May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, established in 2007
By the European Union to condemn and overcome the discrimination that many people are still forced to endure based on their sexual
orientation.
The International Day Against Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, was first established by the
IDAHO Committee on May 17, 2004, – exactly 14 years after the historic date of May 17, 1990, when homosexuality was removed from
the list of mental disorders in the International Classification of Diseases published by the
World Health Organisation, (WHO).
When homosexuality was first described in Western medical literature, it was considered a disease, and efforts were made to discover
its causes.
An American study from the early 1950s, known as the Kinsey Report– named after its author, biologist Alfred C. Kinsey– used
anonymous questionnaires to investigate the sexual behaviors and fantasies of a large number of men and women.
It revealed that homosexual behaviors were far more common in the adult American population than previously believed.
Acknowledging increasingly numerous and accurate medical studies, in 1990 the WHO removed homosexuality from the list of mental
disorders and defined it as a natural variation of human behavior.
Therefore, homosexuality can no longer be considered an illness in any way.
As a result, so-called “coversion therapies” must not be seen as legitimate, but rather as pseudo-therapeutic practises rooted in
unscientific prejudice against homosexual people.
In this regard, we recall that on March 11, 2021, the European Parliament Resolution declaring the EU a freedom zone for LGBTIQ
people encouraged Member States to criminalize conversion therapy practises (risoluzione PE 2021/2557).
On this page, we will continue to add initiatives organized by the universities of Turin to celebrate this day.
