World
Mexico City shelter offers second chance for transgender residents
Casa Refugio Paola Buenrostro named after murdered trans sex worker
MEXICO CITY — Alcohol and drugs were the only things that allowed Michel Ríos, 33, to cope with her fears and traumas when she engaged in sex work or tried to face her life as a person with a disability.
Ríos is a transgender woman from Mexico’s Veracruz state who lost one of her legs when she was seven and earned her family’s contempt from the moment she assumed a non-heteronormative sexual orientation and gender identity. Ríos was forced to leave home at 15 and began to earn a living on the streets, alone.
She began to seek help after several years.
Ríos found Casa Refugio Paola Buenrostro, a shelter in Mexico City that Casa de las Muñecas Tiresias, a local advocacy group, runs. She first arrived with the intention of becoming sober through an Alcoholics Anonymous program, but she ended up staying to rebuild her life.
Shelter named in honor of murdered trans sex worker
Kenia Cuevas, a renowned LGBTQ rights activist, founded Casa de las Muñecas after she witnessed the murder of her best friend, Paola Buenrostro, in December 2016 while they were both engaged in sex work. That tragic event was the final straw that motivated her to fight for her community.
Casa Refugio Paola Buenrostro opened its doors in January 2020.
“The mission of our organization is that those people who we welcome know their rights, that they can have a decent life, that they can understand life processes and we can rescue them from situations of vulnerability, of abandonment, when they believe that everything has been lost,” said Cuevas during an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade via Zoom.
International News Editor Michael K. Lavers visited the shelter on Saturday and met with Cuevas.
“In short, what we do is create living conditions in accordance with human rights,” said Cuevas. “We have managed to give visibility to all the problems that trans people face on a day-to-day basis and of which society was not aware.”
Casa de las Muñecas has offices in Mexico City and in Mexico, Nayarit, Morelos and Guerrero states. It has a team of professionals who carry out a variety of services for trans people that includes support for legally changing their identity, legal advice and education workshops.
“We are also entering prisons to provide legal literacy to transgender people, workshops on culture, sports, addictions,” said Cuevas. “When they are released we then rescue them and take them to the home to continue their social reintegration.”
Casa de las Muñecas’ Mexico City shelter is named in honor of Buenrostro. Casa de las Muñecas also plans to open two additional shelters — one in the Mexican capital and another in Mexico state.
Casa de las Muñecas served 1,800 people in its first year of operation, which was 2018. The organization, according to Cuevas, had worked with upwards of 10,000 people last year.
Ríos arrived in July 2020 amid the pandemic. She said the shelter and its residents are now her family, because she has not seen her biological relatives since 2007.
“It is my home, a refuge from discrimination, violence, prostitution, drugs and alcohol,” Ríos told the Blade. “Staying here gives people the opportunity to grow, to achieve their dreams. It tells you that you can still dream. I am 41-years-old and I am dreaming. I am learning to dream here. The house has opened my horizons, it has given me the opportunity to be a different person.”
Ríos’ goal at the shelter is to learn the skills that will allow her to reintegrate into society. Ríos said she also hopes to help other people who may be in the same situation in which she was before she arrived.
“My goal is to finish my ‘prepa’ (high school diploma) and make a career for myself,” said Ríos, who hopes to become a designer.
This educational preparation is part of an intervention strategy that Casa de las Muñecas created in July 2020 to eliminate education disparities among the trans community.
“We do workshops aimed at economic autonomy, connecting them to the labor force,” said Cuevas. “It also allows for psychological support, access to health care, treatment for HIV or hormones, as well as the right to identity, either in their documents or the change of identity.”
Victoria Alejandra Arias, 33, a trans woman who is also from Veracruz state, learned while at the shelter that she is living with HIV. She was diagnosed at the shelter and now receives treatment.
Arias abused alcohol and drugs and was a sex worker.
She said her now ex-partner physically and emotionally abused her. He threatened and blackmailed Arias before they finally ended up in jail.
Arias recalled she was in a desperate physical and mental state when a friend brought her to the shelter on Jan. 7. She has found purpose in her life after less than five months.
“We have several workshops here, we go out to do exercises,” Arias told the Blade. “My life has changed in every way. I have improved in the physical sense because I got too thin. I used crack, a very addictive drug, and it really destroys people. My appearance is improving little by little. I know that I am on my way.”
“Women already have a profession because of all this support,” added Cuevas. “It will be easier for them to integrate themselves into society because they can come out (of here) a little more educated, empowered and know their rights and responsibilities.”
More than 20 people were living in the shelter when Cuevas spoke with the Blade, with 50 names on a waiting list. Canela and Leslie, two rescue dogs, also live at the shelter.
The Mexico City government pays the shelter’s rent and utilities, but donations that mostly come through social networks and people who provide furniture and other items support it. Cuevas donates around 70 percent of her salary.
