Statement on International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia 2021

Today, we celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT).

IDAHOBIT was established in order to raise awareness about the discrimination, violence and other forms of oppression LGBTQI+ people face on a daily basis around the world and to motivate people to take action against such kinds of behavior.

On the 17th of May 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases and thus taking an imporant step towards addressing the stigma and inequalities LGBTQI+ people have been historically facing.

The increasingly worrying trend against LGBTQI+ that individual European member states have been showing, for example Poland with LGBTQI+ free zones, has been causing very strong concerns to human rights’ organisations internationally. Rights for which we have been fighting for decades now, such as the rights of freedom of speech and expression, of assembly and participation, of equal access to employment, education and health systems and many more, are nowadays put into question. The European Parliament has showed their will to set the example against such unacceptable cases of discrimination by a symbolic resolution declaring the EU as an ‘LGBTIQ Freedom zone’ in March 2021, which AEGEE warmly welcomes.

AEGEE-Europe is committed to the work towards more equal rights for all young people in Europe and around the world, and contributing to the fight for social equality and equity. We call upon all AEGEE locals and AEGEEans to be the example in their societies by joining the IDAHOBIT local and international actions, by continuing to contribute in the fight against structural discrimination and in general ensuring for more equal rights of all young people by mainstreaming diversity, intersectionality and inclusivity in all areas of our work. As LGBTQI+ people have been standing up for equal rights for decades now, so do we remain committed to striving for more inclusive societies and #foryouthrights.