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Alumni Brighton
IDS Research Associate Richard Longhurst and the Director of Teaching and Alumni Relations, Robert Nurick hosted an alumni dinner in Brighton.

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IDS International Day Against Homophobia celebration

On Friday 15th May, for the first time, IDS celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia, with a panel discussion on 'Why is development work so straight?', a display of quotes and facts about homophobia in the development industry, and a party.

The panel of staff and students, including two staff from the Participation, Power and Social Change team, shared reflections on why homophobia is a development issue and what might be done by institutions like IDS to address it. Panellists spoke of the urgent need to address the violent abuse of sexual minorities around the world, and of the extent to which the development industry is complicit in invisibilising same-sex relationships as well as heterosexual relationships which fall outside norms such as marriage.

A room packed with IDS staff and students watched and then took to the floor to join the "Ladyboys of IDS" for a celebration disco.

The International Day Against Homophobia was launched on 17 May 2005, on the anniversary of the day the World Health Organisation declassified homosexuality as a mental illness (May 17 1992). The day is now celebrated round the world from Lebanon to Cuba to Nigeria.