World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Qatar has detained a man with HIV who is a dual British and Mexican citizen
AUSTRALIA
As the 46th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras ended its two week long celebrations with the annual massive Mardi Gras parade on Oxford Street this past weekend, this year’s celebration marred by the murder of a gay couple that jarred the country’s entire LGBTQ community, the parade came to a halt on Saturday in a powerful act of remembrance for the couple, Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
In its annual float, Qantas Airways paid tribute to Davies who worked for the carrier as a flight attendant. A Qantas spokesperson confirmed that Davies’ name was added prominently on the side of the Qantas float, and Executive Manager Crew Leeanne Langridge in a statement said that Davies “was a much-loved member of the Qantas cabin crew community in Brisbane and Sydney.
“He had a passion for travel, life, his family and friends and the customers that he served. He will be deeply missed. The whole team at Qantas are thinking of Luke and Jesse’s loved ones,” Lanridge said.
The Star Observer, the country’s largest queer news media outlet, reported that a New South Wales police officer, Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, who reportedly once dated Baird, a Network 10 reporter and a sports official who umpired in AFL matches in the Northern Football and Netball League, has been charged with their murders.
Lamarre-Condon is accused of shooting them dead with his police-issued sidearm at Baird’s home in Paddington, Sydney. The couple’s remains were found at a property at Bungonia, near Goulburn, around 115 miles south of Sydney on Feb. 27, 2024.
The murder of the couple caused the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras organizers to uninvite police from the iconic Mardi Gras parade the BBC reported.
The parade’s board said the decision to exclude police, who have taken part in the annual march for over two decades, was “not taken lightly” but that it was essential to create a safe environment “to protest, celebrate” and “honor and grieve those we’ve lost.”
Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade has a complex history of both LGBTQ activism and police brutality, after the first march in 1978 resulted in dozens of people being beaten and arrested by local officers, the BBC noted.
CHINA
A Chinese transgender activist is facing deportation back to mainland China as she is scheduled for release on Sunday from Siu Lam Psychiatric Center, a psychiatric detention institution where Hong Kong authorities usually hold trans detainees.
Lai Ke, also known as Xiran, was convicted of using “forged” documents to attempt to travel from China to Toronto via Hong Kong last year. Lai was detained at Hong Kong International Airport on May 3, 2023, while transferring to a flight to Toronto having begun her journey in Shanghai.
Lai was convicted in a Hong Kong court on June 16, 2023, and sentenced to 15 months in prison, which she served at the Siu Lam Psychiatric Center. A release notice from the Siu Lam Psychiatric Center seen by Amnesty International states that Lai is due to be released early for good behavior on March 2. As Lai is not a resident of Hong Kong, she is subject to being deported to mainland China under Section 19 of the Hong Kong Immigration Ordinance.
“Time is of the essence to prevent Lai Ke from being unlawfully deported to mainland China, where she would be at grave risk of serious human rights violations — including arbitrary detention, unfair trial, and even torture and other ill-treatment — due to both her transgender identity and her activism,” Sarah Brooks, the deputy regional director for Asia for Amnesty International said.
“To return her given these risks would be an abandonment of Hong Kong’s obligations under international law.”
Lai had been a vocal advocate for trans rights in China alongside her partner. According to her friends, her partner was imprisoned in China in June 2023 on account of her own activism and her trans identity.
While serving her sentence, Lai has been denied access to the medication she was taking as a part of her hormone replacement therapy and held in solitary confinement for complaining about the denial of her medical treatment, her friends added.
“There is a very real risk that Lai Ke will face persecution — including further imprisonment — if she is returned to mainland China,” said Brooks.
PHILIPPINES
A 33-year-old drag queen who had been incarcerated in a Manila jail last fall for allegedly violating the Catholic-majority country’s obscenity laws for his performance dressed as Jesus Christ, performing a rock version of the Lord’s Prayer in Tagalog, was arrested again this past week.
Investigators from the Manila Police District, charged Amadeus Fernando Pagente, who performs under the stage/drag name Pura Luka Vega, for six counts of alleged violation of Article 201 including immoral doctrines, obscene publications and exhibitions and indecent shows. The arrest of the drag artist on Feb. 29 was due to a warrant issued by a court in Quezon City.
Supporters and fans raised the bail of 720,000 Philippine pesos, ($12,852.55) and Pagente was released on March 1. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the drag artist thanked his benefactors writing: “The fight still goes on, life still goes on. I am very grateful to those who helped me with my bail. To my drag sisters who tirelessly helped me and organized fund raising for legal fees, thank you very much. Thank you.”
