Monday, May 17, 2010

Celebrating Cambodia’s LGBT Community on International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

PRESS RELEASE
Phnom Penh, 16th May 2010
For immediate release


Human Rights for Everyone:
Celebrating Cambodia’s LGBT Community on International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (“IDAHO”) is celebrated every year on 17th May. It is coordinated by the Paris-based IDAHO Committee founded and presided over by the French academic and gay rights activist Louis-Georges Tin. 17th May was chosen as the day for the event because it marks the date in 1992 that homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization. IDAHO is celebrated in more than 50 countries around the world. Cambodia’s Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) community and its supporters will come together to celebrate IDAHO as part of Cambodian Pride Week 2010.

LGBT Cambodians suffer from discrimination and abuse; including violence, workplace discrimination, and social and familial exclusion. LGBT people have always been part of Cambodian society - they are not a new phenomenon; they have remained hidden because of society’s lack of acceptance of them.

Women’s Network for Unity (“WNU”), Rainbow Community Kampuchea (“RoCK”) and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) together celebrate IDAHO and Cambodia’s LGBT community. We call for an improvement in the situation of human rights for LGBT people in Cambodia. LGBT people must be allowed to freely express their sexual identity - having the right to express who they are, to live as who they are and to love who they want. Human Rights are for everyone.

For more information please contact:

Ms. Ly Pisey, WNU
Tel: +855 12 288 138
Email: forcechange@gmail.com

Ms. Collete O’Regan, RoCK
Tel: +855 17 559 150
Email: colleteoregan@gmail.com

Mr. Rupert Abbott, Development Director, CCHR
Tel: +855 17 500 778
Email: rupertabbott@cchrcambodia.org

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Katoeuy = someone who has no penis but likes to be a woman.
Gay = someone who has a penis but likes men.

King Sihamoni is not a katoeuy, but he is a gay.

There are many famous gay people since the dawn of time...and they are part of the human society and equal to any other heterosexuals. God loves everyone and we are all equal.

Anonymous said...

USA elected a black president, Cambodia nominated a gay king and run by a blind prime minister.
People of these two countries are open-minded.