IDAHOBIT Day
International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia
IDAHoBIT Day is Happening Next Week!
On Tuesday 17th May Australians will be celebrating and promoting IDAHoBIT Day.
This is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia.
We promote this day at school because school can be a difficult place for some young people, and we strive for school to be a safe and inclusive space for everyone.
IDAHoBIT Day is about encouraging everyone to be a better Ally and discourage discrimination. Discrimination can be name calling, making offensive jokes, using phrases that demean others, like “That’s so Gay” or treating someone in a negative manner because of their gender or sexuality.
So, what exactly is an Ally? An Ally is someone who does not themselves identify as LGBTIQA+ but shows support for those who do, in different ways. By being a friend, encouraging support of different sorts, and just being there. We all need Allies!
At school next week we have arranged some lunchtime activities and students are welcome to bring a brightly coloured clothing accessory to wear at lunch time on that day (only). See below!
Here are some statistics for you which shows why this is such an important day.
Demographics
The number of young people that identify as same sex attracted (SSA) is 10%
- Approximately 11.2 per cent of young people are attracted to both sexes, and 5.6 per cent of young people are exclusively attracted to people of the same sex (Mitchell et al, 2014)
- 1.2 per cent of young people identified as transgender and a further 2.5 per cent were unsure about their gender (Clark et al, 2013)
- Approximately 1.7 per cent of the population have intersex variations (https://ihra.org.au/16601/intersex-numbers/)