Mexico
Trevor Project launches crisis services for LGBTQ youth in Mexico
Nearly 30 percent of country’s community members have considered suicide
Mateo seems to be an average adolescent guy, at least in outward appearances and love of football as soccer is known here. But he keeps a deeply personal part of himself, “mi verdadero yo” (my real self) away from even his closest friends and family instead only divesting himself of his protective cloak on his weekend forays into the Zona Rosa of Mexico City, a neighborhood that is center of LGBTQ life in the Mexican capital city about an hour and a half away from Tizayuca.
Mateo is gay and his family is homophobic as are many of his local friends and acquaintances in Tizayuca where he lives.
The stress and strain of being gay at times can be overwhelming he says although he can escape surreptitiously when he’s at home by binge watching LGBTQ content on Netflix and other platforms. Still Mateo says, there are those moments when he felt nothing but despair, helpless, and no one to talk to.
It was his journeys into the Zona Rosa neighborhood and his online LGBTQ friends on Instagram that saved him more than once in those bleak intervals. Still he says a way to connect with counselors is badly needed especially in places in his country that don’t have access for LGBTQ youth to a gayborhood and a support system of community.
For Mateo and countless other LGBTQ youth in the 32 states that make up Mexico not having a central safe space and people who understand changed as of Tuesday, on National Coming Out Day, the Trevor Project announced the official launch of its free, confidential, 24/7 digital crisis services for LGBTQ young people in the country.
For the first time in its 25 year history of service to LGBTQ youth, Trevor has expanded its crisis intervention services for LGBTQ youth outside of the U.S. According to official figures from the National Survey on Sexual and Gender Diversity (ENDISEG), 28.7 percent of the LGBTQ population in Mexico has thought about or attempted suicide in their lifetime, and as is the case in the U.S., suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in Mexico.
The Los Angeles Blade had an opportunity to speak with Jess Leslie, the head of International Digital Crisis Services for the Trevor Project. Leslie told the Blade that groundwork to build out the new Mexico City-based Trevor Project Mexico placed emphasis on cultural competency, recognition of the need for a integrated enterprise structure employed via SMS text messaging, WhatsApp, and online chat.
The approach to engagement with LGBTQ youth in the country Leslie said was a “whole of Mexico” team comprised of crisis counselors “coming from a cultural humble place.”
Leslie acknowledged that there are shortcomings in Internet communications access throughout Mexico as according to a 2021 study by Stanford University found that there were more than 90 million internet users, that is, approximately 71 percent of its inhabitants, yet access points were limited in the more rural states. But she pointed out that by setting up through the three primary means of communication, SMS text messaging, WhatsApp, and the online ‘Trevor chat” LGBTQ youth will have the means to communicate with counselors.
Offering a safe space and with a staff entirely of LGBTQ Mexicans led by Edurne Balmori, executive director of the Trevor Project Mexico, whose career resume noted numerous accolades and has a powerful track record in business, the 55 member in-country team which includes 35 experienced crisis counselors will be able to have positive impact Leslie noted.
She added the Trevor Project Mexico will rely on a volunteer-based model in which counselors will undergo extensive training and implement an evidence-based crisis support model.
“Emphasis is on cultural competency and understanding of the life experiences for the LGBTQ+ community and youth in Mexico,” Leslie added.
In a press release announcing the project on Tuesday, Balmori said;”Today we celebrate the activation of our services in Mexico, kicking off what we hope will be a global social movement around suicide prevention. For many LGBTQ youth in the country, expressing themselves and simply being who they are can put their physical safety and mental wellness at risk. At the Trevor Project Mexico, we will strive to end the stigma around the issue of mental health, provide LGBTQ youth with a safe and trusted space and ultimately save lives.”
“It’s incredibly inspiring to see our vision of providing life-affirming crisis services to LGBTQ young people beyond the U.S. being realized today with our launch in Mexico. This is a major milestone in our goal to end the global public health crisis of LGBTQ youth suicide,” said Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of the Trevor Project. “The Trevor Project is committed to building a world where every single LGBTQ young person has access to resources that affirm who they are, and we couldn’t be more optimistic about the impact we’ll have on this journey to support more LGBTQ young people around the world.”
