Today is IDAHOT Day, and the acronym stands for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.It happens every May 17 and is marked with events around the world that call attention to homophobia and transphobia, salute those who work tirelessly to fight for TBLG rights in our various nations from our planet and give our allies an opportunity to express their support for the trans, bi, lesbian and gay brothers and sisters..
It's a lofty goal but is one that sadly the human race is a long way from achieving as evidenced in the United States.
In just the first five months of this year alone we've witnessed the passage of the unjust Amendment One in North Carolina, a Republican congressman openly stating it should be legal to discriminate against TBLG people, transwomen of color being murdered at alarming rates and no one really caring about it and a major newspaper in the New York Times ignoring the AP Stylebook guidelines on respectfully reporting about trans people and refusing to retract a transphobic story penned about Lorena Escalera's tragic death in a suspicious fire.
While my nation hasn't been living up to the words of the Constitution as it applies to trans and GL Americans, I and others will continue to insist that they do and will not rest until the words 'We the People' also include trans, bi, gay and lesbian people too.
Well, what better time than today to get started than on IDAHOT doing the work necessary towards achieving that goal? Because it's glaringly evident in the United States and elsewhere around this planet we have a lot of work to do to eliminate the scourges of homophobia and transphobia from our planet.
Happy IDAHOT 2012 people.
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