Local
Local trans advocate attends El Salvador conference
Corado returns to home country, finds transphobia
Transgender activist Ruby Corado (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A transgender activist from D.C. is among those who attended El Salvador’s first LGBT rights conference that took place from March 12-17.
Casa Ruby CEO Ruby Corado, who fled the Central American nation in 1986 during the country’s civil war, spoke at a vigil were advocates read the names of 121 LGBT — mostly trans — murder victims during the first day of the conference that took place at Central American University in San Salvador, the country’s capital.
She also visited several LGBT advocacy groups in the capital — one of the organizations had pictures of the bodies of those who had been killed displayed on the wall.
Corado said she experienced homophobia and transphobia herself when she ate lunch with a group of LGBT advocates during the conference. She said the servers in the university cafeteria where they ate took their orders “in a very mean way.” Others called them “maricones” or “faggots.”
Corado said she also received what she described as “that hateful look” on the days she could not “pass” as a woman.
“I always knew that freedom is something we take for granted here,” she told the Washington Blade. “Being gay and being free is something that is totally, totally taken for granted here. Because these people when they choose to be free, they become part of the 121 people that get killed.”
Salvadorian law bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and HIV status, but the U.S. State Department noted in its 2011 Human Rights Report that it remains “widespread.” Anti-trans discrimination and violence in the country remains endemic.
The Salvadorian LGBT rights group Entre Amigos reported to the State Department that police and other public officials continue to engage in “violence and discrimination against sexual minorities.”
Entre Amigos Co-Director William Hernández; Arcoiris Director Mónica Hernández; Dr. Rafael Mazin of the Pan American Health Organization; María Silvia Guillén of the Foundation for the Study of the Application of Law and Cruz Torres of Salvadorian President Mauricio Funes’ cabinet are among those who spoke at the conference the Legal Assistance Office for the Sexual Diversity of El Salvador (ALDES in Spanish) organized.
American University Washington College of Law students Brandon Roman and Arli Christian, who is an intern at Whitman Walker-Health, also attended the gathering.
Aside from participating in the ALDES conference, Corado also visited her father while in El Salvador. She and her two sisters also returned to the home in which she lived and the elementary school she attended.
“I put a lot of closure on that because many of us that come from different countries in a way we are in the perfect situation without persecution,” Corado said as she became emotional about fleeing the country. “You’re just taken away from these places. And all of a sudden you wake up in a different country like I did 27 years ago and you don’t have time to say goodbye.”
District of Columbia
Norton reintroduces bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ jurors in D.C. Superior Court
Congresswoman notes Congress controls local court system
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Friday, June 20, reintroduced her bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ D.C. residents in the process for selecting people to serve as jurors in D.C. Superior Court.
“The bill would clarify that D.C. residents may not be excluded or disqualified from jury service in the local D.C. trial court, the D.C. Superior Court, based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Norton said in a statement.
“Specifically, this bill would clarify that the term ‘sex,’ which is a protected class under the nondiscrimination law that applies to jurors in the D.C. Superior Court includes sexual orientation and gender identity,” Norton said.
She points out in her statement that under the D.C. Home Rule Act approved by Congress that created D.C.’s local government, including an elected mayor and City Council, the federal government retained control over the local court system.
“Therefore, until D.C. is given authority to amend Title 11 of the D.C. Code, which one of my bills would do, an act of Congress is required to clarify that LGBTQ+ jurors in the D.C. Superior Court are protected from discrimination,” according to her statement.
A spokesperson for Norton couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether Norton is aware of specific instances where residents were denied jury service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Online records of congressional action on Norton’s juror nondiscrimination bill show she had introduced it in 2019, 2021, and 2023, when it died in committee each year, except for the 117th Congress in 2022, when it was approved by a committee but died in the full House.
“During Pride month we are reminded of the many contributions of the LGBTQ+ community,” Norton said in her June 20 statement. “Nobody, including D.C. jurors, should be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and D.C. juries should not be deprived of the service of LGBTQ residents,” she added.
The Washington Blade’s second day of Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC ended with a fireworks show on Saturday, June 7. The fireworks show was presented by the Leonard-Litz LGBTQ Foundation.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) will face John Reid in the race to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor.
Hashmi won the Democratic primary with 27.49 percent of the vote. She defeated former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, state Sen. Aaron Rouse (D-Virginia Beach), Babur Lateef, Victor Salgado and Alexander Bastani.
“Tonight, Virginians made history,” said Hashmi in a statement. “We didn’t just win a primary, we sent a clear message that we won’t be bullied, broken, or dragged backward by the chaos in Washington.”
Reid, a gay conservative talk show host, in April won the Republican nomination to succeed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The incumbent governor days after Reid secured the nomination called for him to withdraw his candidacy amid reports that a social media account with his username included “pornographic content.” Reid, who would become the first openly gay person elected to statewide office in Virginia if he wins in November, has strongly denied the reports.
Former state Del. Jay Jones defeated Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor in Democratic attorney general primary. Jones will face Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in November.
Youngkin cannot run for a second, consecutive term.
Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger will face off against Earle-Sears in November. The winner will make history as the first woman elected governor in the state’s history.
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