Wednesday 03 December 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
RIGHTS-COLOMBIA:
Where Homophobia Totes a
Gun
By Mario Osava
BOGOTA (IPS) -
Homosexuals can remain
in the closet and not be
noticed, but that is not
an acceptable
alternative for
transgender people who
suffer violence to a
greater extent in
Colombia, where armed
combatants in the
conflicts too often turn
prejudice into murder.
"We are not interested
in hiding our sexual
preference," and in this
country "killing is
easier" than in others,
said Diana Navarro, the
head of Corporación
Opción, an organization
that works for the
rights of prostitutes
and transgender people,
a term used in Colombia
to refer to
transvestites,
transsexuals and
cross-dressers.
"I am attacked for being
black, transgender, a
prostitute, and for
speaking out," the
activist told IPS. Her
complaints of abuses
against her community
made an impact at the
International Seminar on
Human Rights, Sexual
Diversity and State
Policies, held Nov.
26-27 in Bogotá.
The lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) community in
Colombia faces state and
social discrimination,
as is common nearly
everywhere in the world.
But in their case it is
aggravated by the
conflicts between
several armed groups
which are all
homophobic.
Homosexuals are
particularly victimised
by "social cleansing," a
Colombian tradition of
eliminating
undesirables, and as
"false positives" --
people killed by the
armed forces to present
as guerrillas killed in
combat, said Navarro,
who did not complete her
university law course
and is now studying
participative social
processes.
In 2006 and 2007, 67
Colombians were murdered
because of their sexual
orientation, according
to Colombia Diversa, a
non-governmental
organisation (NGO) for
LGBT rights. But this is
a very partial figure,
the result of "a first
effort" that was limited
to the big cities, the
NGO's lawyer Mauricio
Noguera told IPS.
This is obviously an
underestimate, because
LGBT individuals are not
specifically identified
as such on any official
document, said Navarro.
In addition, fear of
reprisals prevents
people from coming
forward and filing
complaints, Noguera
said.
In comparison, in Brazil
where violence is part
of day-to-day reality
but there is no civil
war, the Bahia Gay Group
recorded an average of
125 LGBT murders a year
from 2000 to 2005.
(Brazil's population is
approximately 4.5 times
that of Colombia.)
The armed conflict in
Colombia "did not
originate prejudice, but
it exacerbates it and
brings about more
serious consequences,"
the lawyer said.
In the areas under their
control, illegal armed
groups like the
far-right paramilitaries
or the left-wing
guerrillas impose
"normal" behaviour
according to their
beliefs, driving out
prostitutes, drug
addicts and homosexuals
with threats that
include murder if they
resist, he said.
Such armed homophobia
forces sexual minorities
to hide their
orientation in order to
survive, or to migrate
to the big cities where
they can "blend in more
easily," Navarro said.
The result is that they
become concentrated in
Bogotá and Medellín,
which also have
progressive local
governments that have
adopted policies
recognising LGBT rights.
She estimates that the
transgender population
of Bogotá varies from
1,500 to 3,000,
depending on the time of
year. Their bold
visibility represents
"anarchy" in contrast
with a "globalisation
that would like to make
people homogeneous," so
they are the first to be
"expelled by the armed
groups," and the
foremost victims of
killings.
Cali, the third largest
Colombian city, is known
as a death zone for
transgender people. Out
of 21 LGBT murders there
in 2006 and 2007, no
less than 16 were of
transgender persons, a
disproportionate number
for that tiny minority,
according to Colombia
Diversa.
The situation might
improve after the end of
right-wing President
Álvaro Uribe's current
term, which ends in
2010, said Navarro, the
only trangender member
of the leadership of the
Alternative Democratic
Pole (PDA), a leftist
opposition party which
includes an LGBT group,
the Polo de Rosa (Pink
Pole).
Another of Navarro's
forceful views is that
Catholicism is at the
root of the violence
against sexual
minorities. The strong
influence the Catholic
Church retains in
Colombia, and its
conservative hierarchy,
do heighten pressures
against LGBT people,
other activists agree.
Coming to terms openly
with one's homosexuality
in Colombia is a
"heroic" act, said
Carlos Gaviria,
president of the PDA,
speaking at the Seminar
on Human Rights, Sexual
Diversity and State
Policies.
Rulings by the
Constitutional Court, on
which Gaviria used to
sit as a judge, have set
precedents that ensure
the few rights that LGBT
people have, in the
areas of assets, health
care and pensions.
A society can only be
democratic if it is
"plural" and allows
people to be
"authentic," that is,
that everyone can
publicly present their
true identity, including
their sexual identity,
said Gaviria. But this
is not the case in
Colombia, which is still
a democracy "under
construction," added the
politician, who was
runner-up in the 2006
presidential elections.
Although homophobia is
more lethal in Colombia
because of the armed
violence and impunity,
the national LGBT
movement is well
integrated in the
struggle for human
rights, and the
International Seminar,
sponsored by the Bogotá
mayor's office, showed
important progress is
being made, said Bill
Fairbairn of the
Canadian NGO Horizons of
Friendship, which
supports sustainable
development projects in
Central America.
The Chapinero district
in Bogotá, now dubbed "Chapigay,"
is a sort of LGBT
liberated zone, with
several gay bars and
discos, and homosexual
couples and groups in
the streets and squares
all night long. The
local mayor is openly
lesbian.
Homophobia is widespread
throughout the world,
including Canada, where
homosexuals can marry
but "if they walk down
the streets hand in
hand, they are attacked
or mocked," Fairbairn,
who in the 1980s and
1990s coordinated the
South America programme
of the Canadian
Inter-Church Committee
on Human Rights in Latin
America (ICCHRLA), told
IPS.
While in that post, he
reported extrajudicial
executions of
homosexuals and assisted
in getting his country
to grant asylum to
people persecuted for
their sexual
preferences.
Mexican lawmaker David
Sánchez Camacho of the
left-wing Party of the
Democratic Revolution (PRD),
another participant at
the seminar, said the
present Colombian
government was "more
conservative and
authoritarian" in every
way than that of his own
country.
Mexico also has a
conservative government,
but it has promised
public policies against
discrimination based on
sexual orientation and
has shown openness on
health issues such as
the use of condoms, he
said. |
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