International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOTB) is annually observed across the globe on 17th May to commemorate the decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1990.
- The day also aims to highlight the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.
The theme of 2022 IDAHOTB is “Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights”.
Background:
The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia was created in 2004 to highlight the difficulties faced by the people of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community,
Highlights:
i.On 17th May 1990, the WHO removed homosexuality from the list of mental health disorders in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
ii.In 2019, WHO removed “gender identity disorder” (applied to trans people) from the ICD’s list of mental health disorders
iii.This requires 194 member states of WHO to implement this change by January 1, 2022.
