Reflecting on the day
Quietly, I celebrated
the International Day Against Homophobia,
Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOT / IDAHOBIT) which falls on the 17th
of May annually. The theme for this year is, “Together:
Resisting, Supporting, Healing!” [Wikipedia]
Many of us freedoms
and voices, the freedom to be who we are, and the voice to speak out first on
who we are and what we represent, then to speak against oppression, injustice,
bullying, aggression and all kinds of phobia expressed against sexuality.
Fleshing out the
theme
Resisting, as we agitate
against the conservative and illiberal forces rolling back our freedoms by
feigning the loss of theirs in malevolence and the desire to homogenise communities
when our humanity is too diverse to be pigeonholed.
Supporting,
ourselves, and with our allies in the fight for human rights, the institutions
and establishments that seek to regulate life and livelihood in extreme fundamentalist
ways of control, submission, and abuse. We need to be there to ensure we can
rise together to be our best selves and be valued and respected members of our
respective communities.
Healing, what abuse
we have suffered from the denial of our identity, conversion therapy, physical
abuse, intemperate and inhuman laws, a biased justice system, and much else. We
need to heal, to recuperate, recover, rehabilitate, reconstruct, and rejuvenate
ourselves to come into the fulness of life, the joy of living, and even dare
the pursuit of happiness for love, comfort, and fulfilment.
Knowing the deal
I wore a purple
shirt, the colour of IDAHOBIT, when I sent a video message to Brian, during our
conversation after work, he noticed and realised, it is a day to celebrate what
we are all about, the freedom to be ourselves.
Blog - #IDAHOBIT
2020: Breaking the silence
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