IDAHOBIT – Why it’s important
For International Day Against Homophobia, Bi-phobia and Transphobia on 17 May, Steve writes about the importance of standing up for the rights of the whole LGBT+ community and encourages allies to lend their support.
Content warning – homophobia and violence
IDAHOBIT… such a fun name. I bet you’re wondering what it is?
Rather than being Tolkien related, IDAHOBIT is the International Day Against Homophobia, Bi-phobia and Transphobia, but it has evolved over time to encompass the whole LGBT+ community. We observe it on 17 May each year because that’s the anniversary of when the World Health Organisation (WHO) removed homosexuality from its international classification of diseases. Until then, being gay was considered a mental disorder.
Despite changes by organisations like WHO, and even legislation that is there to protect us from discrimination or hatred, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Did you know that, according to official statistics, in the year ending March 2025 there were over 22,500 hate crimes in England and Wales relating to sexuality or gender identity? And those are just the ones that were reported to police.
As a trade union, we have to ensure that workers can work safely, unimpeded, and receive fair pay and conditions, but we also have to make sure that society is safe for our members too. When you spend your time worried about hiding part of yourself, or fearing what people will say or do, that takes up a lot of your mental and physical energy. Unions exist to build collective solidarity and fight for the furtherance of rights of those who would be downtrodden by those who want to exploit us.
There have been situations where I have been called names in public, including on protests against the far right. I have been asked inappropriate questions about my sexuality in the workplace.
In none of those situations was I flaunting my sexuality. But even if I was, do I deserve treatment like that as a human being? Do we deserve to be bullied, harassed, physically attacked, or victimised, based on something we can’t change and living as our authentic selves? Do we deserve to be killed for who we are? I’ve had it easy compared to some. Alan Turing, forced to choose between prison or chemical castration for being gay. Lucy Meadows, hounded by the press for being a trans teacher, took her own life. Those are just two examples.
This is why IDAHOBIT is important to me.
PCS has a proud history of standing up for LGBT+ people. We have robust conference policy that sets out our position quite clearly on things like trans rights and the representation of LGBT+ members. Lots of non-LGBT+ people seek to rage against our authenticity, gatekeep our experience, or make us feel smaller than we are, but organisations like Proud work within PCS to counter harmful narratives and build solidarity amongst our community and its allies.
If you’re reading this, and aren’t a member of the LGBT+ community, could you commit to being an active ally and challenging those bad actors that seek to do our community harm? If you’re a member of the LGBT+ community, could you get involved with PCS and make sure our voices are heard in the spaces where decisions are made about us? A diversity of voices allows for better decision making and democracy, so we really need your voice too!
You can join PCS Proud, or the other equality networks by logging into PCS Digital and updating your equality information and clicking the ‘Register for an Equality Network’ button.