Where will you be on IDAHO?

The weeks leading up to this year’s International Day Against Homophobia have brought reasons to celebrate -” and to stay vigilant.

Despite Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson’s claim that same-sex marriage will inevitably lead to the legalisation of pedophilia, a wind of equality continues to blow through the USA. Maine and New Hampshire both voted this month to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

To put this in perspective, activists had originally aimed at achieving marriage equality in all six states of New England by 2011. Yet with not even half of 2009 gone, only Rhode Island remains, and neighbours New York and New Jersey have legislation on the way.

In the same week Washington DC moved to recognise gay marriages performed elsewhere in anticipation of marriage legislation there as well. In doing so, DC lawmakers risk a collision with the Federal Government, which has a power of veto, just as the Feds have power of veto over laws in the ACT here.

In Russia, where a banned mass protest timed to coincide with Eurovision will go ahead anyway, legislators bucked the trend to vote down laws which would have made public advocacy for gay causes illegal and banned homosexuals from teaching or serving in the military.

In Lebanon, gay group Helem are now protesting openly and gathering signatures from Lebanese people all over the world to push for decriminalisation there.

And in Spain, the state has begun paying compensation to gay men imprisoned during the Franco regime.

On the other side of the coin, in Senegal, the body of a gay man has been dug up and dumped at his family’s doorstep twice by locals who refuse to have him buried in the town cemetery, while the Federation of Ugandan Football Associations has vowed to expel any official found to be gay as part of ongoing harassment there.

To commemorate this year’s IDAHO, I highly recommend Sunday’s rally in Newtown from 1pm.

There’s also Saturday’s IDAHO exhibition at Chippendale’s Pine Street Arts Centre from midday. A percentage of sales goes to GLBT causes, and you can see a fetching portrait of Cardinal George Pell by yours truly. Perhaps not one for the bedroom -” or the dining room for that matter.