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Colombian LGBT rights advocates visit U.S.

Six activists took part in State Department-sponsored trip

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Colombia, LGBT rights, gay news, Washington Blade
Columbia, LGBT rights, gay news, Washington Blade

Colombian LGBT rights advocates are in the U.S. on a State Department-sponsored trip. (Photo courtesy of Wilson Castańeda)

Six Colombian LGBT rights advocates have visited D.C. and two other states this month as part of a State Department-sponsored trip to learn how activists, politicians and government officials in this country advance civil and human rights.

The group — which includes lawyer Viviana Baharquez Monsalve; Wilson de Jesús Castañeda Castro, director of Corporación Caribe Afirmativo in Cartagena; Juan Carlos Pietro García, director of the city of Bogotá’s Office of Sexual Diversity and Federico Ruíz Mora of the Santamaría Fundación in Cali — arrived in D.C. on April 14.

The advocates met with State Department officials, Lisa Mottet of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Human Rights Campaign and Victory Fund staffers, transgender activists and others while in the nation’s capital. They will have also traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, and San Diego before returning to Colombia on Wednesday.

Castañeda, whose group advocates on behalf of LGBT Colombians who live along the country’s Caribbean coastline, told the Washington Blade during an April 18 interview that he and his fellow activists highlighted their work on behalf of their gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans countrymen. He said they also wanted to learn about this country’s elections, documentation of hate crimes and anti-bullying efforts in schools while in the United States.

Ruíz, whose group advocates on behalf of trans women, discussed how the Colombian LGBT rights movement compares to that in the United States.

“Things are rather similar to those in our country, but there are clearly obvious differences,” he said.

The activists arrived in the United States less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases that challenge the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. Their trip also coincided with the ongoing debate over a bill that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in Colombia.

The Colombian Senate had been scheduled to vote on the proposal on April 18 — the same day the activists spoke with the Blade, but it was postponed until Tuesday. Baharquez said it will prove “very, very difficult” to pass the same-sex marriage bill because of opposition from religious conservatives in the country’s Congress.

“There is little hope that something is going to pass,” she said.

Colombian senators in 2007 defeated a bill that would have allowed gays and lesbians to enter into civil unions.

The country’s Constitutional Court in three separate rulings it issued later that year and in 2008 extended property and inheritance rights, social security and pension benefits to same-sex couples. The tribunal in 2009 issued a ruling that said co-habitating gay and lesbian couples must receive the same rights that unmarried heterosexual couples receive under Colombian law.

The same court in 2011 ruled lawmakers must pass legislation within two years that extends the same benefits that heterosexuals receive through marriage to same-sex couples. If legislators fail to act on this mandate by June 20, gays and lesbians can legally register their unions.

Anti-trans violence remains endemic in Colombia

While attention remains focused on extending marriage rights to same-sex couples, violence against trans women remains rampant throughout the country.

A report from the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Transgender Women (REDLACTRANS) notes 61 trans women in Colombia have been reported murdered between 2005-2011. The group further notes none of the alleged perpetrators have been prosecuted — Ruíz said authorities often exacerbate the problem.

“Colombia is the same as many Latin American countries and others around the world; the trans community is that which is the most affected,” he said as he discussed the issue. “This has to do with historic discrimination and exclusion accompanied by systematic acts of violence. This violence has to do with transphobic acts because of [the victim’s] gender identity.”

The advocates hope to launch a campaign in support of a trans rights bill that would, among other things, “guarantee a dignified life for trans women in Colombia.” Ruíz further described them as those who are “in a helpless situation against the constant violation of their human rights.”

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in May 2012 signed a bill that allows people who have not undergone sex-reassignment surgery to legally change their gender without a doctor or judge’s approval. The law further mandates public and private health insurance plans to cover SRS, hormone therapy and other trans-specific treatments without additional premiums.

Castañeda told the Blade the campaign through which Argentine LGBT rights advocates secured passage of their country’s trans rights bill is “important to us.” He stressed, however, their own effort should take into account the “particularity of the situation” that trans Colombians currently face with regard to discrimination and violence.

Ruíz also responded to the Blade’s question about whether the ongoing same-sex marriage debate has overshadowed the need to extend legal protections based on gender identity and expression.

“It is an advance in the recognition of rights as a group,” he said, while noting some trans women don’t identify much with the issue of nuptials for gays and lesbians. “For the trans organizations, it will be much more important that gender identity is recognized as an identify for the purposes of rights.”