These latest charges stem from a complaint issued by the Kapisanan ng Social Media Broadcasters ng Pilipinas, a broadcast media organization, on behalf of Philippines for Jesus Movement.
This is the second time the Philippines for Jesus Movement, comprising Protestant church leaders, has registered a criminal complaint with prosecutors against the drag performer. He was accused of violating obscenity laws for his performance dressed as Jesus Christ, performing a rock version of the Lord’s Prayer in Tagalog last August. He was incarcerated and then later released.
At the time Pagente told Agence France-Presse: “The arrest shows the degree of homophobia” in the Philippines. “I understand that people call my performance blasphemous, offensive or regrettable. However, they shouldn’t tell me how I practice my faith or how I do my drag.”
Ryan Thoreson, a specialist at the Human Rights Watch’s LGBT rights program, also called for the charges against Pagente to be dropped. “Freedom of expression includes artistic expression that offends, satirizes or challenges religious beliefs,” Thoreson told the BBC.
UKRAINE
A Ukrainian army combat medic was stripped of honors awarded to his unit by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after the church leadership was informed that he was gay.
Viktor Pylypenko, a medic with 1st mechanized battalion, 72nd Black Zaporozhians Brigade medical corps, along with his fellow servicemembers were awarded medals for “sacrifice and love to Ukraine” by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate’s Patriarch Filaret for their actions and deeds serving in the Donbas region against the Russian invaders.
Pylypenko who serves as an openly gay soldier together with the commander of the medical corps, Yurii Lytvynenko, arrived from Donbas to receive the medals from Filaret. The patriarch personally thanked Pylypenko for his service.
According to the Ukrainian news website obozrevatel.com, that after receiving the award, the soldier published a post on his Facebook page thanking Filaret for the award, thinking that in this way the UOC changed its attitude towards the LGBTQ community.
“I am sincerely glad that Patriarch Filaret took such a step and thanked me, an openly gay man and human rights activist, for the protection. He gave me a medal with his signature and seal. He and the Kyiv Patriarchate headed by him have radically changed their position on LGBTQ+ people and no longer consider us ‘sinful’ or the cause of the coronavirus,” Pylypenko wrote.
On Feb. 25 the church responded in its own Facebook post calling Pylypenko’s post a falsehood:
“Among the distinguished military personnel of the medical point was Victor Pylypenko. Unfortunately, on his social media pages, he posted false information about Patriarch Filaret awarding him a distinction as openly gay for human rights and that Patriarch Filaret and the Kyiv Patriarchate radically changed their negative position on LGBT.
This is an outright lie and manipulation.
Taking into account the efforts of the dark forces to distort the consistent position of the upc of the Kyiv Patriarchate, we want to officially state:
1. Soldier Victor Pilipenko received a thank you from the church, exclusively as a defender of Ukraine, not as an LGBT activist, at the submission of his fellow soldiers from the combat unit of the heroic 72nd Brigade of the Black Zaporozhye. Patriarch Filaret did not personally award the Pilipenkoví medal and did not know about his sinful tendencies.
2. Holy Patriarch Filaret and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, based on the foundations of the Holy Scriptures, the thousand-year teaching of the Orthodox Church, invariably occupies a principled negative position on Sodom sin, condemns propaganda t. zv ‘same-sex marriages.’ Homosexual sex relationships are a false distortion of the God-given nature of man. As said in the Bible, the Lord Himself for the sins of people destroyed Sodom and Homorrah. The patriarch repeatedly stated it publicly and in court proved the legality of such his right.
3. We thank warrior Victor Pilipenko (as well as all our defenders for defending our liberty and territorial integrity) for his military service, but we do not divide his sinful likeness and LGBT agitation. We inform that due to open propaganda of sinful ideology and the denial of the existence of God, consider the church award to Victor Pilipenko from 08.02.2024 Order no. 27468 — revoked.
The Apostle Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians warned: ‘he deceive yourself: Neither prostitutes, nor idolosuluzeliji, nor adulterous, nor malakí̈, nor mužoložcí, nor thieves, nor lehvari, nor drunkards, nor lihoslovci, nor predators — the kingdom of God will not inherit. And such were some of you; but washed, but sanctified, but justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’ (1 Cor. 6, 9-11).