“Our day at the house starts at 6 in the morning,” said Arias. “We make the bed, we bathe, we put on makeup and we go to our workshops, because part of this place’s goal is to re-educate ourselves.”
Ríos told the Blade the shelter offers English, theater, cosmetology, mathematics, Spanish, science and acting workshops.
“I’ve already imitated Paquita la del Barrio because I look a lot like her physically,” she said. “My favorite workshop is the theater — especially comedy — one because it goes great with my personality. The experience of acting is very beautiful. I have a lot of fun.”
Ríos said she and other workshop participants are preparing to premiere a play in December. She told the Blade they also perform at street festivals and in prisons.
Cuevas said she wants to open a headquarters for Casa de las Muñecas and a shelter in each of Mexico’s 32 states. Cuevas added she would like to expand her work throughout the rest of Latin America.
She said her greatest achievement is the gratitude and happy faces of those who have passed through the shelter.
“Thanks to this place I have regained my dignity,” said Ríos. “I want to live and, despite my disability and all the physical problems, I don’t let myself be defeated and I keep going.”
Arias, meanwhile, hopes to become a stylist “because I want to have a job.”
“I would like to finish my studies,” she said. “I see all those goals closer and stronger now and all that is for my life here. My greatest success is being clean and having goals in my life.”
Japan
Japan’s first female prime minister reluctant to advance LGBTQ rights
Sanae Takaichi became country’s head of government last month
Sanae Takaichi last month became Japan’s first female prime minister after she secured the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership and both chambers of the Diet confirmed her.
She now leads a minority government after forming a coalition with the right-leaning Japan Innovation Party, following Komeito’s decision to end its 26-year partnership with the LDP. Her rise marks a historic break in Japanese politics, but the question remains whether she will advance the rights of Japan’s LGBTQ community?
Despite the milestone her election represents, Takaichi’s record on gender issues offers little indication of progressive change.
She has long emphasized “equality of opportunity” over structural reforms and has opposed measures that include allowing married couples to use separate surnames, a policy many women say would ease workplace discrimination. During her leadership bid Takaichi pledged to elevate women’s representation in government to Nordic levels, yet she appointed only two women to her 19-member Cabinet. Takaichi has also resisted efforts to modernize the Imperial Household Law to permit female succession, reinforcing her reputation as a conservative on women’s rights.
Takaichi’s stance on LGBTQ rights has been similarly cautious.
In a 2023 Diet budget committee session, she said there should be “no prejudice against sexual orientation or gender identity,” yet described extending marriage rights to same-sex couples as an “extremely difficult issue.”
Her earlier record is consistent.
In 2021, she opposed an LGBTQ-inclusive anti-discrimination bill that members of her own party, arguing its wording was too vague.
Even after becoming LDP leader in October 2025, she reiterated her opposition to marriage equality and emphasized traditional family values. Takaichi highlighted that Article 24 defines marriage as being based on “the mutual consent of both sexes” and frames the institution around “the equal rights of husband and wife,” language she argues leaves no constitutional room for extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.
While her rhetoric avoids overt hostility, her record suggests limited appetite for the structural reforms sought by Japan’s LGBTQ community.
A series of landmark court rulings has built escalating pressure for national reform.
On March 17, 2021, the Sapporo District Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the legal benefits of marriage violated the constitution’s equality clause. In May 2023, the Nagoya District Court similarly declared the ban unconstitutional, with a subsequent decision from the Fukuoka District Court reaffirming Japan’s current legal framework clashes with constitutional equality principles.
The momentum peaked on Oct. 30, 2024, when the Tokyo High Court found the marriage ban incompatible with guarantees of equality and individual dignity.
Japan remains the only G7 country without legal recognition of same-sex couples.
Akira Nishiyama, a spokesperson for the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation, noted to the Washington Blade that in leadership surveys the group conducted within the LDP in 2021 and again in 2025, Takaichi offered only a cautious position on reforming Japan’s legal gender recognition law. When asked whether she supported easing the requirements under the Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder, she responded that “multifaceted and careful discussion is necessary,” avoiding any commitment to substantive change.
Nishiyama added the legal landscape has already shifted.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the law’s sterilization requirement for legal gender recognition is unconstitutional, and several family courts have since struck down the appearance requirement on similar grounds. She urged the Takaichi administration to act quickly by amending the statute to remove these provisions, along with other elements long criticized as human rights violations.
“[Prime Minister] Takaichi has stated that ‘careful discussion is necessary’ regarding amendments to ‘Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder’ and the enactment of anti-discrimination laws based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI),” noted Nishiyama. “However, as indicated in Candidate (at that time) Takaichi’s responses to our survey, if she considers issues related to SOGI to be human rights issues, then she has to work hard to advance legal frameworks to address these issues.”
