IDAHOHK 2008 - Fight against discrimination

The term “Homophobia” first appeared in 1960. It is defined as “a fear of or contempt for homosexuality or homosexuals" or the fear of becoming homosexual.

What is IDAHO?
On 17 May 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. In 2005, the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) was an initiative by Mr. Louis-George Tin in association with International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) to raise people's awareness towards homophobia. In 2007, about 600 people marched on the streets of Hong Kong to support equal rights for sexual minorities.

IDAHO is also concerned about unequal treatments faced by trans-gender people (trans-phobia), bisexuals and other sexual minorities. Nowadays, sexual minorities in Hong Kong continue to suffer from inequalities in various aspects of life: no anti-discrimination legislation based on sexual orientation, lack of protection for rights of marriage and same sex partnership, social welfare, taxation, immigration and dependent visa, adoption of children, housing, medical care, organ donation, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) right, co-burial right, inheritance right, and widow's right for people of different sexual orientations and gender identities. For Transgenders people, they could not legally amend the gender in their birth certificate and the right to marry to the opposite sex was denied to them.

For the last three years, the focus of IDAHOHK had been on discrimination based on sexual orientation. This year, it furthered its focus on discrimination based on genders/gender characters/gender identities/gender roles. These included discrimination against trans-genders, cross-dressers, transsexuals, tb/tbg, 0/1/10, masculine-female, feminine-male, third sex, intersex, gender queer, pure, FTM (female-to-male), MTF (male-to-female), etc.... There are obviously more than two genders! IDAHOHK strives for gender equality and not just equality between two genders; they are against all types of discriminations.

This year there were around 300 people at the rally. The rundown was as below:
Rally Rundown
Date : May 18, 2008
Time : 2:30pm
Venue : East Point Road, Causeway Bay (pedestrian street behind Sogo)
Dress Code : At least three different colors, as a symbol of our refusal to be limited by binary gender concepts, and embracing gender diversities.
Rundown
13:00 IDAHO Photo-support - photo-taking on the spot
14:00 Hand out souvenirs and event brochures
14:30 The 4th IDAHO Hong Kong official opening
- Christian Support in Action
- Our Stories
- Declaration
- "Die-in" protest
- Slogans
- Queer are Ready - Event concludes with reminder of Autumn Pride Parade