Campaign: “Homosexuality is NOT a sickness”

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May 08, 2008 - The Canadian Fondation Émergence chose healthcare as a theme for IDAHO (the International Day Against Homophobia) in 2008.

Focus on health professionals

The campaign highlights gay and lesbian health issues. Just like any other citizens, gays and lesbians need to receive health services free of discrimination. The Fondation aims to reach out to a vast number of workers and professionals in the physical, mental, and public health fields: chiropractors, dental hygienists, dentists, denturists, dieticians, emergency medical technicians, guidance counsellors, health technicians, hearing-aid specialists, midwives, nurses, occupational therapists, opticians, optometrists, pharmacists, physicians and specialists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, school psychologists, social workers, surgeons, and so on.

Prejudice

On May 17, 1991, the World Health Organisation (WHO) removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. In 1992, this withdrawal was officially recorded in its international classification (ICD-10). At its 2006 National Conference, the American Psychological Association restated its position in which homosexuality was not an illness.
Unfortunately, prejudice is deep-rooted. Some people continue to think that homosexuality is a mental disorder while others mistakenly believe that it can be cured. Specialists know that this is impossible. Bisexual and transgendered people experience the same prejudice as well.
Gay, lesbian, transgender and transsexual people must feel comfortable in consulting a healthcare professional.

Activities

The International Day Against Homophobia is an event that gathers people to combine efforts to fight homophobia. Canadian organisations, institutions, and individuals are invited to set up events in their communities. In addition Fondation Émergence wants to be informed of any efforts people make in order to post such achievements on its website. For this, it put a Word form on their website http://www.homophobiaday.org.
Fondation Émergence also tries to take stock of the many groups who make a significant and invaluable contribution to distributing information in their communities on the annual campaign to fight homophobia.
Fondation Émergence has prepared a list of some initiatives, activities, and events set up by various organisations throughout Canada. The main purpose of spreading this information is to show how diverse and original initiatives to fight homophobia can be.
Source: http://www.homophobiaday.org