IDAHO HAILED SUCCESS
May17th marks the day when, in 1990, the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Seventeen years later, and Britain seems to be heading in the right direction for LGBT rights. We have equal ages of consent, the repeal of section 28, civil partnerships, equality in the provision of goods and services. Yet in around 77 countries across the world, it is still illegal to be gay. In 9 of those countries, the penalty for being gay is death; by stoning, hanging, or even being thrown off a cliff.
In Liverpool the International Day Against Homophobia, which appeared in the UK three years ago, was celebrated for the first time with a series of events. Merseyside police flew a rainbow flag from their headquarters in Liverpool and distributed information on reporting hate crimes at two film showings at Fact. The first of these was Beyond Hatred, a documentary about a French man who is beaten up and killed by Nazi skinheads on a night out. The second was Queer Duck, an animated feature about a gay duck turned straight by an evangelical preacher. With an almost full capacity of 100 people, the film was certainly a success.
The most vocal event however, was a minute of noise outside St. Luke's Church, known as the bombed out church after being hit by an incendiary bomb in 1941. A gathering of over 30 people on the steps to the church was lead into 60 seconds of shouting by openly gay former MP Stephen Twigg. Catching the attention of many passers by, this event was undoubtedly a triumph, not just for Liverpool, but as one event of many being held all over the world.
This may have been the first time Liverpool has participated in IDAHO, but it is most certainly not the last.
