The International Day against
Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia was recognized around the globe
on Thursday.
IDAHOTB commemorates the 1990 date
homosexuality was removed from the World Health Organization's (WHO)
International Classification of Diseases. The annual May 17th
event is the brainchild of Louis-Georges Tin, a professor and author
of a number of books, including the Dictionary of Homophobia.
In Chile, Santiago's La Moneda Palace,
the residence of the Chilean president, was lit in rainbow colors.
France's Digital Minister Mounir
Mahjoubi marked the day by coming out publicly.
The 34-year-old Mahjoubi tweeted on
Thursday that homophobia “sometimes forces us to adapt ourselves
and lie just to avoid hate and to survive.”
“Homophobia is an ill that eats away
at society, invades high schools, and poisons families and lost
friends,” he added.
Scheduled events marking IDAHOTB in
Uganda were canceled by the government at the last moment.
LGBT activist Dr. Frank Mugisha
lamented the government's decision.
“It's very unfortunate that this kind
of harassment continues to happen; in fact it is the reason we
organize such events – to try to bring an end to the discrimination
of LGBTIQ persons in Uganda,” he
said.
The White House did not comment on the
day.
(Related: Obama
says LGBT rights are human rights in IDAHOT message.)