International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) comes around every year on the 17th May. It was founded in 2004 by the IDAHO Committee and aims to bring together communities.
The date is historically important to us, as it is the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation (WHO) removed homosexuality from it's list of mental illnesses.
Every year comes with a theme, so I wanted talk about that here.
2025: The power of communities
I've talked about community before, but this is a perfect chance to bring it up again! This will be from my own experiences, but I know from friends and people I've talked to that parts of these experiences are shared among many in the community.
I came to Lancaster in January 2020, not long before COVID lockdowns. I was working in an office for less than two months, knew no one other than my partner, and was isolated from everything.
It took until 2023 for me to find any other queer person in the city, my (then) new neighbour. She took me to Queer By Gum's craft club and then Pride - it is not an understatement to say it changed the trajectory of my life.
By finding the community, I was no longer isolated and alone. My mental health started to improve. I felt safe, seen, and included. It's part of what inspired me to make lancaster.gay.
Over the two years since, I've seen our local community grow. I've seen more and more queer groups and events pop up around Lancaster, the turn outs at trans rights protests increase, and I've been told by more than a few people how much it means to them to be able to find their community.
A strong, diverse community like ours uplifts us, provides us with safe spaces, and widens our world views. It's shown that no matter what the government throws at us, our communities give us shelter and comfort. Our community is made of people from all across the queer rainbow, all gender identities and sexualities, from all across the world, and a whole mixed bag of neurotypical and neurodivergent folks.
In uncertain, potentially dangerous times, the power of community is safety, comfort, diginity. It's mutual aid, support structures. But it's also life, and enjoyment. As we all know, queer joy is an act of resistance - and in my experience, queer joy comes from community.