photograph taken and “Celebrating the Rainbow” to celebrate IDAHOT which saw a fantastic turnout of over 1,000 people.

Additionally, in the provinces of Da Nang, Hai Phong and Vinh Long provinces Bike rally and a “Celebrating the Rainbow” flashmob were organised.

Programme for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City:

Hanoi:

May 15: Workshop “Celebrating Achivements and Addressing Remaining Challenges“ , hosted by the Institute for Studies of Society, Economics and Environment (iSEE)

May 16: Happy Color Wedding Show

May 17: “BUBU TOWN”, a town of freedom, tolerance and equality, a place that embraces diversity and promotes freedom of expression of all kinds. BUBU stands for the town’s slogan: “BE UNIQUE. BE U”. @American Club Hanoi

Photos of the workshop and the “BUBU TOWN” event can be found here. The have also created a LGBT version of the clip ‘I Am Vietnamese’ with English subtitles which can be found here.

Ho Chi Minh City:

May 16th: Workshop to develop the leadership of transgender people; Meeting with PFLAG

May 17: Public event themed “Celebrating the Rainbow”, organised by the Vietnamese LGBT organisation ICS

IDAHOT Report 2014: Vietnam

IDAHO — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:00:07 +0000

Vietnam

Sexual Rights Alliance (SRA), a group of Vietnamese NGOs, conducted an IDAHOT event in Ha Noi on May 15 with “Free Expression” as the key theme of the action and LGBT youth groups conducted an event in support of the Campaign Tôi Đồng Ý 16+. Additionally, PFLAG Vietnam sent out a message of respect and love on IDAHOT.

In partnership with United Nations Vietnam, the purpose of the event was to urge the Vietnamese government to take more action to protect Vietnamese LGBTI communities but also to celebrate progress in reducing stigmatisation and discrimination.

To underline the message of the event, participants from the National Youth Theater took to the stage to express how stigma and discrimination affect young LGBTI Vietnamese people.

IDAHOT 2014 in Hanoi, Vietnam. May 15, 2014.

The event included an opening speech by UN representative and SRA representative, a video clip about how Vietnam has changed in protecting LGBT rights, contemporary dance on IDAHOT 2014 theme: Free Expression and drinks & finger food and free hang-out afterwards.

On the occasion of IDAHOT, the LGBT Nha Trang community also hosted a public event as part of the Campaign Tôi Đồng Ý 16+ (I Agree 16+). More than 30 young people attended the event that promoted the petition for equal rights for LGBT. It aims to

adjust the law on marriage and family & (modified) of which referred to article 16, the provisions on the settlement of the legal consequence arising out of the Union between two people of the same gender (femalespersonal, property, etc.)
adjust the law Registrar, including on the issue of change/adjust your registrar information as a citizen. This is especially meaningful to the transgender community in changing their identity in legal documents.
law of citizen identification. Along with the law Registrar, adjusting the personal information of each citizen according to their identity is important to the community.

Pictures were taken as part of the campaign that were published on social media. Find out more about the campaign here.

Source: LGBT Nha Trang

PFLAG Vietnam, the organisation for parents, friends & families of LGBT people, has sent a special message of solidarity as part of the celebration of IDAHOT to their children and the entire society. The called out to other parents to take their children’s side and to stand by them when they face discrimination, violence and prejudice. And they addressed Vietnamese society to not tolerate these prejudices and discriminations.

IDAHOT message by PFLAG Vietnam

IDAHOT celebrations in Vietnam

IDAHO — Mon, 12 May 2014 15:46:30 +0000

This year, the Sexual Rights Alliance is preparing events to celebrate the progress the LGBT movement has achieve so far as well as to get together to reinforce spirit.

Photo: From the campaign Tôi Đồng Ý (‘I Do’)

A reception to celebrate achievements of LGBT movement in Vietnam. This event is organised by Sexual Rights Alliance (CCIHP, LIGHT, CGFED, iSEE, ICS and WPF).
The event will be organised from 15h00 to 17h30 on 15 May 2014. The tentative program is:

15h00: Registration
15h30: Opening speech by UN representative and SRA representative
15h45: Video clip: how Vietnam has changed in protecting LGBT rights
15h50: LGBT representative thank-you speech and guest speech
16h20: Contemporary dance on IDAHOT 2014 theme: Free Expression
16h30: Drinks and finger food and free hang-out

They also encourage other groups in Vietnam to have their own local events to mobilise support from wider society to the campaign “I do” for same-sex relationship.
You can find out more about the campaign here.

A satellite event to launch the report “Negotiating Public and Legal Spaces” that showcases the strategies of LGBT movement in Vietnam is planned on 14th May.

In Vietnam, LGBT movement to gain equality and freedom of expression has been supported by many organizations including Ministry of Justice, Committee of Social Affairs of National Assembly, Institute of Legal Studies, NGOs, and Media. United Nations in Vietnam has been actively supporting this process along with other development partners. This collective effort has contributed significantly to the transformation of public opinion on homosexuality, reduce stigma and discrimination, and create a more friendly and safe environment for LGBT to express their identity freely.

Vietnam IDAHO Report 2013

IDAHO — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:34:47 +0000

For over two weeks (May 2 – 18), LGBT organisations in Vietnam, rolled out an impressive range of activities to commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia, on a nationwide scale. The programme included an advocacy workshop with national stakeholders, a capacity building workshop for LGBT activists on storytelling, a roadshow with young people, an exhibition focused on lesbians, and a public event: Listen (music and candle light event in the center of Hanoi). Activists also presented study findings on same sex couples in Vietnam, and held a flashmob event & dissemination session during an IDAHO festival, co-hosted by the US Embassy. Music, the publishing of new reports and many other events marked the year’s commemorations.

The events were organised by ICS, the largest LGBT organisation in Vietnam. Read the detailled programme here.

Vietnam IDAHO Report 2012

IDAHO — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 14:34:47 +0000

Vietnam played host to a comprehensive program of events to mark IDAHO 2012.

The release of the results of an online survey of more than 500 LGBT people about homo/transphobia in schools and a rapid assessment in seven schools on student attitudes toward homo/transphobia received a lot of public attention. Data on the level of bullying and it consequences, information on IDAHO and speeches were covered in about 20 national newspapers, including the official online newspaper of government, and three national TV channels.

For the first time, the main national TV channel dedicated 10 minutes live on May 17 in a broadcast about the homophobia and transphobia.

A joint letter from an alliance of activists to the Minister of Education received more than 2500 signatures online and more than 500 signatures at public events.

The play “To be Oneself” (or “StereoWoman”) was performed for one night and at five universities. The director a TV channel for young people spoke openly about LGBT rights in a discussion following the performance.

Another play, “The Rainbow”, about gay men under pressure to marry, was staged for nights. The US Ambassador gave a speech at the play’s opening night.

Several hundred people wrote “I support LGBT” letters to show their support.

UNAIDS Vietnam presented a letter in support of IDAHO.

A press conference was held, which was attended by about 25 national newspapers and TV channels.

Activists distributed 3000 rainbow flags and LGBT information sheets at public events in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Binh Dinh and Binh Duong.