Based on the foundations of Christian evangelical love for all, sinners in particular, desiring them salvation, we urge everyone to repent of their personal sins.
Then the church’s press service said: “We would like to inform you that in view of the open propaganda of a sinful ideology and the denial of the existence of God, the church award to Viktor Pylypenko is hereby revoked.”
Pilipenko then accused the Kyiv Patriarchate of awarding the medals as a PR campaign:
“I wrote words of gratitude to Filaret, naively imagining that he deliberately awarded me and showed his colleagues a Christian, undoubtedly noble gesture, a signpost to reconciliation and mutual respect for gays, atheists, and people of other faiths. But everything turned out to be more prosaic: Filaret was just handing out his awards as a PR campaign for his denomination.”
Outrage from his fellow soldiers and others has been building regarding the Kyiv Patriarchate’s actions.
Ilia Krotenko, a fighter with the 72nd Black Zaporozhians Brigade, emphasized that the “trinkets” handed out by the church are worthless.
“In connection with the absolutely disgusting act of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate and Patriarch Filaret, who took away the award from war veteran Viktor Pylypenko only because he is openly gay, I also refuse a similar award of my own,” he wrote.
SLOVENIA
Activists from across Europe, including Slovenia, Spain, France and Poland formed an alliance to launch a petition to collect over 300,000 signatures as a first step towards laying the groundwork to ensure that in Europe, reproductive rights are safeguarded and accessible for each and every woman.
This event marks a pivotal moment where voices from diverse European nations unite to advocate for reproductive rights, underscoring the collective resolve to ensure the safety and accessibility of abortion services across the continent.
Nika Kovac, founding director of the 8th of March Research Institute, part of the new alliance, said, “The need to kick off the petition is driven by a deep concern over the erosion of reproductive rights, as witnessed in various parts of the world, including the United States and Poland. We are dedicated to creating a network of friends united by shared values of empathy and solidarity. The key to change is international solidarity.”
“The freedom to choose our body is a common value in every single country of Europe. We are here to demand that it also becomes a right that everyone has in practice,” she added.
Though a large majority of Europeans support abortion, the values of women’s bodily autonomy and their freedom to choose are not shared by all governments and state laws. In a significant number of EU countries, legal and access restrictions prove to be a considerable hurdle for those who need it the most. Slovenia has proven to be a significant outlier, being the only European country to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution with France currently trying to do the same.
“Ban on abortion kills women, ban on abortion ruins lives and the lack of access to abortion kills women and ruins lives,” said Marta Lempart, founder of Polish Women’s Strike, who has been the loudest advocate for reproductive rights in the country.
“In my country, women die in state hospitals because they are denied abortions. Each time it happens, we cry and protest and say ‘not one more’ but today I am not here to cry and shout but to say that we can get through it. You will never walk alone.”
“In many countries, abortions are legal but not free, so, it’s only for rich people; Also, in many countries abortions are legal, but women are intimidated, and humiliated for accessing a health service. This should not be happening. We need solidarity as we need to protect women not only in Poland but across Europe.”
Alice Coffin, who leads permanent action against patriarchal structures that harm French society and is a member of the alliance, said, “While Poland is infamous for severely restricted access to abortion, populist far-right parties with the same agenda are emerging across the continent. Their anti-abortion agenda is rarely in the forefront of their public communication but it becomes an important policy point if they achieve power. However, there is widespread public opposition to these measures.”
She added, “The French Senate is due to vote on including abortion in its constitution on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The president of the Senate is opposed. The Vatican has expressed its anger. But we have every hope that it will come to pass. So, abortion is an issue that will be very much on the political and media agenda in France over the next few days.”
The petition will actively be distributed among various individuals across multiple countries to ensure wide reach and engagement with the aim of gathering an initial 300,000 signatures. With this petition, the coalition hopes to build momentum and support for the substantive changes they aim to achieve.
The initiative represents a powerful, united front of committed individuals and organizations, and was attended by prominent feminist activists including Nika Kovač who has been one of the initiators of the #MeToo movement in Slovenia; Lempart, activist, and founder of the Polish Women’s Strike, who has been the loudest advocate for reproductive rights in a country with an almost total ban on abortions and has organized the biggest pro reproductive rights protests in the history of Poland; Alice Coffin, renowned feminist and author from France; Silvia Casalino, activist from France, along with Dr. Imma Clarà, director of the Spanish organization L’Associació; LGBTQ activist and researcher Kika Fumero; feminist activist and journalist Cristina Fallarás who launched the Spanish #MeToo movement. #Cuéntalo (Spain) participated in the petition launch.
