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Former Bogotá mayor elected Colombia’s first leftist president

LGBTQ and intersex activists welcomed Gustavo Petro’s election

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Former Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro votes in the second round of Colombia’s presidential election on June 19, 2022. (Screenshot courtesy of YouTube/AFP)

Former Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro on Sunday won the second round of Colombia’s presidential election.

Petro — a member of the Colombian Senate who was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement that disbanded in the 1990s — defeated former Bucaramanga Mayor Rodolfo Hernández by a 50.5-47.3 percent margin.

The former Bogotá mayor will be Colombia’s first leftist president when he takes office in August. Petro’s running mate, Francia Márquez, will be Colombia’s first female vice president of African descent.

“This is for our grandmothers and grandfathers, women, young people, LGTBIQ+ people, indigenous people, peasants, workers, victims, my Black community, those who resisted and those who are no longer with us … for all of Colombia,” tweeted Márquez after she and Petro won. “Today we are beginning to write a new history!”

Petro and Hernández faced off after they didn’t win at least 50 percent of the vote in the first round of the Colombian presidential election that took place on May 29.

Petro faced criticism ahead of the election because of his previous M-19 membership and fears his government will seek closer ties to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, among other things. 

One source in Bogotá on Sunday noted to the Washington Blade that Petro during the campaign pledged to fight violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and to implement policies “for the reaffirmation of gender and sexual orientation identities without barriers for all non-binary and transgender people in Colombia.” Tatiana Piñeros, a transgender woman who ran Bogotá’s social welfare and tourism office during Petro’s mayoralty that ended in 2015, welcomed the election results.

“I am very excited,” Piñeros told the Blade.

Wilson Castañeda is the director of Caribe Afirmativo, an LGBTQ and intersex rights group in northern Colombia.

Castañeda on Sunday said Petro and Márquez showed the “greatest commitment to the agenda of LGBT rights” out of the six campaigns in the election. Castañeda noted the campaign held “various meetings” with LGBTQ and intersex rights groups and pointed to the policies he implemented when he was Bogotá’s mayor.

“For the LGBT movement in Colombia, the triumph of the ‘Pacto Histórico’ campaign led by Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez is very significant,” said Castañeda.

Angélica Lozano, a bisexual woman who became the first openly LGBTQ person elected to the Colombian Senate in 2018, and Mauricio Toro, the first out gay man elected to the country’s Congress, both praised Petro and Márquez.

“We will begin to write with all illusion a new page in the history of Colombia,” said Bogotá Mayor Claudia López, who is married to Lozano, in a tweet.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Honduran President Xiomara Castro and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are among the world leaders who also congratulated Petro and Márquez.

“On behalf of the United States, I congratulate the people of Colombia for making their voices heard in a free and fair presidential election,” said Blinken in a statement. “We commend the many officials, public servants, and volunteers whose dedication made these elections possible.

“The United States and Colombia enjoy deep bonds between our peoples, shared values and shared interests in democracy, security, inclusive economic prosperity and human rights,” added Blinken. “Cooperation between the United States and Colombia has improved public health, livelihoods, rule of law and environmental protections in both our countries and throughout the region. We look forward to working with President-elect Petro to further strengthen the U.S.-Colombia relationship and move our nations toward a better future.”

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Colombia

Colombia anunció la inclusión de las categorías ‘trans’ y ‘no binario’ en los documentos de identidad

Registraduría Nacional anunció el cambio el 28 de noviembre

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(Foto via Bigstock)

OrgulloLGBT.co es el socio mediático del Washington Blade en Colombia. Esta nota salió en su sitio web.

Ahora los ciudadanos colombianos podrán seleccionar las categorías ‘trans’ y ‘no binario’ en los documentos de identidad del país.

Este viernes la Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil anunció que añadió las categorías ‘no binario’ y ‘trans’ en los distintos documentos de identidad con el fin de garantizar los derechos de las personas con identidad diversa.

El registrador nacional, Hernán Penagos, informó que hizo la inclusión de estas dos categorías en los documentos de: registro civil, tarjeta de identidad y cédula de ciudadanía.

Según la registraduría: “La inclusión de estas categorías representa un importante avance en materia de garantía de derechos de las personas con identidad de género diversa”.

Estas categorías estarán en el campo de ‘sexo’ en el que están normalmente las clasificaciones de ‘femenino’ y ‘masculino’ en los documentos de identidad.

En 2024 se inició la ejecución de diferentes acciones orientadas implementar componentes “‘NB’ y ‘T’ en el campo ‘sexo’ de los registros civiles y los documentos de identidad”.

Las personas trans existen y su identidad de género es un aspecto fundamental de su humanidad, reconocido por la Corte Constitucional de Colombia en sentencias como T-236/2023 y T-188/2024, que protegen sus derechos a la identidad y no discriminación. La actualización de la Registraduría implementa estos fallos que ya habían ordenado esos cambios en documentos de identidad.

Por su parte, el registrador nacional, Penagos, comentó que: “se trata del cumplimiento de unas órdenes por parte de la Corte Constitucional y, en segundo lugar, de una iniciativa en la que la Registraduría ha estado absolutamente comprometida”. Y explicó que en cada “una de las estaciones integradas de servicio de las más de 1.200 oficinas que tiene la Registraduría Nacional se va a incluir todo este proceso”.

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Brazil

Black transgender singer from Brazil wins three Latin Grammy Awards

Liniker performed at Las Vegas ceremony

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Liniker (Screen capture via Liniker/YouTube)

A Black transgender singer and songwriter from Brazil on Nov. 13 won three Latin Grammy Awards.

Liniker, who is from Araraquara, a city in São Paulo State, won for Best Portuguese Language Song for her song “Veludo Marrom,” Best Portuguese-Language Urban Performance for her song “Caju” from her sophomore album of the same title, and Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album for “Caju.”

She accepted the awards during the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony that took place in Las Vegas. Liniker also performed.

“I’ve been writing since I was 16. And writing, and poetry, have been my greatest form of existence. It’s where I find myself; where I celebrate so many things I experience,” said Liniker as she accepted her first Latin Grammy on Nov. 13. “And being a composer … Being a trans composer in Brazil — a country that kills us — is extremely difficult.”

Liniker in 2022 became the first openly trans woman to win a Latin Grammy.

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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.

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From left: José Antonio Kast and Jeannette Jara. The two candidates to succeed outgoing Chilean President Gabriel Boric will face off in a Dec. 14 runoff. (Screenshots from José Antonio Kast/YouTube and Meganoticias/YouTube)

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.

Chilean Congresswoman Emilia Schneider. (Photo courtesy of Emilia Schneider)

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.

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