Leslie tells the Blade, the most important thing is that LGBTQ youth are afforded the opportunity to have access to all the services that The Trevor Project has.
In the press release, Trevor noted that it is leveraging its relationships with several of its existing corporate and technology partners to enable and support this international work.
Of note, Google.org announced a renewed grant of $2 million this week, designed specifically to help scale up the Trevor Project’s life-saving work to new international geographies. This grant will make Google.org a lead funder of the organization’s international work.
In addition, the Trevor Project was able to build and customize its crisis services platform for Mexico using Twilio Flex.
In an interview last Spring with NBC News when Trevor executives first announced the expansion into Mexico, Cristian González Cabrera, who researches LGBTQ rights in Latin America for Human Rights Watch, said still “a lot to be done” and that the Trevor Project’s expansion in Mexico will be “very welcome.”
“Legal advances don’t always translate to social or lived progress for LGBTQ people in the region,” Cabrera said referring to the fact that same-sex marriage has been legalized in at least a dozen of Mexico’s 32 states. “Mexico remains a conservative country in certain aspects and regions, and LGBTQ people continue to experience all sorts of discrimination in all sectors of life, whether that’s education, health care, in the job market, etcetera.”
Mexico
US Embassy in Mexico issues shelter in place order for Puerto Vallarta
Mexican soldiers killed powerful cartel leader on Sunday.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico on Sunday urged Americans in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta to shelter in place after Mexican authorities killed a powerful cartel leader.
The Washington Post reported Mexican soldiers on Sunday killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel known as “El Mencho,” in Tapalpa, a town south of Guadalajara, the capital of Mexico’s Jalisco state.
Puerto Vallarta is in Jalisco, but is roughly five hours away from Tapalpa.
Local media reports indicate cartel members in response to Oseguera’s killing have set fire to cars and buses in Puerto Vallarta and elsewhere in Jalisco and in other cities across Mexico. The U.S. Embassy’s shelter in place directive also includes Baja California and Quintana Roo states and parts of Guanajuato, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas states.
The Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Tecate are in Baja California. The resort cities of Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and Cozumel are located in Quintana Roo in the Yucatán Peninsula.
Security Alert – Update: Ongoing Security Operations – U.S. Mission Mexico (February 22, 2026)
Locations: Widespread, including Jalisco State (including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Guadalajara), Baja California State (including Tijuana, Tecate, and Ensenada), Quintana Roo… pic.twitter.com/vwxfOSF6iJ
— Embajada de EE.UU. en México (@USEmbassyMEX) February 22, 2026
“While no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline operations, with some domestic and international flights cancelled in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta,” reads the advisory. “All taxis and ride shares are suspended in Puerto Vallarta. Some businesses have suspended operations.”
Mantamar Beach Club in Puerto Vallarta’s Zona Romántica, an area in which several gay bars, hotels, and nightclubs are located, is among the businesses that closed on Sunday.
“Due to circumstances beyond our control and road blockages currently affecting the city of Puerto Vallarta, Mantamar Beach Club will remain closed today,” said Mantamar Beach Club on its Facebook page. “This decision has been made in order to prioritize the safety and mobility of our guests, staff, and visitors.”
Giovanni Rocco, a member of the Capital Pride Alliance board of directors, and his partner were in their Airbnb near Zona Romántica at around 10:30 a.m. local time (11:30 a.m. ET) when a friend texted them and asked if they were “okay.” They went up to the roof of their building and saw “fires all across the city.”
“The day’s been pretty wild,” Rocco told the Washington Blade during a FaceTime interview that took place shortly after 7 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET.) “[We] did not expect to wake up to fires and explosions and gunfire across the city.”
Rocco said he and his partner saw fires from cars that had been set ablaze from their building. Rocco said at one point he saw one of the “big pharmacies here that was set on fire,” but he was uncertain whether someone deliberately set it on fire or whether a car in flames did.