The coalition’s political stance stems from a fundamental disagreement with the reality that women in Europe still face life-threatening risks due to lack of access to safe abortion services.
The coalition’s overall goal is to safeguard and advance abortion rights across Europe, ensuring that all women have access to the safe, respectful and legal healthcare services they deserve.
QATAR
An HIV positive openly gay dual British and Mexican citizen is being held because of his sexuality in this peninsular Arab country bordering the Persian Gulf. Manuel Guerrero Aviña, 44-year-old Qatar Airways employee, has been imprisoned since Feb. 4 after responding to a false Grindr text.
PinkNewsUK reported according to his brother Enrique Aviña, who is leading the campaign QatarFreeManuel, his brother is being imprisoned because of his sexuality, and has been denied access to antiretroviral medicines.
“Qatar police used a false Grindr profile to contact Manuel and invite him to participate in a meeting with other people from the LGBT community in the city of Doha,” Enrique Aviña told British newspaper the Mirror.
“Manuel was supposed to meet a person he thought he had arranged an appointment with on the night of Feb. 4 but instead encountered police officers who were waiting to arrest him.”
“He has been denied the right to a lawyer and has been forced to sign documents in Arabic without a translator to assist him. Even worse, he has been prevented access to antiretroviral medicines he needs to be able to live with HIV, which constitutes an act of torture and puts his life at risk,” Enrique Aviña said.
PinkNewsUk also reported because Aviña registered as a British national when he was hired by Qatar Airlines and moved there to work, the Mexican Embassy in Qatar said, the British Embassy is dealing with his case, but Mexican consular officers been in contact with his family.
“With regards to the case of Manuel Guerrero Aviña, who has Mexican and British nationality and is currently under arrest in Doha, the Mexican Embassy in Qatar confirms it has been following developments since it was informed about the detention,” an embassy statement read.
“It has been in constant contact with his relatives and has confirmed Manuel has legal representation.”
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office told PinkNewsUK: “We are providing consular assistance to a British man who is detained in Qatar and are supporting his family.”
Additional reporting from the Star Observer, ABC News Australia, the BBC, Agence France-Presse, Obozrevatel.com, Kyiv Post and PinkNewsUK.
Mexico
Mexico’s first openly gay mayor killed
Benjamín Medrano shot to death inside Guadalajara ice cream store on July 7
Mexico’s first openly gay mayor was killed last week.
Media reports indicate former Fresnillo Mayor Benjamín Medrano was shot to death on July 7 inside an ice cream store in Guadalajara, the country’s second-largest city that is located in Jalisco state.
Fresnillo is a city in Zacatecas state.
Medrano, 59, in 2013 became Mexico’s first openly gay mayor. He represented Zacatecas’s First Federal Electoral District in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Mexican Congress, from 2015-2018.
Medrano in 2017 was among the elected officials from across Latin America and the Caribbean who attended a conference in the Dominican Republic that focused on bolstering LGBTQ and intersex political engagement in the region. The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute is among the groups that organized the gathering.
Medrano after he left office faced accusations that he embezzled more than 60 million pesos ($3,443,101.20) in public funds when he was president of the Zacatecas National Fair’s Board of Trustees.
La Voz de Fresnillo, a Fresnillo newspaper, reported Medrano did not have any identification with him when he was shot. A relative identified him two days later.
State and federal authorities have not announced a potential motive. They have also not made any arrests in connection with Medrano’s murder.
Anti-LGBTQ violence and kidnappings are commonplace in Mexico.
A gay couple from the U.S. were among four people found dead in a mass grave outside Mexico City last month.
Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in February set fire to cars and buses in Puerto Vallarta, a resort city in Jalisco state that is a popular destination for LGBTQ tourists from the U.S., after Mexican forces killed its powerful leader.
Puerto Vallarta is roughly 180 miles west of Guadalajara.
Noticias en Español
Un terremoto también se vive desde el exilio
Yonatan Matheus se nació en La Guaira, la zona venezolana más afectada por los sismos
El 24 de junio de 2026, dos terremotos sacudieron Venezuela y alteraron la vida de miles de personas en cuestión de segundos. Para gran parte del mundo fue una noticia que ocupó titulares durante algunos días. Para quienes nacimos allí, el tiempo pareció detenerse. Antes de pensar en la magnitud del sismo o en el número de viviendas afectadas, hubo una pregunta que desplazó cualquier otra: ¿estarán bien quienes amo?
