WATCH: Lebanese celebrities campaign for LGBT rights
Beirut-based NGO released video campaigning for IDAHOT event on May 17, a date marked by over 1500 similar events worldwide.
Lebanon, like other Arab states in the Middle East, is largely recognized as an conservative nation with a small, but lively pocket of liberal youth in the capital Beirut.
One non-profit however, is looking to turn Lebanese conservatism upside down by marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) at an event on Sunday.
In a promotional video for the event, Lebanese stars including director Zeina Daccache and television host Fouad Yammine decry laws that discriminate against social minorities, specifically the LGBT community in Lebanon.
The video and upcoming event are part of IDAHOT, a campaign for human and LGBT rights. According to dayagainsthomophobia.org, the initiative began in 2004 and has since spread worldwide. May 17th was chosen as a day of celebration, marking the day that the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1990.
May 17 is now marked by events in over 130 countries worldwide with approximately 1600 separate events in 2014.
