Ballarat Hospice Care acknowledges and celebrates IDAHOBIT Day (May 17).May 17, 1990 is the anniversary of when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases.
We celebrate this milestone and other advancements in LGBTQIA+ equality and we acknowledge the reality of the incidents below being in our very recent history:
- The first Mardi Gras Pride March was held in Sydney in 1978; it was met with violence from police. Those who marched were beaten inside police cells and had their names published by the Sydney Morning Herald.
- Tasmania was the last jurisdiction in Australia to decriminalise homosexuality in May 1997. The majority of Australians today were alive during a time when it was illegal to be gay.
- The Marriage Equality plebiscite was held in 2017. While marriage equality was passed, 38.4% of Australians who voted (4.8 million people) voted against it.
The first IDAHOBIT was held in 2005 and is today acknowledged globally. IDAHOBIT has evolved over the years, however the purpose remains the same…
to celebrate the progress made while also raising awareness for the discrimination that LGBTQIA+ people still face today.
Our staff will acknowledge the day with an IDAHOBIT morning tea. We think it is an important day to mark as…
- 68% of LGBTQIA+ employees in Australia are not out to everyone at work. (Out at Work, 2018).
- 2 in 3 LGBTQIA+ youth experience abuse due to their identity.
- 35% of LGBTQIA+ Australians have experienced verbal abuse in the past 12 months.
We are committed to do our best to be an inclusive welcoming organisation and will work to ensure that anyone who has been marginalised in the past feels welcome and cared for at Ballarat Hospice Care.
Photo by Stavrialena Gontzou on Unsplash
