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Looking after ourselves

Margot
Senior Contributor

🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

7_FTF_2014_LGBTI.jpg

In case you missed it, today is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈 It's an important day to raise awareness about the wellbeing issues faced by sexuality and gender diverse communities.

On May 17, 1990, the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization approved the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD 10), which no longer listed homosexuality as a diagnosis. International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism & Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) Launched in 2004 to celebrate LGBTIQ people globally.

Some stats...

75% Of LGBTIQ youth experience some form of discrimination.

24.4% Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual people experience depression

36.2% Of Trans Australians experience depression

Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia can occur online, face to face and affect everyone by creating spaces where people feel unsafe and like they can't be themselves. Sexuality and gender identity or intersex status aren't always visible, so creating a culture where everyone feels safe, even if there aren't any visible LGBTI people is even more important.

For more information on the IDAHOBIT, you can check out their website here. If you identify as part of the sexuality and gender diverse community and would like to chat with a counsellor about your expereince, you can contact Qlife here

It got me thinking about the expereinces of our online community. How can we create a welcoming and inclusive space for our sexuality and gender diverse members?  

11 REPLIES 11

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

Thanks for this post. I'm trans-masc. I like online spaces that don't make you choose a binary gender when you sign up, and which give me an opportunity to tell folks my gender and pronouns without sounding like I'm obsessed by them (e.g. a profile option). 

Rayne

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

Hey @-Rayne-

Great to meet you. You're so right, the binary gender selections are all too common - online or offline. A profile option to elect your preferred pronoun is a great idea too. 

Thanks for sharing your views 😊

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

hi margot and rayne

thank you for this post. i agree that too many, well most online places but also forms only let you choose binary gender and that is not ok.

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

hi @Former-Member, good to meet you. are you non- binary?

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

hi @-Rayne-
i only recently discovered that there is a word for the way i always felt. and i am glad. how about you?

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

@Former-Member our avatars look good together. 

much the same here. realising and addressing my gender has been the single best thing i’ve ever done. 

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

@-Rayne- it’s difficult. how did you start? are you still young? i’ve lived all my life without knowing why I felt kind of out of sync with myself and now i wonder if i’m doing the right things with people in tow that will be affected.

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

To me, this is a very personal issue. I have a lot of friends in the transexual category both pre and post op and here where I am currently living it is terrifying for them.  This countries President is working to systematically exclude them from the armed services even though many of them serve with absolute distinction.  He is also working to create policies that will allow both government and private employers to discriminate against the trans population on the basis of a person being trans with no other reason for termination or other so-called "corrective action." I hope and pray things are better in Oceania right now.

Re: 🌈International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia 🌈

@Former-Member I'm not young. I'm 43 now - I was 40 before I really acknowledged it to myself. In my family of origin and the culture I ended up in later on, it was very much not-ok to be anything other than cis - actually they wouldn't acknowledge that anything other than cis-gendered is healthy and okay. So as a teenager or when I hit puberty and it started mattering a lot to me, I just shoved it away to a dark corner of my head... and it didn't reappear until I was in a safer place, which was decades later. 

I started taking hormones about a year ago and had an initial consult today for top surgery. I'm so excited. Almost everything else in my life is crap right now... This has become the most important thing. 

@Former-Member I have trans friends in the US and they're also afraid right now. Here the discrimination is real but less open - that's my feeling anyway - a lot depends on where in the country you live. I applied for a job recently in a very liberal organisation and was advised not to disclose until I received an offer b/c of unconscious bias. The level/risk of violence though depends very much on location I think. 

Rayne

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