Los desastres naturales no solo transforman los territorios; también modifican la manera en que quienes vivimos en el exilio nos relacionamos con el lugar al que seguimos llamando hogar. La distancia no reduce el dolor ni la preocupación por quienes permanecen allí. Cada llamada sin responder, cada fotografía y cada mensaje recuerdan que existen vínculos que sobreviven a las fronteras, al tiempo y a la propia migración.
Lo primero que hice fue llamar a mi familia en La Guaira. Durante esos minutos comprendí, una vez más, que también existen terremotos que se sienten desde el exilio. La incertidumbre crece con cada llamada que no entra y con cada mensaje que permanece sin respuesta.
Cuando finalmente logré comunicarme, confirmé que familiares y personas cercanas habían perdido sus hogares, que distintas zonas de La Guaira enfrentaban graves afectaciones y que comunidades como Carayaca, El Junko y otros sectores del oeste del estado también sufrían las consecuencias de los terremotos. Aunque algunas de estas localidades registraron daños estructurales de menor magnitud que las zonas más devastadas, sus habitantes también vieron alterada su vida cotidiana por la interrupción de servicios, las dificultades de acceso y la profunda interdependencia social, económica y comunitaria que caracteriza a La Guaira.
Algunos miembros de mi comunidad también habían fallecido. Entre ellos estaban dos hombres gays a quienes conocía. Sus nombres me recordaron que detrás de cada cifra existen historias, afectos y proyectos de vida. También me hicieron pensar en todas aquellas personas cuyas vidas y muertes difícilmente ocuparán un titular, especialmente quienes durante años vivieron en los márgenes, con escasa visibilidad y sin el pleno reconocimiento de su dignidad. Me recordaron, además, que las emergencias nunca afectan a todas las personas por igual y que quienes ya enfrentaban mayores condiciones de vulnerabilidad suelen soportar una carga aún más pesada durante la recuperación.
El país del que uno sale nunca desaparece
Nací y crecí en La Guaira. Allí permanecen buena parte de mi historia, mi familia, mis amistades y una comunidad que sigue formando parte de quien soy. Hace diez años tuve que salir de Venezuela y solicitar asilo en Estados Unidos como consecuencia de la persecución que enfrenté por ser un hombre gay y defensor de derechos humanos. Con el tiempo comprendí que el exilio no consiste únicamente en cambiar de país. También significa aprender a vivir con la certeza de que una parte de nosotros permanecerá siempre en el lugar del que tuvimos que partir.
Cada celebración familiar, cada crisis y cada tragedia confirman que seguimos perteneciendo a ese territorio. Las personas refugiadas y migrantes no dejamos de vivir las emergencias de nuestros países de origen; simplemente las vivimos de otra manera. Mientras otras personas pueden desplazarse para abrazar a sus familias o participar directamente en las labores de ayuda, quienes estamos lejos intentamos acompañar desde la incertidumbre, con la impotencia de saber que el corazón permanece donde el cuerpo ya no puede estar.
Quizá esa sea una de las dimensiones menos visibles del desplazamiento forzado. Vivimos las tragedias de nuestro país a la distancia, con menos posibilidades de actuar físicamente, pero con el mismo dolor y con un profundo sentido de responsabilidad hacia las personas y los lugares que siguen formando parte de nuestra historia.
Cuando una casa representa toda una vida
Después de una emergencia suele repetirse una frase bien intencionada: “Lo importante es que todos están vivos; lo material se recupera.” Aunque busca transmitir esperanza, también puede invisibilizar una realidad profundamente humana. En Venezuela, una vivienda rara vez representa únicamente una construcción. Es el resultado de años de trabajo, sacrificios compartidos y sueños familiares. En sus paredes también habitan recuerdos, fotografías, documentos y la memoria de quienes la construyeron.
Cuando un terremoto destruye un hogar, también altera el proyecto de vida de una familia. Por eso no basta con volver a levantar edificios. Es necesario crear las condiciones para que las personas recuperen estabilidad, seguridad y la posibilidad de imaginar nuevamente un futuro. Como trabajador social, estoy convencido de que los territorios no vuelven a ponerse de pie únicamente con cemento. También necesitan confianza, organización, apoyo mutuo y espacios donde las personas puedan elaborar el duelo y fortalecer nuevamente sus redes de apoyo.
