Campaign against homophobia and transphobia: “Stop wanting to change LGBTIQ+ people”

As part of its 2020 campaign against homophobia and transphobia, the City of Geneva denounces the numerous injunctions which, 30 years after homosexuality was de-pathologised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), continue to impede the fulfilment of LGBTIQ+ people throughout their life. From 28 September to 11 October, six posters will be displayed around the streets of Geneva and events are organised in collaboration with numerous partners.

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Campagne contre l’homophobie et la transphobie 2020

Some 30 years after the WHO removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses, the City of Geneva’s campaign against homophobia and transphobia denounces the numerous injunctions to which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and other people (LGBTIQ+) are still subject to comply with the heterosexual norm or the gender assigned to them at birth. “In a family and social environment where stereotypes linked to gender and sexuality remain very pronounced, the injunctions are so present that they pervade LGBTIQ+ people themselves from the very earliest age. Low self-esteem, isolation, dropping out of school, depression, suicide – the consequences can be dramatic,” recalls Alfonso Gomez, Administrative Councillor responsible for Equality and Diversity.

“Even today and even in Switzerland, medical “treatments”, seminars, prayers and fasting continue to be offered to LGBTIQ+ people to “cure” them of their homosexuality or transidentity. Doctors continue to operate, without any valid medical grounds, on intersex children to “normalise” their genital organs, acts which are nevertheless deemed to be torture by numerous international bodies. All these forms of violence are founded on the idea, both misguided and dangerous, that homosexuality, transidentity or intersex conditions are “deviances”, “anomalies” which can and must be “rectified”, continues Alfonso Gomez.

Six portraits in the streets of Geneva

Six LGBTIQ+ people who, sometimes after a long process, have freed themselves from this social pressure and are able to live their lives to the full, have agreed to pose for posters displayed on the streets of Geneva from 28 September to 11 October. Through their testimonies, David, Deborah, Eric, Lucie, Muriel and Roine remind us that we must stop wanting to change LGBTIQ+ people and, on the contrary, accompany and support them as they discover their identities.

Since 2013, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia held on 17 May has offered the City of Geneva the opportunity to increase awareness among its citizens about discrimination linked to sexual orientation and gender identity by means of a public poster campaign and targeted actions. In 2020, this campaign has exceptionally been postponed until the autumn following the health crisis, and now coincides with World Coming Out Day on 11 October.

As in previous years, a rich programme of meetings, round tables, exhibitions, workshops, etc. will be organised over a period of a fortnight in collaboration with numerous associative and institutional partners. The campaign will be launched on Monday 28 September with a round table organised in collaboration with the Geneva teaching hospitals (HUG) and their association of LGBTIQ+ employees and allies, HUG a Rainbow, to raise the issue of access to healthcare for LGBTIQ+ people in Switzerland. On 7 October, a discussion will explore the practice of conversion “therapies” in our country while an exhibition on the (in)visibility of LGBTIQ+ people in public areas will be presented in Parc des Bastions until 31 October. It should also be noted that meetings will be organised in partnership with the Spielact and Everybody’s Perfect festivals while the traditional ceremony in homage to Bartolomé Tecia and the victims of homophobia and transphobia around the world will be held on 9 October.

Further information, the full programme and visuals to be downloaded are available at www.geneve-lgbtiq.ch

Contact

Service Agenda 21 - Ville durable : LGBTIQ

Mandicourt Guillaume

5, rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville

1204

Genève

Suisse

Tél. +41 22 418 22 90

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Article modifié le 16.05.2023 à 13:56