San Francisco Flag Lowering Ceremony for International Day Against Homophobia

Diverse LGBT Speakers List for SF’s May 17 IDAHO at UN Plaza

Gays Without Borders has organized an event on Thursday, May 17 , to honor International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

The  commemoration will begin at noon at UN Plaza in San Francisco.

The commemoration will start off with poignant speeches about the violence and jeopardy too many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face every day around our planet.

After that, workers from the Department of Public Works will lower the United Nation flag to half staff, followed by the lowering of the United States flag to the same position.

Heidi Beeler of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band will play “Taps” as the flags descend.

The UN and US flags will fly at half staff to honor and remember all of the LGBT people murdered and maimed globally in the past year.

Gary Virginia of Gays Without Borders will serve as the emcee. Here are the names of confirmed speakers:

– Brendan Behan, Executive Director of SF Pride
– David Campos, Member of the Board of Supervisors
– Clinton Fein, Political artist and activist
– Veronika Cauley Fimbres, African-American trans advocate
– Michael Petrelis, Person living with AIDS
– Melanie Nathan, Lesbian blogger and activist
– Amy Whelan, Attorney for National Center for Lesbian Rights

In addition, community video documentarian will be taping the event. GAY U.S.A. the Movie will also be there for footage.

The speakers will address topics such as the recent murder of a trans woman in Oakland, California, “corrective rape” of lesbians in South Africans, the killing of gay youth Daniel Zamudio in Chile, the unsolved slayings of lesbians in Thailand, the slaughter of trans persons in Turkey, the deaths by skull-crushing of gay and emo youths in Iraq, the stigmatization and criminalization of HIV positive individuals, and the importance of organizing LGBT solidarity through IDAHO every year.

For more information on global IDAHO activities, check out this Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/may17idaho, and go here for additional details on the San Francisco IDAHO event, https://www.facebook.com/events/229514360488444/229582607148286/ .

Please join us this Thursday at 12 pm at UN Plaza, located at Market and 7th Streets, and assist in making our IDAHO event the best yet in San Francisco!

Thanks to Michael Petrelis for his hard work http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2012/05/diverse-lgbt-speakers-list-for-sfs-may.html