Here’s a look at Puerto Vallarta today. We woke up to find smoke rising from different parts of Zona Romántica. As the afternoon went on, we started to hear more explosions and gunfire. About an hour and a half ago, a Navy helicopter circled the area for a few minutes. pic.twitter.com/T9vwlzdnq3
— Giovanni Rocco (@GRoccooo) February 23, 2026
“We’ve been in our building the entire day — entire in our unit or up on the rooftop to check things out, but we’ve been following that local and State Department guidance and sheltering in place,” Rocco told the Blade.
He said it was “a beautiful week, wonderful weather, sunny. It’s been in the 70s all week. It’s just perfect weather.” Rocco told the Blade that he and his partner on Saturday had dinner on the beach before they went to a couple of bars.
“Everything was fine and normal and great,” he said. “To wake up to this reality, it (definitely) shook (us) up a bit.”
Rocco and his partner had been scheduled to fly back to D.C. on Monday, but their fight was cancelled. The embassy on Tuesday lifted its shelter in place order.
“Public transportation and businesses continue to return to normal operations following a law enforcement operation that took place on Feb. 22,” said the embassy on X. “U.S. citizens are no longer urged to shelter in place.”
Mexico
Protests, demands for rights define Pride month in Latin America
More than 3 million people participated in São Paulo march
Activists across Latin America marked Pride month with massive demonstrations, cultural activities, and demands that their countries guarantee equality and protect LGBTQ people from violence.
From Santiago, Chile, to Mexico City, activists took to the streets to celebrate the rights that have been won and the many that are still pending.
Chile
The Pride march that the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) and Fundación Iguales organized took place in downtown Santiago, the country’s capital, on June 22. Authorities and the two organizations say more than 120,000 people participated.
Under the slogan “Pride with memory and hope,” marchers demanded lawmakers approve a bill that would allow reparations for LGBTQ Chileans who Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship targeted. There were also calls for the government to promote an LGBTQ-inclusive educational reform.
“This time we are marching on high alert,” said Movilh spokesperson Javiera Zúñiga. “For the first time in decades, we are losing achieved rights. We demand the state wake up. The reform of the Zamudio Law has been stalled for 13 years.”
Marches also took place in Valparaíso, Antofagasta, Temuco, and Concepción, highlighting the growing visibility of transgender groups and feminist organizations.
Mexico
Mexico City on June 29 was the epicenter of one of the region’s largest Pride marches.
More than 300,000 people participated in the march. Comité IncluyeT organized the 46th annual march under the slogan “Not one step back: rights are respected.”
Several organizations denounced the increase in hate crimes — Mexico’s National Observatory of Hate Crimes notes more than 80 LGBTQ people have been reported murdered in the last year. They also urged Mexican lawmakers to criminalize transfeminicides across the country.
Argentina
Although Buenos Aires’s official Pride march takes place in November, the Argentine LGBT+ Federation and other groups in the Argentine capital and in other cities across the country in June organized activities.
More than 5,000 people on June 24 marched from Plaza de Mayo to the Argentine Congress to reject the government’s dismantling of public policies. President Javier Milei’s decision to eliminate the country’s Women, Gender, and Diversity Ministry and cut sexual health programs were among the moves the protesters denounced.
“Today Pride is also resistance to the adjustment,” pointed out Comunidad Homosexual Argentina, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
Colombia
Thousands of people in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, and the cities of Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla marched on June 29.
The marchers’ slogan was “diversity is also peace,” in a context where violence against LGBTQ people remains high. Caribe Afirmativo, a Colombian LGBTQ rights group, notes more than 45 people from the community has been reported killed in the country over the last 12 months, with most of them trans women.
Organizations also demanded lawmakers resume debate of a bill that would extend comprehensive protections to LGBTQ Colombians. The measure has been stalled in Congress since 2023.
Brazil
More than 3 million people participated in the 28th São Paulo LGBTQ+ Pride Parade that took place on the city’s Paulista Avenue on June 22.
