May 17, International Transphobia, Homophobia, and Biphobia Day!

What a sad, strange, and yet probably necessary, issue to not celebrate but recognize on May 17th: International (my emphasis) Transphobia, Homophobia, and Biphobia Day.

What is a phobia? Phobias are an extreme or irrational fear of something or aversion to someone.  In this case, this day recognizes that in modern society, around the world, there is a  fear or aversion of people who are transgender, gay, lesbian and bisexuals, and probably queer, pansexuals, or asexuals as well. And because people fear or have an aversion toward LGBTQIA+ people, they will bring emotional, political, cultural , physical, relational, and spiritual harm to those of us who are LGBTQIA+, around the world. 

How is this played out? As I have written before, in the US, state after Republican-dominated-state- legislature state has been merrily attacking and focused on hurting people who are transgender. The prior Presidential administration was also in the business of taking away protections of transgender people as well. It is "open season" in attacking transgender people, because they are a very small minority, and thus an easy target, legislatively. No large vocal protests outside their hallways. No corporations are withdrawing their businesses from these states.

This is from transparency.org: "Today, 17 May, is the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. It’s a day to recognize that while the rights of the LGBTQI+ people have significantly advanced in recent decades, progress remains patchy and geographically uneven."

What is most striking about this day is the recognition not only about how LGBTQIA+ people are treated in this country, but around the world. For example, consider on this day, next year, watching the prize winning documentary "Welcome to Chechnya," by David French, whose documentaries on the AIDS/ACT Up movement "How to Survive a Plague," and Stonewall Inn hero, "The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson," captures the homophobia in the Russian province of Chechnya.

To use the language of the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 12, as well as other liberation theologians, if a sibling is hurt or oppressed in one part of the world, simply because who they are as one who is created in the image of God, then we are all hurt, wounded, and oppressed. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it" (1 Cor. 12:26). Because our siblings who are LGBTQIA+ are suffering in other parts of the world, we, too in the LGBTQIA+ community and, particularly for those of us who are people of faith, we are all suffering.

In sum consider these words from transparency.org: "To achieve a world free from corruption, we must fight discrimination too, and vice versa. Otherwise, we risk leaving the people who are most vulnerable to abuses of power – LGBTQI+ people, but also women, racial and ethnic minorities at risk of discrimination and other marginalized communities – further behind and perpetuating structural inequalities. We cannot have fair and just societies unless everyone can enjoy equal rights and protection."

It is past time to stop the hurt, stop the hate, and stop the societal and cultural phobias that continue to find oxygen to breathe injustice and inequality in all parts of the world, including the Church.