Same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City. In 2014 Mexico City passed a legislation allowing someone to change their gender without a court order. Mexico City has anti-discrimination laws. They are meant to protect people. Yet, violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community is still common. Common enough to make Mexico the sixth most dangerous Latin American country. The government may have made same-sex marriage legal but like in the U.S. that does not mean society is suddenly okay with it. While, 52 percent of Mexicans do not believe homosexuality to be a crime. 8 percent do, which doesn’t sound like a lot. It is when you add those who somewhat agree, another 4 percent and those who only somewhat disagree, 10 percent. 26 percent of Mexicans say neither. Yes, Mexico City has laws for anti-discrimination, but Mexico is compiled of 31 states. LGBTQ+ people faces discrimination even in a city with laws to supposedly protect them.
There has been an incredible amount of backlash from the Mexican government providing so many fundamental rights to same-sex couples. Most of that backlash falls to transgender woman in Mexico. They face police brutality. They are directly targeted by morality laws put in place in cities like Tecate, Mexico. A law that bans cross-dressing. Since this law passing in 2002 police harassment has had a dramatic increase. They face employment discrimination. While Mexico has laws for anti-discrimination they do not directly protect transgender woman leaving them vulnerable. Employment discrimination leads many transgender Mexican woman to prostitution. Facing so much violence from government official, religious icons, these women have turned to a new God. Santa Muerte, Goddess of Death. They pray to her to protect them when they leave their homes. Pray for costumers so they can survive. Pray that those costumers do not hurt them.
February of 2017 Russia began an anti-gay purge. They created concentration camps. Rounded up gay men, tortured them for days. Guatemala and Honduras have LGBTQ+ people seeking refuge in the U.S. to escape the discrimination in their home countries. In 2014 Honduras introduced an Anti-Homosexuality Act. It was declared unconstitutional, but fuel had already been added to the fire of hatred and ignorance. Places like Iraq and Egypt attack and imprison their people for being gay. They have “crackdown” systems against those in the LGBTQ+ community. Killing campaigns in Iraq. We may have progressed some in the United States but there is still so much more uphill climbing.
Western culture is dominate, it is influential. America is a big global power. It reaches almost every corner of the world. When looking at the news our news is of course the main story. We heard about the concentration camps in Russia. It trended twitter for a minute there, but did we hear about the Transgender women in Mexico? Do we hear about the nightmare LGBTQ+ people live through in Iraq?
When we march, when we demand our fundamental rights. We have the eyes of the world on us because the U.S. has that influence. I understand the need, the concentration on fixing things here but I think as a whole we need to remember. That the fight for equality, for acceptance, it doesn’t end in the U.S. We need to keep that in mind and remember we fight for all. Living in a place so influential we have to speak up for those who cannot. We have to remember the forgotten ones, the unspoken for. The fight does not end in the United States.
Photo credit: Beatriz Valim I.G: @bybeatrizvalim