LONDON, April 4, 2006  –  The formal launch of the UK arm of International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) on Friday will include a look back to England in the 1950s and the “purge of gays”.

The terrifying and vivid eye-witness account of the1950’s purge of homosexuals has been recounted in the novel Rid England of this Plague by Rex Batten.  And a reading of dramatised excepts by the author, together with Andy Stevens, David Stone, Ian James and Marios Hajipanayi, will be a “sneak premier” of what it hoped will become a full length play.

The IDAHO-UK launch, at the Amnesty International UK’s Human Rights Action Centre in London on Friday (April 7), will also feature a number of speakers, including IDAHO founder Louis-Georges Tin, Amnesty UK’s Secretary, Linda Wilkinson, Michael Cashman MEP, Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democra, West Oxford and Abingdon), Jean Lambert MEP (Green Party, London), and Jason Pollock (Chief Executive of Europride, London).

IDAHO was inaugurated on May 17 last year and it was decided to mark the day every year on one this day because that was the date that the World Health Organisation finally removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.  IDAHO has been recognised by the Belgium Parliament and this year the European Parliament is staging an event which hopefully will be followed by full recognition.

Friday’s meeting will begin with a welcome address given by Linda Wilkinson, and the keynote speaker will be Louis-Georges Tin who is also the editor of Dictionnaire de L’Homophobie.  He will explain how and why he devised IDAHO, and how events were organised in over 40 countries last year with no funding and no staff.

He will also give an overview of homophobia worldwide and he is expected to give an update on the situation regarding Moscow Pride, scheduled for the end of May.

Michael Cashman, the former actor and now the Labour MEP for the West Midlands and President of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on gay and lesbian rights, will outline current homophobia in Europe and his work with the Intergroup – and in Parliament – to counter it.

Earlier this year during a full European Parliament debate on homophobia, Cashman told the plenary session: “I am gay.  I am homosexual, born to an ordinary man and woman.  Because of that some people will wish to take away my right to talk about my sexuality, to celebrate my 22 year old relationship and to be part of a wider community.  Where is the morality in preaching and promoting discrimination and hatred, hiding behind the shield and excuse of religion or belief?”

Jason Pollock will preview the Pride and Prejudice Conference on Human Rights which takes place in June 2006 during Europride in London.  And Matthew Davis, vice chair of the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group, will outline UKLGIG’S asylum seekers support project.

The launch gets underway at 6pm in the Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA. (detailed directions are provided by Amnesty on the website)

■ Rid England of this Plague by Rex Batten is, in the words of Neil McKenna, “a cautionary tale that should be compulsory reading for judges, police and moralising politicians”.