Ese proceso tampoco ocurre en igualdad de condiciones para todas las personas. Los desastres suelen profundizar desigualdades que ya existían antes de la emergencia. Las personas adultas mayores, la niñez, las personas con discapacidad, quienes viven con enfermedades crónicas o con VIH y muchas personas LGBTQ, especialmente aquellas que enfrentan pobreza, discriminación o redes de apoyo limitadas, suelen encontrar mayores obstáculos para acceder a servicios, restablecer sus medios de vida o volver a sentirse seguras. Una respuesta verdaderamente humanitaria no consiste únicamente en llegar primero; consiste en asegurar que nadie quede atrás cuando comienza el largo camino para reconstruir su vida.
Cuando la emergencia deja de ser noticia
Las primeras horas después de un desastre suelen despertar lo mejor de una sociedad. Vecinas y vecinos organizan rescates, personas voluntarias distribuyen alimentos, equipos de salud trabajan sin descanso y miles de ciudadanos, dentro y fuera del país, buscan la manera de ayudar. Esa movilización espontánea representa uno de los recursos más valiosos frente a cualquier crisis y demuestra que, incluso en contextos de profunda polarización, la vida humana sigue siendo capaz de convocar encuentros.
Sin embargo, para quienes sobrevivieron, el verdadero desafío apenas comienza cuando la emergencia deja de ocupar los titulares. Mientras los medios dirigen su atención hacia otras noticias y las donaciones disminuyen, miles de familias siguen intentando recuperar sus hogares, restablecer sus medios de vida y reorganizar una cotidianidad profundamente alterada. La crisis termina mucho antes para la opinión pública que para quienes continúan enfrentando sus consecuencias.
En la acción humanitaria suele describirse un fenómeno conocido como fatiga de la compasión. En términos generales, hace referencia a la disminución progresiva de la atención pública y de parte de la movilización solidaria conforme una crisis deja de ocupar el centro de la conversación. No significa que desaparezca la voluntad de ayudar, sino que nuevas urgencias desplazan rápidamente a las anteriores. El riesgo es que los territorios afectados queden solos precisamente cuando enfrentan la etapa más compleja de volver a levantarse.
Las principales organizaciones humanitarias recuerdan que reparar edificios constituye sólo una parte del proceso. También es indispensable fortalecer la salud mental, ofrecer apoyo psicosocial, recuperar el tejido comunitario y garantizar que la población participe activamente en las decisiones sobre su propio futuro. Una vivienda puede reconstruirse en algunos meses; recuperar la sensación de seguridad, la confianza o el sentido de pertenencia suele requerir mucho más tiempo.
Esta realidad resulta especialmente importante para quienes ya enfrentan condiciones de vulnerabilidad antes del terremoto. Las personas adultas mayores, la niñez, las personas con discapacidad, quienes viven con VIH y muchas personas LGBTQ suelen encontrar mayores barreras para acceder a servicios, mantener sus tratamientos, recuperar sus ingresos o reconstruir sus redes de apoyo. Las emergencias no crean esas desigualdades, pero con frecuencia las hacen más visibles y profundas. Por eso, una recuperación verdaderamente sostenible no consiste únicamente en volver al punto donde estábamos antes del desastre, sino en aprovechar ese proceso para reducir brechas históricas y fortalecer la inclusión.
Como trabajador social, prefiero hablar de una resiliencia consciente. No de una resiliencia que exige fortaleza permanente o invita a ocultar el dolor bajo la idea de que “hay que seguir adelante”, sino de aquella que reconoce las pérdidas, entiende que el duelo necesita tiempo y acepta que pedir ayuda también forma parte del camino. Ninguna comunidad debería sentirse obligada a reconstruirse sola, ni ninguna persona a demostrar que ya superó una tragedia antes de estar preparada para hacerlo.
Permanecer también es una forma de ayudar
El exilio me impidió estar físicamente en La Guaira durante los días posteriores a los terremotos, pero no me impidió asumir la responsabilidad de acompañar desde donde hoy me encuentro. Durante esas semanas utilicé mis plataformas para verificar información antes de compartirla, visibilizar localidades que históricamente han recibido menor atención —como Carayaca, El Junko y otros sectores del oeste del estado— y promover mensajes centrados en las necesidades de la población afectada.
