South America
Peru’s new ombudsman makes homophobic comments before Congress
Josué Manuel Gutiérrez Cóndor elected on May 17
CUSCO, Peru — Peru on May 17 elected a new ombudsman.
The office of Peru’s ombudsman, or “Defensor del Pueblo,” was created in 1993. The ombudsman’s website says this autonomous office’s role is to “defend and promote the individual and communal rights,” with an emphasis on the rights of vulnerable peoples. Some of the powers of this office include presenting amicus curiae briefs and even bills to Peru’s Congress.
Given the powers and responsibilities of this position, the ombudsman is of particular relevance to Peru’s queer community. And on May 17 of this year, Congress by an 88-24 vote margin elected Josué Manuel Gutiérrez Cóndor, a lawyer and former congressman, to be Peru’s new ombudsman.
Shortly after his appointment, though, it became known that Gutiérrez during his election process before Congress made remarks that some are calling homophobic.
Conservative Congressman Alejandro Muñante asked Gutiérrez about “Lesbian Visibility Day.” Gutiérrez, in his response, said although he is a “lover of freedoms,” he also called homosexuality a “deformity that needs to be corrected.”
“These deformities are debaucherous … these deformities don’t contribute to institutions or the state, therefore this behavior must be corrected and not idealized,” added Gutiérrez.
Jorge Apolaya, a spokesperson for the Lima Pride March Collective, spoke with the Washington Blade over WhatsApp about the historic importance of Peru’s ombudsman in the fight for LGBTQ and intersex rights.
“The ombudsman’s office is an entity that contributes to guaranteeing the rule of law in the search for justice … and the LGBT population has often had to resort to [the ombudsman] in order to achieve greater attention to their demands,” said Apolaya. “So it’s necessary for the country to have strengthened institutions because only in this way will we be able to advance the human rights of all people, especially the most vulnerable populations in the country.”
It is perhaps due to the importance of this office that, despite Gutiérrez’s apparent homophobia, Peru’s first and only lesbian congressman, Susel Paredes, met with Gutiérrez. With rainbow and transgender flags sprawled across the table, the congresswoman and Gutiérrez on May 29 spoke about issues affecting the LGBTQ and intersex community in Peru.
After the meeting, Paredes posted on Twitter:
“Meeting with the ombudsman, Josué Gutiérrez. This isn’t a blank check. He already committed to a solution for the children of same-sex families. The update of Report 175 on the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community and supporting the Pride March are also part of the commitments.”
Reunión con el Defensor del Pueblo, Josué Gutiérrez. No es un cheque en blanco. La solución de l@s hij@s de familias homoparentales ya es un compromiso. También lo son la actualización del Informe 175 sobre derechos de la comunidad LGBTIQ+ y el apoyo la Marcha del Orgullo.✍️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ pic.twitter.com/FeqgN5XoZQ
— Susel Paredes (@suselparedes) May 29, 2023
The above-tweet refers to Gutiérrez’s supposed commitments to help resolve the situation of gay and lesbian parents who can’t register their children as their own under Peruvian law (with both of their surnames,) and the role of the ombudsman to create a report on the situation of LGBTQ and intersex people in Peru.
Not everyone, however, was convinced by the ombudsman’s promises so soon after his homophobic appearance before Congress.
Replying to Paredes’ tweet, Peruvian human rights activist Gabriel Moreno Alcántara, wrote: “Still, we can’t trust him one bit. Right now he is new so he is going to want to be liked by all social groups.” (Paredes liked the tweet.)
Apolaya, though, tells the Blade that he doesn’t fault the congresswoman for having the meeting with Gutiérrez as it is part of the duties of her office to meet with officials like him.
“I think that [the meeting] was an opportunity for the ombudsman to learn about the demands of LGBTI people in the country.”
U.S. Ambassador to Peru Lisa Kenna also met with Gutiérrez.
She tweeted on June 7 that “everyone has the right to fundamental freedoms. I spoke with the Ombudsman Josué Gutiérrez to express our support for the defense of human rights and democracy in Peru.”
Todos, todas y todes tienen el derecho a libertades fundamentales. Conversé con el Defensor del Pueblo Josué Gutiérrez para expresar nuestro apoyo para la defensa de los derechos humanos y la democracia en 🇵🇪@Defensoria_Peru pic.twitter.com/y4Gf5ydVkm
— Lisa Kenna (@USAmbPeru) June 7, 2023
This tweet attracted some backlash from both liberal and conservative Peruvians.
Some conservatives took issue with the ambassador’s use of the word “todes,” a gender-neutral word for “everyone” that does not exist in traditional Spanish. Muñante replied to the tweet, writing “‘todes’” does not exist in our language, Madam Ambassador, be careful with the image you project in our country.”