In addition to efforts in support of same-sex marriage and trans rights, the advocates said they will continue to seek LGBT inclusion in the ongoing peace profess between the Colombian government and armed rebels. They also hope to have a greater presence in the country’s political system.

The U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this month announced a public-private partnership designed to promote LGBT rights around the world. The Victory Institute and the Astraea Foundation will conduct the initiative’s first training in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, from May 30-June 2.

Bogotá City Councilor Angelica Lozano; Blanca Durán, mayor of the Colombian capital’s Chapinero district and Tatiana Piñeros, a trans woman whom Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro appointed last year to run the city’s social welfare agency are among those expected to attend.

“For those of us who have come to the United States, we identified and built upon best practices to know and use in our daily work,” Prieto said.

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Cuba

Cuban lawmakers to consider simplifying process for trans people to change IDs

National Assembly in July will reportedly debate proposal

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A transgender Pride flag flies over Mi Cayito, a beach east of Havana. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Cuban lawmakers are reportedly poised to consider a proposal that would allow transgender people to legally change the gender marker on their ID documents without surgery.

Cubadebate, a government-run website, on May 11 referenced the proposal in an article about an International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia march in Havana that the National Center for Sexual Education organized.

Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues on the island, is CENESEX’s director.

Cubadebate notes the National Assembly in July will consider an amendment to the country’s Civil Registry Law that “for the first time would allow citizens to determine the sex on their identification cards without the need for a court order or gender assignment surgery.”

Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, and Malta are among the countries that allow trans people to legally change their name and gender without surgery.

Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgery since 2008, but activists who are critical of Mariela Castro and CENESEX have said access to these procedures is limited. Mariela Castro, who is also a member of the National Assembly, in 2013 voted against a measure to add sexual orientation to Cuba’s labor code because it did not include gender identity.

The Cuban constitution bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other factors. Authorities routinely harass and detain activists who publicly criticize the government.

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Chile

Chilean lawmakers back report that calls for suspension of program for trans children

Country’s first transgender congresswoman condemned May 15 vote

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LGBTQ activists criticized Chilean lawmakers who endorsed a report that calls for the suspension of a program for transgender and nonbinary children. (Photo courtesy of Fundación Iguales)

The Chilean Chamber of Deputies on May 15 approved a report that recommends the immediate suspension of a program that provides psychosocial support to transgender and gender non-conforming children and adolescents and their parents.

The 56-31 vote in favor of the Investigation Commission No. 57’s recommendations for the Gender Identity Support Program sparked outrage among activists in Chile and around the world. Six lawmakers abstained.

The report proposes the Health Ministry issue a resolution against puberty blockers, cross-hormonalization, and other hormonal treatments for minors, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The report also suggests Chilean educational institutions should not respect trans students’ chosen names.

The report, among other recommendations, calls for a review of the background of all minors who are currently receiving hormone treatments. The report also calls for the reformulation of hormone therapy guidelines and sending this background information to the comptroller general.

Report ‘sets an ominous precedent’

Frente Amplio Congresswoman Emilia Schneider, the first trans woman elected to the Chilean Congress and a member of the commission, sharply criticized her colleagues who voted for the report.

“Today in the Chamber of Deputies the report of hatred against trans people was approved; a report that seeks to roll back programs so relevant for children, for youth, such as the Gender Identity Support Program; a program that, in addition, comes from the government of (the late-President) Sebastián Piñera,” Schneider told the Washington Blade. ”This is unacceptable because the right-wing yields to the pressures of the ultra-right and leaves the trans community in a very complex position.”

Schneider noted “this report is not binding; that is, its recommendations do not necessarily have to be taken into account, but it sets an ominous precedent.” 

“We are going backwards on such basic issues as the recognition of the social name of trans students in educational establishments,” she said.

Ignacia Oyarzún, president of Organizing Trans Diversities, a Chilean trans rights group, echoed Schneider’s criticisms. commented to the Blade. 

“We regret today’s shameful action in the Chamber of Deputies, where the CEI-57 report issued by the Republican Party was approved in a context of lies, misinformation and misrepresentation of reality,” Oyarzún told the Blade. “This only promotes the regression of public policies and conquered rights that have managed to save the lives of thousands of children in the last time.” 

Oyarzún added the “slogan ‘children first’ proves to be an empty phrase without content used by those who today promote measures that push to suicide a significant number of children for the fact of being trans.”

The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, a Chilean LGBTQ rights group known by the acronym Movilh also condemned the approval of the report, calling it “transphobic” and accusing the commission of omitting the opinions of organizations and families that support the current policies. 

