IDAHO. 17th May, Not The State.

So it turns out my post on mental health was not only very late (after the post that inspired it), but also very early as this week is mental health awareness week. My timing was just a little off for the celebration.

Getting ahead of the game, here's one about an event happening on Friday - IDAHO. You may be thinking isn't that the state between Oregon and Montana? Well, yes, you are right there. But this particular acronym stands for the International Day Against Homophobia.

It takes place on the 17th May to mark the anniversary of the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. You see the link back to the mental health post now.

We've come a fair old way since then, I would say - though it's difficult for me to comment as I wasn't born till a few weeks after that event - and that's thanks to a lot of hard fought activism worldwide. 13 countries and 12 US states now have equal marriage in effect or very nearly and, according to Wikipedia, another 21 territories have some kind of civil partnership for same-sex couples. But it's not so rosy everywhere.

In 2008, 54 member states of the UN signed a declaration opposing LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) rights, and homosexuality remains a criminal offence (sometimes with the death penalty attached) in many countries. There are still many more victories to be won in order to create a world free from homophobia and the horrible repercussions it has.

I recently shared this video on my personal Facebook - TRIGGER WARNING: there are graphic depictions of bullying and consequences of that so it's not a light thing to watch. But I think the point is conveyed in the first minute or so, before it gets too graphic. It basically turns homophobia on it's head. How would the world look if opposite sex relationships were the ones that were frowned upon, that caused kids to be bullied by their peers and disowned by their parents, and ultimately to see no other escape than through taking their own life? It's definitely a thought provoking video.

Then came this video from upworthy - a series of people in the street are asked 'a question gay people have been asked for years'. It's the 'made a choice' vs 'born this way' debate. By asking people when they chose to be straight it highlights the point that a) people probably don't get to choose their sexuality at all and b) there's at lot of people in the middle ground on the LGBT rights issue who, with a little bit of thought-provoking education, could come to support LGBT rights.

I didn't choose my sexuality, I didn't choose to fall in love with the person I did, but right now, I would really like the choice to be able to get married to that person and have our relationship recognised in the same way a heterosexual couple do.Come on the UK, let's make it 14 soon.

P.s. I spell checked this post and LGBT, Transgender and Facebook are not in the dictionary. Sort it out blogger.com!