World Unites To Wave The Rainbow Flag And Say Goodbye To Homophobia On May 17th

The 17th of May has been a very special day to the gay community for several years now. It is the day that has been chosen to unite globally to raise the awareness of and eradicate homophobia in everyday society.

‘Homophobia’ is a fear of those individuals whose sexuality do not fit the ‘social norm’, and as a result are bullied, insulted, assaulted and even murdered because of their sexual orientation.

The day was originally the idea of a Canadian organisation called Fondation Émergence, who after starting a National Day in Canada in 2003, progressed to bring the world together to hold an International Day on 17th May, the first one being in 2007.

Often homophobic actions result from a person’s self-hatred for being attracted to the same sex, where their feelings are repressed resulting in great anger towards their peers. A study carried out by the University of Georgia, Athens revealed that homophobic males exhibited sexual arousal when exposed to sexually explicit homosexual stimuli.

To spread the word events are taking place in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, and the USA. The UK however only appear to have events running in Scotland, where LGBT Youth Scotland have organised street stalls giving out free cakes, hugs and face-painting in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee and at Bradford University where an information stall will run to highlight the event.

The support site StopHomophobia.org.uk has been set-up by Life Coach Richard Harris as a result of the stories he received when researching for his book ‘Closets Are For Clothes’. He says "Today is a day that should be celebrated with the same vibrancy and gusto as the global Mardi Gras celebrations. The question is, do those who identify as gay, lesbian or bi-sexual appreciate how many people have died throughout the centuries because they are attracted to the same sex? People have fought and died for gay equality in the same way the Suffragettes fought for the woman’s vote".

Mr Harris has pledged to donate £5.00 from the sale of every book sold through the StopHomophobia.org.uk website, so that the money can be used to continue the campaign of raising the awareness of homophobic bullying

Fortunately the fight against homophobia is being given widespread publicity, such as the recent backing Matt Lucas gave to the Tackle campaign, which hopes to eradicate homophobia within football. Likewise, Elton John and The Rugby Football Union have also supported the FA in promoting how harmful homophobic bullying can be both on and off the pitch.

Homophobia goes on everyday and yet people are oblivious to it. It’s happening in our schools, at work, on the internet, down the pub, in the street, at home… it’s everywhere.