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IDAHOHK 2008 - Fight against discrimination

2008.07.08
I turned up slightly early to catch the one of the organizers and found other friends had turned up as well.

There was continuous replay of the song "Queer Are Ready" based on "We Are Ready" olympic theme song...sounded a bit strange but people were happy singing it...in both Cantonese and English...

It was so hot that I had to finish two bottles of pocari and 2 packets of tissues!! The policemen waited patiently...

I thought it was a lot of fun making colourful handprints. I miss Holi sometimes...

There were two designs of stickers and people had found good ways to display them :-)

Even tiny tots joined the rally!

Definitely a Holi touch to the whole atmosphere!

People were true to the dress code!

And patiently waited for the program to begin

People shared their stories

Some creative ways to get the message across

More singing

Finally prepared to pick up the Rainbow flag...

People posed with signs to show support. Here are some more.

More people turned up. They hugged each other to show support.

More banners on display

Finally, the flag was lifted off the ground.

With people shooting their own programs!

During the Die-In moments many people lay down on the flag. The photos on display are from the website (link above) where people, that could not be present, sent in snaps to show support.

It was full of colour

and some kids!

Friends read out some selected stories while the others wept.

Even Angels came down to Earth that day! :-P

The policemen continued their watch.

Many students jumped in!

More singing!

Then the flag was lifted up and down in a Mexican wave formation.

You could run under it from one end to the other...

Passersby stopped to join the fun. That's the spirit!

Finally some colour :-)

The term “Homophobia” first appeared in 1960. It is defined as “a fear of or contempt for homosexuality or homosexuals" or the fear of becoming homosexual.

What is IDAHO?
On 17 May 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. In 2005, the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) was an initiative by Mr. Louis-George Tin in association with International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) to raise people's awareness towards homophobia. In 2007, about 600 people marched on the streets of Hong Kong to support equal rights for sexual minorities.

IDAHO is also concerned about unequal treatments faced by trans-gender people (trans-phobia), bisexuals and other sexual minorities. Nowadays, sexual minorities in Hong Kong continue to suffer from inequalities in various aspects of life: no anti-discrimination legislation based on sexual orientation, lack of protection for rights of marriage and same sex partnership, social welfare, taxation, immigration and dependent visa, adoption of children, housing, medical care, organ donation, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) right, co-burial right, inheritance right, and widow's right for people of different sexual orientations and gender identities. For Transgenders people, they could not legally amend the gender in their birth certificate and the right to marry to the opposite sex was denied to them.

For the last three years, the focus of IDAHOHK had been on discrimination based on sexual orientation. This year, it furthered its focus on discrimination based on genders/gender characters/gender identities/gender roles. These included discrimination against trans-genders, cross-dressers, transsexuals, tb/tbg, 0/1/10, masculine-female, feminine-male, third sex, intersex, gender queer, pure, FTM (female-to-male), MTF (male-to-female), etc.... There are obviously more than two genders! IDAHOHK strives for gender equality and not just equality between two genders; they are against all types of discriminations.

This year there were around 300 people at the rally. The rundown was as below:
Rally Rundown
Date : May 18, 2008
Time : 2:30pm
Venue : East Point Road, Causeway Bay (pedestrian street behind Sogo)
Dress Code : At least three different colors, as a symbol of our refusal to be limited by binary gender concepts, and embracing gender diversities.
Rundown
13:00 IDAHO Photo-support - photo-taking on the spot
14:00 Hand out souvenirs and event brochures
14:30 The 4th IDAHO Hong Kong official opening
- Christian Support in Action
- Our Stories
- Declaration
- "Die-in" protest
- Slogans
- Queer are Ready - Event concludes with reminder of Autumn Pride Parade
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