LONDON, May 14, 2008  –  On Saturday morning (May 17) campaigners in Plymouth will be assembling their floats which celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Rainbow Flag, elderly LGBT people in Belfast will be preparing to launch their new social/campaigning group, a lesbian in Leicester will begin the task of judging the winner of an IDAHO cake competition, and Trade Unionists in London will be laying wreaths for those who have been judicially slaughtered in Iran as a consequence of their sexuality.

At Wembley Stadium, profession footballers will be preparing for what will probably be the biggest game of their lives – the FA Cup Final, while in Ankara, Turkey, there will be a high profile march against homophobia..

This is IDAHO, marking the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation finally removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

As befits a campaign in the UK, it will be marked in a wide variety of ways, with gravitas, concern, determination, wit and irony.

With IDAHO sharing May 17 with the FA Cup Final, events to reflect this have been arranged in Brighton, Oldham, and Sheffield.

And football supporters at lucky enough to have tickets for Wembley will also learn about homophobia.

In the FA Cup Final Programme, not only is there a commitment to tackle homophobia in English football, but support is given for the International Day Against Homophobia – an incredible achievement.

“Perhaps the time will arrive soon when gay professional footballers will feel safe enough to ‘come out’, and help break down one of the last bastions of homophobia in the UK,” said Derek Leonard, IDAHO-UK coordinator.

The Communication Workers Union, as reported yesterday by UK Gay News, will be laying wreath in London to “openly protest at the appalling manner in which Iran treats LGB people”.

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association is hosting a meeting at Amnesty International Human Rights Centre, which will explore the rights of LGBT people at home and abroad.  They will also be addressed by the Director of Changing Attitude, Nigeria.

In Scotland, campaigners have designed posters under the categories of asylum, justice and human rights under the heading “Love is for everyone, everywhere”.  The posters have been widely distributed, particularly to schools “to raise the Scottish public awareness of human rights afforded to LGBT people around the world”.

The University and College Union have arranged a major conference in Manchester about “LGB Rights in Europe”. In Oxford, Amnesty International have arranged a demonstration and rally which will be addressed by several campaigners, including human rights activist, Peter Tatchell.

There will be another demonstration in Medway, Kent – this time about the homophobic statements of the Bishop of Rochester.

Brighton campaigners will again mark the day by releasing 77 lanterns into the sky, to mark the countries which criminalise homosexuality.  The London Borough of Waltham Forest will unveil a plaque which has been commissioned “to remember the many victims of homophobia and transphobia from around the world and the UK who have lost their lives”

While there is naturally a focus on events abroad, no-one is complacent about LGBT Rights in the UK.

The Lesbian and Gay National Archives have called a conference to reflect and remember Section 28, and an exhibition in Lewisham recalls the decriminalisation of homosexuality in “1967 and all that”.

A film made by a Liverpool LGBT Youth group called “Are We There Yet?” will be screened as part of a daily programme in a mainstream cinema up to and including IDAHO day.

In Manchester, on the other hand, the Lesbian and Gay Foundation will be showing the film “Stonewall” to see “how far we’ve come”.

There are many hate crime initiatives too. The Metropolitan Police will be present in London’s Leicester Square on May 16 giving out information and advice about hate crime, and will also distribute 10,000 postcards for IDAHO day.

Liverpool police will fly the rainbow flag, and at night their police station will be illuminated by a dazzling display of rainbow colours.  New police advice surgeries/helplines for the LGBT communities will also be launched on IDAHO day in Bromley, Liverpool and Kent.

Local authorities have arranged public awareness raising events for IDAHO, often including speeches, entertainment, a minute’s noise or silence in Haringey, Hartlepool, Plymouth, Sheffield, Birmingham, Coventry, Bath, Tameside, South Shields and Northampton.

Posters designed by students at the University of Arts to mark IDAHO have been distributed all around the country in many police stations, schools, job centres and youth clubs.

Outside the UK, in Turkey, the Kaos Gay and Lesbian Association and Pink Life LGBTT Association are marking IDAHO with a “March Against Homophobia” in the capital Ankara.

“We are marching against homophobia and transphobia this year for the first time,” the organisers said today in a statement.

“To give voice to our constitutional equality once again, we are gathering in front of the Human Rights Monument at 12:00 noon (local time).  Lesbian, gay bisexual, transvestite and transsexual people from all over the Turkey are expected..

“Then we will make a press statement in front of the Turkish Grand National Assembly-Dikmen Gate.”

Participants, including a number authors, journalists and human rights activists, will be marching under the Rainbow Flag.

Organisers are also expecting European politicians, including MEP Michael Cashman, to attend.

Meting place is in front of Human Rights Monument, Yuksel Street, Kizilay-Ankara at 12 noon

“I would like to wish campaigners and supporters in the UK and abroad a happy IDAHO day for May 17,” Mr. Lennard said.

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Posted: 14 May 2008 at 19:30 (UK time)