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• 05 / 09 / 2010

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A week from now or so, several countries around the world will be officially and unofficially observing the annual "International Day Against Homophobia and
Transphobia" (IDAHO).

The events, loosely coordinated through a French website are the brainchild of French academic figure Louis-Georges Tin, who launched the IDAHO idea in 2004.

This year, the IDAHO committee has made a call for participating organizations
to hold a "Great Global Kiss-In".

Participants are being encouraged to call fora public gathering at a national or local monument, urge poeple to carry the flag of their country, wear clothing that represents their nation, hold a public kiss-in and tape it and then upload it at the Global Kiss-In page.

So far, 36 localities are listed on the page, including some in the United States (Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco at the
Harvey Milk Plaza, and St. Louis).

The Latin American countries listed so far are Colombia, and Peru.

Not listed in the kiss-in page but holding their third annual week-long "Day Against Homophobia" cultural summit will be Cuba, under the auspices of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) and it's director Mariela Castro Espín, daughter of current Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

The final version of the official program, which describes an array of events taking place in Havana from May 11th through the 18th, includes educational workshops and panels (one event will bring together pro-LGBT religious organizations), concerts (including an event called "Rockers Against Homophobia"), receptions (a mother's day themed event is limited to providing a space for transgender people and their moms), photo and art exhibits.

There will also be an incredible number of LGBT-themed television and film screenings including Germany's "Aimie and Jaguar", India's "Fire", Argentina's
"XXY", Great Britain's "Kinky Boots", Taiwan's "Beautiful Boxer", Rainer Werner
Fassbinder's "Querelle" and Cuba's "Where Forgetfulness Does Not Live".

Cuba has certainly come a long way since it wouldn't even allow it's own "Strawberries and Chocolate" to be shown in local theaters.

The United States is also represented by the 2003 TV movie "Soldier's Girl" the 2001 documentary "De Colores: Lesbian and gay Latinos", 2002's "Unconditional Love" with Kathy Bates, and, perhaps most surprisingly, an episode from the 4th season of "Grey's Anatomy" titled "The Becoming" which featured this storyline.

What is not surprising is that Gus Van Sandt's "Milk" will also be screened. In March of 2009, CENESEX announced that a screening of the film would be a key component in a new CENESEX initiative against homophobia and at this year's cultural summit it will be screened once again to close the week-long event. A panel discussion will also follow.

At a press conference held on Wednesday to announce details of the summit, Mariela Castro said that she had sent a special invite to Sean Penn, the American actor who plays the role of Harvey Milk in the film, to attend the screening.

"We've sent him a message to Haiti to see if he sees it fit to come on the day we screen his movie to debate it," said Castro (Sean Penn has spent the month in Haiti helping people affected by the recent catastrophic earthquake).

Source: Yahoo