In one of South America’s most conservative countries, the controversies surrounding Gutiérrez’s appointment are indicative of the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ and intersex rights.
Peru remains one of the few countries in South America which offers zero recognition for same-sex couples, despite a 2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling which mandates that signatories of the American Convention on Human Rights to legalize same-sex marriage. And in one of the areas Paredes brought up in her meeting with Gutiérrez, same-sex parenting, public opinion greatly lags behind other countries in the region.
According to a 2021 Ipsos study, a majority of Peruvians disagreed with the statement that “same-sex couples should have the same rights to adopt children as heterosexual couples do.” Further, in a 2023 survey (also by Ipsos), 98 percent of LGBTQ people responded that they were either “extremely” or “very” dissatisfied with “the role of the State in guaranteeing rights of diverse families/LGBTIQA+ people.” Fifty-six percent of respondents also reported having experienced discrimination in public spaces.
Despite the widespread discrimination and the suspicions of some in Peru’s queer community of Gutiérrez’s true intentions, plans for Pride continue unabated.
Apolaya tells the Blade that the Lima Pride March, which will take place on July 1, is expecting around 25,000 participants. Other towns in Peru will also be hosting their first-ever Pride festivities.
Juliaca, the town where 18 protesters and bystanders were killed in a single day during the political unrest earlier this year, will host a march on June 28.
Colombia
Colombia avanza hacia la igualdad para personas trans
Fue aprobado en Comisión Primera de la Cámara la Ley Integral Trans
En un hecho histórico para los derechos humanos en Colombia, la Comisión Primera de la Cámara de Representantes aprobó en primer debate el Proyecto de Ley 122 de 2024, conocido como la Ley Integral Trans, que busca garantizar la igualdad efectiva de las personas con identidades de género diversas en el país. Esta iniciativa, impulsada por más de cien organizaciones sociales defensoras de los derechos LGBTQ, congresistas de la comisión por la Diversidad y personas trans, representa un paso decisivo hacia el reconocimiento pleno de derechos para esta población históricamente marginada.
La Ley Integral Trans propone un marco normativo robusto para enfrentar la discriminación y promover la inclusión. Entre sus principales ejes se destacan el acceso a servicios de salud con enfoque diferencial, el reconocimiento de la identidad de género en todos los ámbitos de la vida, la creación de programas de empleo y educación para personas trans, así como medidas para garantizar el acceso a la justicia y la protección frente a violencias basadas en prejuicios.
Detractores hablan de ‘imposición ideológica
Sin embargo, el avance del proyecto no ha estado exento de polémicas. Algunos sectores conservadores han señalado que la iniciativa representa una “imposición ideológica”. La senadora y precandidata presidencial María Fernanda Cabal anunció públicamente que se opondrá al proyecto de Ley Integral Trans cuando llegue al Senado, argumentando que “todas las personas deben ser tratadas por igual” y que esta propuesta vulneraría un principio constitucional. Estas declaraciones anticipan un debate intenso en las próximas etapas legislativas.
El proyecto también establecelineamientos claros para que las instituciones públicas respeten el nombre y el género con los que las personas trans se identifican, en concordancia con su identidad de género, y contempla procesos de formación y sensibilización en entidades estatales. Además, impulsa políticas públicas en contextos clave como el trabajo, la educación, la cultura y el deporte, promoviendo una vida libre de discriminación y con garantías plenas de participación.
¿Qué sigue para que sea ley?
La Ley aún debe superar varios debates legislativos, incluyendo la plenaria en la Cámara y luego el paso al Senado; pero la sola aprobación en Comisión Primera ya constituye un hito en la lucha por la igualdad y la dignidad de las personas trans en Colombia. En un país donde esta población enfrenta altos niveles de exclusión, violencia y barreras estructurales, este avance legislativo renueva la esperanza de una transformación real.
Desde www.orgullolgbt.co, celebramos este logro, invitamos a unirnos en esta causa impulsándola en los círculos a los que tengamos acceso y reiteramos nuestro compromiso con la visibilidad, los derechos y la vida digna de las personas trans. La #LeyIntegralTrans bautizada “Ley Sara Millerey” en honor de la mujer trans recientemente asesinada en Bello, Antioquia (ver más aquí); no es solo una propuesta normativa: es un acto de justicia que busca asegurar condiciones reales para que todas las personas puedan vivir con libertad, seguridad y respeto por su identidad.
Colombia
Claudia López running for president of Colombia
Former Bogotá mayor married to Sen. Angélica Lozano
Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López has announced she is running for president of Colombia.
“We begin today and we will win in a year,” she said in a social media post on June 3.
View this post on Instagram
López, 55, was a student protest movement leader, journalist, and political scientist before she entered politics. López returned to Colombia in 2013 after she earned her PhD in political science at Columbia University.