Ese compromiso también dio origen a la serie documental La Guaira: Antes y Después, un esfuerzo por documentar cómo cambiaron distintos espacios y contribuir a que no desaparezcan de la memoria colectiva cuando termine la cobertura periodística. Más que registrar la destrucción, busca recordar que detrás de cada fotografía existen familias que seguirán necesitando apoyo mucho después de que las cámaras se hayan ido.
Creo profundamente que comunicar con responsabilidad también es una forma de acción humanitaria. Verificar antes de publicar, evitar la desinformación y mantener visibles a los territorios históricamente olvidados constituye una manera concreta de acompañar el proceso de recuperación y fortalecer el compromiso colectivo desde la distancia.
La solidaridad que decide quedarse
Los terremotos del 24 de junio de 2026 dejarán cicatrices visibles en edificios, carreteras y viviendas. Otras permanecerán en silencio, acompañando a familias que deberán reconstruir no solo sus hogares, sino también su sensación de seguridad, sus proyectos de vida y la confianza en el futuro.
Como venezolano, guaireño, refugiado y defensor de derechos humanos, esta experiencia reforzó una convicción que ha guiado buena parte de mi trabajo: las personas deben permanecer en el centro de cualquier respuesta humanitaria. Ninguna diferencia política, institucional o ideológica debería ser más importante que proteger la vida, aliviar el sufrimiento y garantizar que quienes enfrentan mayores condiciones de vulnerabilidad reciban el acompañamiento que necesitan para volver a empezar con dignidad.
Los terremotos dejan de sentirse cuando la tierra deja de temblar. El olvido comienza cuando dejamos de mirar. Entre una cosa y otra existe un largo camino que exige memoria, compromiso sostenido y la decisión colectiva de no abandonar a quienes siguen intentando levantarse cuando el resto del mundo ya ha seguido adelante. Porque una sociedad no termina de recuperarse cuando reconstruye sus edificios; lo hace cuando todas las personas tienen la oportunidad de volver a vivir con seguridad, esperanza y la certeza de que nadie quedó atrás.
Yonatan Matheus (He/Him/Él) es defensor de derechos humanos LGBTQ y trabajador social y activista. Trabaja en la intersección entre Migración, Justicia Social y respuesta al VIH.
Este comentario salió en el sitio web de Yonatan el 6 de julio.
Egypt
Egyptian authorities refuse to allow gay cruise to dock in country
Scarlet Lady earlier this week blocked from visiting Turkey
Egyptian authorities have refused to allow a gay cruise to dock in the country.
The Scarlet Lady, a Virgin Voyages ship that Atlantis Events chartered, was to have docked in Alexandria, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. The Washington Blade obtained a letter that Atlantis Events President Rich Campbell sent to passengers on Thursday, hours before the cruise was to have arrived.
“Early this morning, we were informed that Scarlet Lady has been denied entry into Egyptian waters and, as a result, will no longer be able to call in Alexandria today,” he wrote.
“I know how much this visit meant to so many of you,” added Campbell. “We successfully sailed a similar itinerary last year, so we were surprised by this unfortunate decision.”
Campbell noted “both the Atlantis and Virgin Voyages teams worked tirelessly to make this call in Alexandria a possibility.”
“This news came as a surprise to all of us, and we’re just as disappointed as you are,” he said.
The 10-day cruise left Athens on July 5. It is scheduled to end in Trieste, Italy, on July 15.
The ship had been scheduled to dock in Kusadasi, a Turkish resort town on the Aegean Sea, and Istanbul earlier this week. Turkish authorities refused to allow it in the country.
Former Tempe, Ariz., Mayor Neil Giuliano, who is an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute board member, is among those on the cruise.
“Just a few hours before arriving in Alexandria, Egypt — a city founded by and named for one of the ancient world’s best-known homosexuals — government authorities rescinded permission for our ship of 2,000 gay men to enter Egypt,” wrote Steve May, who is also on the ship, on Thursday in a Facebook post.
Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 B.C.
“As with Turkey, we have been sent away not because of what we did, but because of who we said we are,” said May. “‘I am what I am’ is too much liberty for some to bear. So it was in the United States as well not long ago, where even I ended up as a convicted homosexual after a military trial in 2001 for saying ‘I am gay.’ This is just a reminder that for all the progress we have made, our freedom is never secure — for any of us, regardless of who or how we love. Back to Europe!”
Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt. The Egyptian Football Association, along with the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran, objected to playing in the World Cup’s “Pride Match” that took place in Seattle on June 26.
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