Introduction: What is IDAHOBIT?

31 years ago - on May 17, 1990 - the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) celebrates LGBTQIA+ people globally, and raises awareness for the work still needed to combat discrimination.

Exercise: Don’t Show Your Teeth!

Set up your classroom so that students can easily turn and face one another, then tell students to imagine they live in a world where having teeth is considered really unpleasant.

Explain that in this world, anyone who has teeth may be discriminated against and considered inferior.

Tell students that they all have teeth that they have to hide every day from friends, family and teachers.

Ask students to form pairs. One member of each pair will begin by spending one minute telling the other about their weekend without showing their teeth. (You may need to demonstrate to your students how to talk while hiding your teeth.) The listening student must alert the speaking student if their teeth are visible at any time by saying “I can see your teeth!”

Remind students that the person they are speaking to must never find out that they have teeth. After a minute, ask students to swap speaking and listening roles.

Discussion questions

1. What was it like to carry on that conversation?

2. How did it feel to have to hide part of yourself?

3. What are some things people sometimes feel they have to hide from others?

4. Do you think that some lesbian, gay or bisexual young people feel that they need to hide part of themselves? How might this make them feel?

5. Research shows that young people often realise they are lesbian, gay or bisexual between the ages of 11 and 14, but the average age for coming out is 16 years old. Why might that be the case?

6. How might these young people feel in the two to five years between realising they are gay, lesbian or bisexual and ‘coming out’? m

Teacher note: Students may answer question number six by suggesting that young people may not be sure about their sexuality. However, it is less about a person being sure than it is about them being able to accept that is how they feel. Many young people may be reluctant to talk about their same sex attraction due to social pressures and homophobia.

Teacher note: Before moving on, it is important to tell students that it is perfectly OK to have teeth, and show them, just as it is OK to be same sex attracted, or identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

Ranking Activity

Resource available here: page 23.

Ask pair groups to order the cards from what they think would be the least difficult scenario to the most difficult one.

Invite each group to discuss the order in which they arranged the cards and the reasons they chose that sequence.

Discuss with students why the scenarios might seem more difficult for gay or lesbian people than for straight people.

Intro

Last week we looked at the 'not showing your teeth' activity and how people are seen to be 'different' We also looked at Viv's story who was a young bisexual girl. This week we are going to be looking at how we can be a good ally and support our friends.

An ally is someone who supports and advocates for the equal treatment of a community other than their own. Allyship is also active and understanding this is an important part of being an ally.

Writing Activity

Access the exercise sheet ' what would you do' on page .46 of the resource here

Ask students to pair up, discuss and write their answers. If time, discuss as a group.