Movilh notes lawmakers approved both the Gender Identity Law and Circular 812, which promotes respect for trans students’ rights, within the framework of an agreement with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“The text of the approved report is scandalous, because it seeks to take away the access to health to trans minors, including denying them the psychosocial accompaniment that also includes their respective families,” said María José Cumplido, executive director of Fundación Iguales, another Chilean LGBTQ advocacy group. “Likewise, it attempts against school inclusion, since it intends to eliminate something as essential as the use of the social name in educational spaces. In short, it takes away rights and freedoms to trans people, especially to minors.”

Cumplido, like Schneider, pointed out that “although its content is not binding, we will be alert to the political and legislative consequences that it may produce and we will continue working to avoid setbacks with respect to the rights of trans people.”

The report’s approval reflects a global trend that has seen neighboring Argentina, the U.S., and other countries reserve policies for trans and nonbinary young people. The Peruvian Health Ministry recently classified gender identity as a mental illness, and lawmakers have passed a law that prevents trans people from using public restrooms based on their identity.

Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last month. Argentina is among the countries that have curtailed the rights of transgender and nonbinary children. (Washington Blade
photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Experts and human rights activists warn the suspension of Chile’s Gender Identity Support Program and other programs could adversely impact the mental health of trans and nonbinary children who already face high levels of discrimination and are at heightened risk to die by suicide.

“We will defend the Gender Identity Support Program and the right to exist of trans children and youth across the country,” said Schneider. “I want to reassure the trans families of our country that we will not rest until our rights are respected and that we can continue advancing because there is still much to be conquered.”

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Iran

Underground queer network challenges Iranian regime

Homosexuality remains punishable by death in country

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(Image by Micha Klootwijk/Bigstock)

While global powers negotiate with Iran’s regime under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to curb its advancing nuclear program, the oppressed LGBTQ community is building and operating a secret underground network to resist state-coerced sex reassignment surgeries. 

These surgeries, mandated for gay and lesbian people as a state-sanctioned alternative to execution for homosexuality, are part of Iran’s penal code that criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations. The network provides safe houses, forged identification documents, and covert communication channels to protect members from government raids and imprisonment.

Precise data on LGBTQ people prosecuted in Iran for resisting state-coerced sex reassignment surgeries over the past decade remains elusive, as the regime’s opaque judicial system obscures such cases under vague charges like “corruption on earth” or “sodomy.” NGOs, including 6Rang, report that thousands of gay and lesbian Iranians face pressure to undergo surgeries to avoid execution for same-sex conduct, with resistance often leading to arrests or harassment for violating gender norms.

Zahra Seddiqi Hamedani and Elham Choubdar, two prominent activists, in 2022 were sentenced to death for their social media advocacy, charged with “corruption” and “human trafficking,” though their convictions were overturned in 2023. Similarly, Rezvaneh Mohammadi in 2019 received a five-year sentence for promoting “homosexual relations,” a charge hinting at resistance to the regime’s heteronormative mandates.

Arsham Parsi in 2003 escalated his clandestine fight for Iran’s LGBTQ community by launching Voice Celebration, a secret Yahoo chat group where 50 queer Iranians, using aliases, exchanged coded messages to evade the regime’s surveillance. Operating like operatives in a shadow network, participants shared text messages about human rights and survival tactics, knowing a single breach could lead to torture or execution. Parsi, then 23, orchestrated the group’s encrypted communications, building a virtual lifeline that connected isolated individuals across the country until his cover was nearly blown, forcing a desperate escape in early 2005.

Parsi in an exchange with the Washington Blade revealed a defiant undercurrent in Iran, a movement too elusive to be called traditional resistance yet pulsing with covert rebellion against the regime. 

The state’s relentless push to force gay men into coerced surgeries — marketed as a “solution” to their sexuality — seeks to erase their identities through enforced conformity. Parsi, steering the International Railroad for Queer Refugees, disclosed how queer Iranians fight back with clandestine measures: Underground education to counter state propaganda, discreet psychological support to fortify resilience, and encrypted networks to forge secret alliances. These efforts, veiled to evade regime detection, dismantle the state’s narrative with every hidden signal and guarded connection.

“We are working to create a true grassroots resistance by empowering people to understand their identity, seek safe alternatives, and reclaim their agency despite the oppressive context,” said Parsi. “The Iranian regime’s policies are built on denial of sexual orientation and a forced alignment with a binary gender model.” 

