La Jornada: The recent attacks against members of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community come two years after this group received the right to marry members of the same sex, but above all, these acts are occurring in the context of the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico. Jaime Lopez Vela, coordinator of Agenda LGBT, warned that the visit has led to an increase in the climate of homophobia in the country.
“We are saddened and in morning again, not only for the murder of Agnes Torres and two others the same weekend, but also because there is a climate of animosity towards our community that is seriously alarming,” said the activist in a talk with La Jornada.
Interviewed via telephone after the local congressional session in Puebla, where Article 11 of the Constitution was reformed to recognize the principle of non-discrimination based on sexual preference, Lopez Vela commented that the second anniversary of the legalization of same-sex marriage forms the background for the recent series of hate crimes.
The attacks of conservative groups should also be considered in the context of the March 23rd to 25th visit of Joseph Ratzinger, given that “while they have been battering us with attacks, they have been presenting the Pope with honors, trying to exterminate the secular state.”
But despite current events, no political party has clearly offered the sexual diversity movement any opportunities for formal participation, Lopez Vela lamented— and because of this, there will be a march on Sunday to demand justice for the murders of Agnes Torres, Cesar Gonzalez, and Jorge Molottky. Spanish original
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
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