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Inter-American court rules Honduras responsible for transgender woman’s murder

Vicky Hernández killed after 2009 coup

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Vicky Hernández (Photo courtesy of Cattrachas)

Reportar Sin Miedo is the Washington Blade’s media partner in Honduras. Reportar Sin Miedo published an original version of this article on their website on Monday.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — In an unprecedented decision in the history of Honduras, the Honduran state was found guilty today of the extrajudicial execution of transgender activist Vicky Hernández, which occurred on the night of June 28-29, 2009.

The crime occurred during a curfew after the coup that overthrew former President Manuel Zelaya to install Roberto Micheletti’s de facto government.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ ruling against the Honduran state is a milestone in the history of justice in the country and for LGBTIQ+ populations in Latin America.

This ruling, unprecedented in Honduran history, came after 12 years of struggle by Hernández’s family and a team of professionals led by Red Lésbica Cattrachas, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and other Honduran organizations.

The ruling against the Honduran state, and in favor of Vicky’s family, is an extraordinary event that will result in more protection for all trans, lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Honduras. It is also a precedent for any LGBTIQ+ person violated in Latin America due to discrimination.

Twelve years of fighting for Vicky

The court’s decision against the state of Honduras is the culmination of 12 years of work by a team of lawyers and Hernández’s family. The trans activist was 26-years-old when she was murdered by state security forces, according to her lawyers’ arguments.

The defense work culminated in two virtual hearings before the court in November 2020 in which experts and witnesses from Honduras and the rest of the Americas participated.

Hernández’s lawyers throughout the hearings argued that the Honduran state security forces were responsible for her death, since they were the only ones who could move freely through the streets of San Pedro Sula during the post-coup curfew.

The defense also argued that the State did not perform an autopsy on the corpse or hid it with the excuse that Hernández suffered from HIV/AIDS.

For Cattrachas Coordinator Indyra Mendoza, the important thing is to get “the court to rule on the extrajudicial execution and to investigate the chain of command. Why? Because this makes us equal in the Honduran collective imaginary.”

Justice for all

With today’s guilty verdict against the state of Honduras, justice has been achieved not only for Vicky’s death, because 14 trans women, 16 gay men and many more people were murdered during the coup, according to Mendoza.

This unprecedented sentence means more than justice in Vicky’s case.

“This is the opening for them to see that no struggle is exclusive to one group of people,” Mendoza adds. “If the amnesty given in the coup d’état is eliminated, it would be a great LGTBI contribution to this country where the human rights of journalists, lawyers, defenders of indigenous territories, Garifunas and villagers are violated.”

Vicky Hernández’s mother with her other daughter, Tatiana. (Photo courtesy of Reportar Sin Miedo)

It is a huge win for Vicky’s mother, Rosa Hernández, who has been demanding “justice for all” for 11 years.

“They have to respect the rights of them for being trans and of them for being lesbians, because they are human. Why discriminate against them? There can’t be discrimination,” adds Rosa, who is 66-years-old.

This brave woman has been at the forefront of the struggle to vindicate the memory of trans women from San Pedro Sula, in northern Honduras, for the past 11 years. With this ruling, her dream of justice is fulfilled.

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Hungary

Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban

Country’s new government took office last month

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Budapest Pride participants march over the Erzsebet Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on June 28, 2025, despite an official ban. The country's new government will allow this year's Budapest Pride march to take place without restrictions. (Courtesy photo)

Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.

“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.

Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.

The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.

The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.

“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.

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Colombia

Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election

Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government

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Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López speaks at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. on Dec. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.

López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.

López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.

“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.

Runoff to take place June 21

Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.

Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.

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Ghana

Ghanaian lawmakers approve anti-LGBTQ bill

Measure that would criminalize allyship awaits president’s signature

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Ghanaian flag (Public domain photo from Pixabay)

Ghanaian lawmakers on Friday approved a bill that would, among other things, criminalize LGBTQ allyship.

Reuters reported MPs approved the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, in a voice vote after parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee backed it.

MPs in 2024 approved a similar bill, but it faced legal challenges and then-President Nana Akufo-Addo didn’t sign it. Lawmakers last year reintroduced the measure after President John Dramani Mahama took office.

The bill awaits his signature.

Rightify Ghana, a Ghanaian LGBTQ advocacy group, in a series of social media posts notes MPs passed the bill days before the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty will take place in Accra, the country’s capital.

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