As gays and lesbians prepare to mark International Day Against Homophobia, many still live in countries where homosexuality is illegal. Richard Watts reports.

Saturday May 17, 2008, marks the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO); so chosen because homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organisation on May 17, 1990.

It’s a timely day to remember that, as shown by the above map, homosexuality is still illegal in numerous countries around the globe.

“Gays and lesbians around the world cannot wait any longer for their love to cease being made a crime. Many are in jail, or at risk of being jailed.

Some are being killed. This has to stop now,” IDAHO founder, French activist Louis-Georges Tin, told The Advocate in 2006.

One year later, an International Gay and Lesbian Association study into state-sponsored homophobia found that no less than 85 member states of the United Nations still criminalise consensual same-sex acts among adults, thus institutionally promoting a culture of hatred.

Although many such countries do not systematically implement those laws, their mere existence reinforces a culture where a significant portion of the citizens need to hide from the rest of the population out of fear. A culture where hatred and violence are somehow justified by the State and force people into invisibility or into denying who they truly are.

Here in Australia, where the greatest battle facing the gay and lesbian community is primarily the issue of same-sex marriage rights, it’s easy to grow complacent. But it’s important to remember that in rural Australia, homophobia and transphobia are still a deadly force to be reckoned with – as the statistics around youth suicide so shockingly indicate.

We must never stop fighting until everyone is free to live and love openly, without fear or shame.

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