IDAHO DAY AT PHOENIX SQUARE

Today is Idaho Day: International Day Against Homophobia, an occasion given the imprimatur of the United Nations. I'm at Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre with a display for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) in a "marketplace" style exhibition to mark the occasion. 

Other organisations taking part today here:

• Blaby District Community Safety Partnership
• Citizens' Eye Community News Agency
• Leicestershire Police's Stamp It Out! campaign
• Leicestershire Together Stop and Tell campaign
• Trade Sexual Health
• Victim Support

It's a small scale, low key affair and is all over in three hours. But it brings this important day to the attention of regular and occasional users of Phoenix Square's cafe bar and it contributes to the considerable cumulative online coverage of Idaho Day. John Coster of Citizens' Eye filmed an interview with me about REDP's participation in Idaho Day. You can see this on YouTube. John also submitted this video interview to CNN iReport.

There can never be enough opportunities or occasions to highlight an issue like this. Most of the people on the stalls are weil-kent faces, but a few are new to me - and I always think that's a good thing in itself.

More than once today I heard voices lamenting the small turnout, both in terms of organisations displaying and of visitors. And more than once I heard John Coster respond with an apposite Chinese proverb: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now." I might be well advised to apply that to a few other things going on in my life these days!

A WELCOME VISITOR

Having been at my desk in the Welcome Centre since early this morning, I'm surprised to hear a very light tapping on the door around 0845. I open the door to Irene Zempie, who introduces herself as a Research Student and Tutor at the University of Leicester, Department of Criminology.

We sit and chat for half an hour or so; Irene's unexpected visit reveals itself to be a piece of serendipity. She tells me that her specialist area of research is that of harassment, persecution and victimisation of Muslim women who wear the niqab in public. She has been struggling to obtain local contacts who would be willing to help with her research and just happened to be on her way to a volunteering appointment at Victim Support (our next door neighbours in Bishop Street) this morning when she saw the big poster in the window of our downstairs office, which led her to come upstairs and knock on our door.

Irene's work is highly relevant to recent discussions I've been having with some of our partner groups and organisations in the city in relation to the forthcoming International Hate Crime Day (Friday 28 October), which will be marked with a day-long event at Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre. In exchange for advising her about local contacts who can help with her research, Irene may be able to assist us on 28 October. I look forward to us being able to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement - watch this space.