The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia is an annual observance that was created in 2004 to draw attention to LGBTQIA+ rights violations, raise awareness, and celebrate sexual and gender diversity. It is held on May 17th to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1990. 

The Day serves to reaffirm the human rights and fundamental freedoms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons, as well as serve as a worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversities. This year’s theme, “Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights,” serves to highlight that our bodies are our lives and everyone has the right to live freely and in dignity.  

To acknowledge the day’s aim and purpose, we have curated a list of resources as a starting point to provide an opportunity to act and engage in dialogue with the media, policymakers, public opinion, and wider civil society:

• How to Decolonize and Decisnormatize Curricula: This wide-ranging conversation centers on the panelists own journeys and how they have worked to decolonize and decisnormatize the higher education system. 

• LGBTQIA+ History: Law Breakers and Society Shakers: With expertise in teaching, government legislation, and activism, the panelists discussed campaigns of the past, present, and future impacting the LGBTQIA+ community in the UK. 

• LGBTQIA+ Research: Celebrating social and behavioral scientists making history and advancing equity: This collection of research, videos, and books looks at Queer Theory, Gender Identity, Queer Justice, Hegemonic Heterosexuality, Sexual Orientation, and more. 

• Name change policy: As part of our commitment to addressing the needs of all research communities to improve diversity, equity and inclusion, SAGE has introduced a policy to enable name and pronoun changes for our authors. You can read more about the policy on the SAGE Perspectives blog.  

• Queer & Trans Perspectives in Academia: This panel looked at LGBT+ heritage in academic institutions, queer methodologies in social scientific inquiry, and trans perspectives on abolition.  

• Supporting LGBTQIA+ students, professors, and researchers: How can we use the social and behavioral sciences to better advance equity for the LGBTQIA+ community? In this webinar series, panelists from a range of backgrounds addressed this question and more. 

• The State of Trans Studies in the 2020s: With the 2021 publication of The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies, a timely question is, what is the state of trans studies now and in the future? This panel of leading scholars in the field—all contributors to the encyclopedia—discussed the topic. 

• Trans Rights Priorities for the Biden Administration: Marking the publication of The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies, edited by Abbie Goldberg and Genny Beemyn, this webinar featured contributors to that pioneering work addressing priorities they have to ensure the protection and advancement of trans rights.