López in a speech she gave last December after the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored her at its annual International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. noted Juan Francisco “Kiko” Gomez, a former governor of La Guajíra, a department in northern Colombia, threatened to assassinate her because she wrote about his ties to criminal gangs.
A Bogotá judge in 2017 convicted Gómez of ordering members of a paramilitary group to kill former Barrancas Mayor Yandra Brito, her husband, and bodyguard and sentenced him to 55 years in prison.
López in 2014 returned to Colombia, and ran for the country’s Senate as a member of the center-left Green Alliance party after she recovered from breast cancer. López won after a 10-week campaign that cost $80,000.
López in 2018 was her party’s candidate to succeed then-President Juan Manuel Santos when he left office. López in 2019 became the first woman and first lesbian elected mayor of Bogotá, the Colombian capital and the country’s largest city.
López took office on Jan. 1, 2020, less than a month after she married her wife, Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano. (López was not out when she was elected to the Senate.) López’s mayorship ended on Dec. 31, 2023. She was a 2024 Harvard University Advance Leadership Initiative fellow.
The first-round of Colombia’s presidential election will take place on May 31, 2026.
The country’s 1991 constitution prevents current President Gustavo Petro from seeking re-election.
López declared her candidacy four days before a gunman shot Sen. Miguel Uribe, a member of the opposition Democratic Center party who is seen as a probable presidential candidate, in the head during a rally in Bogotá’s Fontibón neighborhood.
She quickly condemned the shooting. López during an interview with the Washington Blade after the Victory Institute honored her called for an end to polarization in Colombia.
“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 said.
López would be Colombia’s first female president if she wins. López would also become the third openly lesbian woman elected head of government — Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was Iceland’s prime minister from 2009-2013 and Ana Brnabić was Serbia’s prime minister from 2017-2024.
Chile
Gay pharmacist’s murder sparks outrage in Chile
Francisco Albornoz’s body found in remote ravine on June 4
The latest revelations about the tragic death of Francisco Albornoz, a 21-year-old gay pharmacist whose body was found on June 4 in a remote ravine in the O’Higgins region 12 days after he disappeared, has left Chile’s LGBTQ community shocked.
The crime, which was initially surrounded by uncertainty and contradictory theories, has taken a darker and more shocking turn after prosecutors charged Christian González, an Ecuadorian doctor, and José Miguel Baeza, a Chilean chef, in connection with Albornoz’s murder. González and Baeza are in custody while authorities continue to investigate the case.
The Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office has pointed to a premeditated “criminal plan” to murder Albornoz.
Rossana Folli, the prosecutor who is in charge of the case, says Albornoz died as a a result of traumatic encephalopathy after receiving multiple blows to the head inside an apartment in Ñuñoa, which is just outside of Santiago, the Chilean capital, early on May 24. The Prosecutor’s Office has categorically ruled out that Albornoz died of a drug overdose, as initial reports suggested.
“The fact that motivates and leads to the unfortunate death of Francisco is part of a criminal plan of the two defendants, aimed at ensuring his death and guaranteeing total impunity,” Folli told the court. “The seriousness of the facts led the judge to decree preventive detention for both defendants on the grounds that their freedom represents a danger to public safety.”
Prosecutors during a June 7 hearing that lasted almost eight hours presented conservations from the suspects’ cell phones that they say showed they planned the murder in advance.
“Here we already have one (for Albornoz.) If you bring chloroform, drugs, marijuana, etc.,” read one of the messages.
Security cameras captured the three men entering the apartment where the murder took place together.
Hours later, one of the suspects left with a suitcase and a shopping cart to transport Albornoz’s body, which had been wrapped in a sleeping bag. The route they followed to dispose of the body included a stop to buy drinks, potato chips, gloves, and a rope with which they finally descended a ravine to hide it.
Advocacy groups demand authorities investigate murder as hate crime
Although the Public Prosecutor’s Office has not yet officially classified the murder as a hate crime, LGBTQ organizations are already demanding authorities investigate this angle. Human rights groups have raised concerns over patterns of violence that affect queer people in Chile.
The Zamudio Law and other anti-discrimination laws exist. Activists, however, maintain crimes motivated by a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity are not properly prosecuted.
“This is not just a homicide, it is the cruelest expression of a society that still allows the dehumanization of LGBTQ+ people,” said a statement from Fundación Iguales, one of Chile’s main LGBTQ organizations. “We demand truth, justice, and guarantees of non-repetition.”
The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh), meanwhile, indicated that “since the first day the family contacted us, we have been in conversations with the Prosecutor’s Office so that this fatal outcome is thoroughly investigated, including the possible existence of homophobic motivations or components.”
The investigation into Albornoz’s murder continues, and the court has imposed a 90-day deadline for authorities to complete it.
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