Allied Together: IDAHOBIT 2022

Our Bodies

LGBT+ bodies – particularly trans bodies – are often subjected to unnecessary, unwanted, and inappropriate scrutiny. Looking at the newspapers in the UK and the US over the past few months, one cannot help but notice the increased proliferation of transphobic commentary, the increasing prevalence of ‘anti-trans’ bills under consideration, and the ‘debates’ around transgender identities and bodies. Recently, the inclusion of transgender athletes in sports and the ongoing struggle to ban conversion therapy for gender identity has been at the heart of this conversation.

When considering that trans people are more than 4x more likely to experience a mental health condition and nearly 9x more likely to have attempted suicide in their lifetime compared with cisgender people, we as a global community must continue our work to protect and safeguard trans people.

Organisationally, this may sometimes seem hard to achieve. This IDAHOBIT, however, one thing we can do is to vocalise support for banning conversion therapy and seek to implement better internal safeguards and policies within our organisations for trans and non-binary people overall.

Did you know? 

• 14 countries have instituted a national ban on conversion therapy either for sexual orientation and/or gender identity: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Fiji, Germany, India, Malta, Nauru, New Zealand, Samoa, Taiwan, and Uruguay. 
• Several more, including France, the Netherlands, and the UK, are in active conversations to ban conversion therapy nationwide.
• In addition, certain regions of Australia (2 states), Spain (5 regions), and the USA (20 states and multiple municipalities) have implemented bans. However, these are not yet enshrined in law at a national level. 

Our Lives

Forbes described 2021 as the “Deadliest Year” since records began with 375 documented cases of transgender people being murdered. However, since many cases go unreported and undocumented, the figure is expected to be significantly higher. There has also been a documented increase in online hate speech towards LGBT+ youth, which has a well-documented positive correlation with the increased prevalence of mental health issues. Indeed, suicide rates are disproportionally high amongst LGBT+ youth. A 2021 study, which surveyed over 2,900 LGBT+ pupils in schools across the UK, found that 68% of students had experienced suicidal thoughts, compared to only 29% of non-LGBT+ pupils.

Our Rights

The rights of LGBT+ people to express their sexuality and gender identity are not safeguarded in a considerable number of countries globally. The nuanced variations in cultural outlook, religious observance and socio-political ideologies are causing heated debates around the inclusion of gender identity in conversation therapy bans (UK), controversial provisions around excluding positive discussions of same-sex relationships in schools (US, Poland), and criminalisation of same-sex sexual activity and gender expression.

Did you know? 

• 69 jurisdictions criminalise private, consensual same-sex sexual activity.
• 43 jurisdictions criminalise private, consensual sexual activity between women using laws against lesbianism.
• 15 jurisdictions criminalise the gender identity and/or expression of transgender people, using so-called ‘cross-dressing’, ‘impersonation’ and ‘disguise’ laws.
• 11 jurisdictions where the death penalty is imposed (or at least a threat) for private, consensual same-sex sexual activity.
• It is estimated that 70% of the world's population lives under laws and regulations that limit freedom of expression around sexual orientation and gender identity.