IDAHO weekend in Skopje

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) will be held in Skopje City Park at the shell, on May 18 starting from 12 o'clock. This year, IDAHO Macedonia is devoted to the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as one of the main political needs of the LGBTI community in the country. The first step for protection from discrimination are amendments to the Law on Prevention and Protection from discrimination through the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for discrimination in Article 3 of this law.

This event will include four hour speeches of public people, who are supporters of the fight against homophobia and transphobia,  promotion of the next campaign, signature cards to send deputies for the initiation to change the Law for protection of discrimination and DJ-sets Sonja Ismail, Zoki Baby and Mirko Popov. The public was informed about all of this by the Coalition for Sexual and Health Rights of marginalized Communities, who are carriers of the initiative to change Article 3: Support and solidarity with the LGBTI community.

The event will be preceded by debate tomorrow (Saturday) public, with the theme "Combating violence against LGBTI persons", which will be held in LGBTI Support Center (ca. "Naum Naumovski Borche" no. 83), starting at 17 o'clock. Organizer of the debate is the National Network for Fight against Homophobia and transphobia, who are active with the campaign "Say NO to homophobia and transphobia". Everybody who are interested can participate in this debate.

The debate aims to contribute to the fight against homophobia and transphobia in terms of building a culture of non-violence in the Republic of Macedonia, through the inclusion of legal and social implications of the protect of LGBTI from violent people. In this debate will speak mr. Zarko Trajanoski from the Coalition for Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities, Neda Çallovska from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Macedonia and journalist Aco Kabranov. Moderator will be Sofia Vellkovska from LGBTI Support Center.

After the debate, the LGBTI Support Center, at 20 o’clock will mark the International Day against Homophobia and transphobia. This event will include promotion of interventional fund, sharing Thanksgiving campaign participants "Macedonia has love for all" and the opening of the exhibition with photos.

The world unites against homophobia and transphobia

Macedonia secured a leader in the Balkans by homophobia and transphobia, present in our society. It speaks to the low score of only 13% in the ILGA map - Europe Rainbow, in the context of national political situation and legal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. At the European level, our country is among the last countries where the position and access to human rights of LGBTI community is a mess. Ukraine follows immediately behind us, with a result of 12%, Monaco at 10%, with 9% Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia 7% to 6%.

As in the whole world, here also, May 17 is marked as the International Day Against Homophobia and transphobia (IDAHO). In this case, in a joint statement, a group of international and regional experts on human rights, called on states to end discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex and those who fight for their rights.

With the case of IDAHO in 2014, we remind states for their obligation to protect, promote and fulfill the universal rights without discrimination. The existence of social disapproval of different sexual orientations and gender identities, doesn’t justify discrimination or violence against LGBTI-people.

United Nations, in their video are encouraging people to share their story. Every story, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem, can touch up the hearts and brains. They remind everyone that we are the foundation of this movement for equality.