“For example, regarding the government’s announcement that they will consider whether same-sex couples could be included or not in the 130 laws concerning common-law marriages couples, [Prime Minister] Takaichi responded to our survey that ‘the government should continue to advance its consideration,’” she added. “As per this response, the Takaichi Cabinet should continue deliberating on this matter and ensure that same-sex couples are included in each relevant law.”
Takeharu Kato, an advocate for marriage equality who spoke to the Blade in a personal capacity, urged observers not to view Takaichi’s appointment solely through a negative lens.
He acknowledged she holds deeply conservative views within the LDP and has openly opposed marriage equality, but noted several aspects of her background could leave room for movement.
“She is Japan’s first female prime minister in history. Furthermore, she does not come from a political family background but rather from an ordinary household,” said Kato. “She also has an unusual career path, having graduated from a local university and worked as a television news anchor before entering politics.”
“Additionally, while her husband is a member of the Diet, he became partially paralyzed due to a cerebral infarction, and she has been caring for him,” he further noted. “She possesses several minority attributes like these, and depending on our future efforts, there is a possibility she could change her stance on same-sex marriage. It could also be said that, as a woman navigating the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, she has deliberately emphasized conservative attitudes to appeal to her base of right-wing supporters.”
Kato stressed that “having reached the pinnacle as prime minister, it cannot be said she (Takaichi) has no potential to change.”
“We need not alter the strategy we have pursued thus far,” Kato told the Blade. “However, we believe some fine-tuning is necessary, such as refining our messaging to resonate with those holding more conservative values.”
Chile
Chilean presidential election outcome to determine future of LGBTQ rights in country
Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast favored to win Dec. 14 runoff.
The results of Chile’s presidential election will likely determine the future of LGBTQ rights in the country.
While Congresswoman Emilia Schneider, the first transgender woman elected to Congress, managed to retain her seat on Sunday, the runoff to determine who will succeed outgoing President Gabriel Boric will take place on Dec. 14 and will pit two diametrically opposed candidates against each other: the far-right José Antonio Kast and Communist Jeannette Jara.
Schneider, an emblematic figure in the LGBTQ rights movement and one of the most visible voices on trans rights in Latin America, won reelection in a polarized environment. Human rights organizations see her continued presence in Congress as a necessary institutional counterweight to the risks that could arise if the far-right comes to power.
Kast v. Jara
The presidential race has become a source of concern for LGBTQ groups in Chile and international observers.
Kast, leader of the Republican Party, has openly expressed his rejection of gender policies, comprehensive sex education, and reforms to anti-discrimination laws.
Throughout his career, he has supported conservative positions aligned with sectors that question LGBTQ rights through rhetoric that activists describe as stigmatizing. Observers say his victory in the second-round of the presidential election that will take place on Dec. 14 could result in regulatory and cultural setbacks.
Jara, who is the presidential candidate for the progressive Unidad por Chile coalition, on the other hand has publicly upheld her commitment to equal rights. She has promised to strengthen mechanisms against discrimination, expand health policies for trans people, and ensure state protection against hate speech.
For Schneider, this new legislative period is shaping up to be a political and symbolic challenge.
Her work has focused on combating gender violence, promoting reform of the Zamudio Law, the country’s LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination and hate crimes law named after Daniel Zamudio, a gay man murdered in Santiago, the Chilean capital, in 2012, and denouncing transphobic rhetoric in Congress and elsewhere.
Schneider’s continued presence in Congress is a sign of continuity in the defense of recently won rights, but also a reminder of the fragility of those advances in a country where ideological tensions have intensified.
LGBTQ organizations point out that Schneider will be key to forging legislative alliances in a potentially divided Congress, especially if Kast consolidates conservative support.
Kazakhstan
Kazakh lawmakers advance anti-LGBTQ propaganda bill
Measure likely to pass in country’s Senate
Lawmakers in Kazakhstan on Wednesday advanced a bill that would ban so-called LGBTQ propaganda in the country.
Reuters notes the measure, which members of the country’s lower house of parliament unanimously approved, would ban “‘LGBT propaganda’ online or in the media” with “fines for violators and up to 10 days in jail for repeat offenders.”
The bill now goes to the Kazakh Senate.
Reuters reported senators will likely support the measure. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has also indicated he would sign it.
Kazakhstan is a predominantly Muslim former Soviet republic in Central Asia that borders Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China.
Consensual same-sex sexual relations are decriminalized in Kazakhstan, but the State Department’s 2023 human rights report notes human rights activists have “reported threats of violence and significant online and in-person verbal abuse towards LGBTQI+ individuals.” The document also indicates discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity remains commonplace in the country. (Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration who co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, in August condemned the current White House for the “deliberate erasure” of LGBTQ and intersex people from the State Department’s 2024 human rights report.)
Russia, Georgia, and Hungary are among the other countries with propaganda laws.
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Japan’s first female prime minister reluctant to advance LGBTQ rights
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