“Rather than recognizing gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals, the system pressures them — particularly gay men — to undergo irreversible surgeries in order to be legally tolerated,” he added. “This systemic violence creates deep psychological harm and compels many to resist, even quietly, to protect their truth. The lack of legal recognition and the threat of arrest, harassment, or blackmail fuels the underground defiance we see today. It’s not only resistance for survival — it’s a rejection of state-imposed identity suppression.”

IRQR, guided by Parsi, for nearly two decades has operated as a lifeline, orchestrating daring escapes and running a covert network for Iran’s hunted queer community. 

Parsi said his work relies on secret, encrypted channels — meticulously managed to avoid detection — to funnel at-risk individuals to safety, smuggle life-saving information, secure hidden safe houses, and deliver emotional support. Every operation faces threats not only from the regime’s security forces but also from Basij militia operatives who masquerade as queer individuals to infiltrate networks, heightening the peril for those marked by their identities.

Black-clad Basij militia members respond at the first signs of defiance; tearing through crowds on motorcycles with batons and guns at the ready, poised to crush any challenge to Iran’s regime. These paramilitary volunteers, bound by fierce loyalty to the Islamic Republic, serve as the state’s enforcers, their plainclothes operatives slipping into dissident networks to root out the defiant. 

The Basij fill queer Iranians with dread; their so-called morality patrols and digital traps stalking those who dare to exist outside the regime’s rigid norms.

“Their goal is not only to gather intelligence but to undermine, divide, and cancel the work of activists and organizations like ours,” said Parsi. “This divide-and-conquer strategy is designed to break solidarity and generate mistrust.” 

“We have seen numerous cases where trusted circles were compromised by these informants, and it has made our work — and survival — even more complex,” he further noted. “Despite this, we persist. Through our underground connections, we have helped thousands of queer Iranians seek safety, community, and ultimately, freedom.”

Parsi told the Blade that international support — through funding, advocacy, policy pressure, or amplifying his stories — can significantly strengthen his work to protect Iran’s persecuted queer community. He emphasized IRQR operates with limited resources, making global solidarity essential to improve outreach, enhance safety measures, and respond swiftly to those in need. Parsi underscored such support brings visibility to the crisis in Iran, reminding those at risk they are not forgotten while exerting pressure on a regime that thrives on silence and fear.

Arsham Parsi (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

One of the things that Parsi’s underground network offers is online workshops that educate queer Iranians about how they can remain beyond the regime’s reach. 

He said these sessions, designed for safety and accessibility, encompass peer support, mental health education, digital security training, and guidance on refugee pathways. Parsi explained the workshops give vulnerable Iranians the tools to navigate persecution, defy state surveillance, and pursue escape, exposing the resilience of a community under relentless scrutiny.

“Due to the high risk of persecution in Iran, traditional protests are not feasible,” said Parsi. “Instead, acts of resistance take quieter forms — like anonymous storytelling which are just as powerful in building awareness and connection within the community. While discreet, these activities help create a sense of solidarity and empowerment among queer Iranians.”

Parsi, undeterred by Iran’s unyielding regime, asserted with measured confidence that while underground acts of defiance — living authentically, supporting one another, resisting forced medicalisation — may not shift policy overnight, they are already improving lives. He stressed these quiet rebellions that queer Iranians stage challenge the regime’s narrative of shame and invisibility, forging a resilient foundation for future change. Each act, Parsi emphasized, dismantles the regime’s grip, offering hope to those navigating a landscape of relentless oppression.

“At IRQR, we view each life saved, each network built, and each truth spoken as a small but powerful act of resistance,” said Parsi. “These are the seeds of future liberation. Over time, as they multiply and gain visibility — locally and internationally — they will help reshape the landscape for queer Iranians.”

ILGA Asia Executive Director Henry Koh said queer Iranians’ underground resistance is a powerful assertion of bodily autonomy and self-determination. He described it as a deeply courageous act in a regime where visibility invites immense personal risk, from arrest to execution. 

When asked by the Blade if the Iranian regime’s punitive measures against openly queer people fuel underground resistance, Koh responded unequivocally. 

“Absolutely,” he said. “The climate of criminalization and repression leaves little safe space for queer people to live openly. This forces many into secrecy or underground networks as a means of survival, resistance, and mutual support. Such conditions are not only unjust but also profoundly harmful to the well-being of LGBTIQ+ individuals.”

“It is important to distinguish between affirming gender-affirming care and any form of coercive medical intervention,” he added. “When states or authorities mandate medical procedures as a condition for recognition or safety, it constitutes a grave violation of human rights. Gender identity is deeply personal, and no institution should override an individual’s self-defined identity.”

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