The parade took place under the slogan “LGBT+ social policies: we want the whole thing, not half of it.” Organizers demanded expanded access to health care, employment, and education for the most vulnerable communities, especially Black trans people. They also denounced ultraconservative figures who seek to curtail LGBTQ rights.
Peru and Paraguay
More than 15,000 people took part in a Pride march in Lima, the Peruvian capital, on June 28. Participants demanded lawmakers approve a trans rights law, which has been stalled in the Peruvian Congress since 2016, and recognition of civil unions.
Members of SomosGay, a Paraguayan LGBTQ rights group, and other organizations participated in a Pride march that took place in Asunción, the country’s capital, on June 29.
The march took place without incident, despite threats and anti-LGBTQ hate speech on social media. Participants demanded an end to anti-LGBTQ discrimination and rhetoric from social and religious groups.
Central America
Upwards of 2,000 people participated in a Pride march in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, on June 22. A Pride demonstration took place in San Salvador, the capital of neighboring El Salvador, on June 28.
Mexico
Gay couple claims Puerto Vallarta wedding venue discriminated against them
Jeremy Alexander and Ryan Sheepwash wanted to get married at Sheraton hotel
A gay couple claims a hotel in a Mexican resort city that is popular with LGBTQ travelers discriminated against them when they tried to book their wedding.
Jeremy Alexander and Ryan Sheepwash in a TikTok video said they contacted the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort and Convention Center in Puerto Vallarta about holding their wedding at the property.
The couple, who live in Vernon, British Columbia, provided the Washington Blade with an invoice that Gabriela Espinoza, a wedding planner at the property, sent them on Jan. 17, 2025.
The invoice said 25 “deluxe ocean view room — all inclusive” rooms cost $970 a night. The total cost for the 25 rooms was $72,750.
Alexander in the TikTok video said it took Espinoza three months to send them the quote. The property, according to Alexander, requested a $36,000 deposit for half of the rooms.
“It’s not reasonable,” he said. “No one can afford that.”
Alexander said Espinoza told him and Sheepwash that the earliest they could have their wedding at the property was March 2027. Alexander in the TikTok video said he and Sheepwash asked a straight friend to “request a quote just to see apples to apples what it looks like.”
Ximena Esparza, another wedding planner at the property, on Feb. 7, 2025, sent the friend a quote for 25 rooms for a hypothetical wedding that was to have taken place from Feb. 19-26, 2026.
The quote for a “deluxe package” for 50 people was $8,500 and required a 20 percent deposit of $1,700.
“We just feel defeated,” said Sheepwash in the TikTok video. “It’s not fair because we love each other and we really want to get married, and we want to make it special and we want to make it perfect.”
@illuminaughtytriangle So disappointed that my fiancée and I got discriminated against by #Sheraton in #puertovallarta ♬ original sound – Jeremy Alexander
The Blade in 2019 reported the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort and Convention Center refused to allow Josh Rimer, a gay Canadian vlogger and television host who is also Mr. Gay Canada 2019, and his then-fiancé to hold their wedding at the property.
The invoice that Espinoza sent to Alexander and Sheepwash notes the hotel is “operated under license from Marriott International, Inc., or one of its affiliates.”
A spokesperson for Marriott, which is based in Bethesda, Md., and is Sheraton’s parent company, in response to Rimer’s allegation said the corporation reached out to him to express “our sincerest apologies for his experience.”
“We are troubled and greatly concerned about the experience reported by Mr. Rimer. Marriott has long been committed to providing an environment where all are welcome including our LGBTQ guests and their loved ones,” said the spokesperson. “In addition, we are looking further into the matter to better understand what happened and do what we can to prevent hurtful experiences like this from happening again.”
A Marriot spokesperson on Thursday told the Blade the company has “reached out to Mr. Sheepwash and Mr. Alexander to learn more about their experience and are working with the property to offer a solution.”
“The Sheraton Buganvilias has been active in the LGBTQ+ community in Puerto Vallarta for years, hosting LGBTQ+ weddings and groups and also supporting Pride events in Puerto Vallarta,” said the spokesperson. “Marriott remains steadfast in our commitment to ensure guests are treated with respect and understanding.”
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