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“It is absolutely imperative that every human being’s freedom and human rights are respected, all over the world,”
Those were the words of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir during her speech at an event related to the Pride festival. As a declared lesbian, Jóhanna became the first woman who ever assumed the role of Prime Minister in Iceland, and the world’s first LGBTI recognized head of the government. However, around the world, there are still some difficulties that LGBTI members face daily. This could be linked to the fact that the context of each society differs from the others. Thus, the customs and values that are socially accepted in Iceland, aren´t the same in Turkey, Somalia, the USA, and Colombia -our focus.
Therefore, it is necessary to introduce the term “cultural relativity” when we discuss culture, customs, values, and Human Rights. According to Jack Donnelly, “cultural relativity is an undeniable fact; moral rules and social institutions evidence an astonishing cultural and historical variability”. In other words, cultural relativity refers to not judging a culture or a person to our own standards of what is right, wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to understand the cultural practices of other groups in their own cultural context. In fact, Atlántico – a department located in Colombia – is a clear example as most of the murders of the LGBTI community are motivated by prejudice towards the sexual orientation or gender identity of the victims. Furthermore, throughout this article, we will relate this type of prejudice to a typical way of seeing society in the region, the concept of “machismo”.
Machismo has several characteristics; one of which is the defense of the traditional roles for the fact that they are tradition, that is to say, there is an essentialist vision of what it means to be a man or a woman, and questioning these concepts generates anger and frustration among people who identify with this concept. The LGBTI community is criticized for not matching these parameters and a heterosexual relationship is seen as “normal”; so marriage between woman and man is very important; likewise, there are even justifications from some sectors for gender violence based on the same limited views of gender roles under the concept of machismo. In Atlantico, this kind of prejudice is very common and some people use this as justification for crimes or doing all kinds of damage to the LGBTI community. Therefore, it is a hugely important issue to look at.
During the armed conflict in Colombia, 142 members of the LGBTI community were murdered in the country as a consequence of such prejudices. During the confessions of Peace and Justice, which is a judicial mechanism that seeks for the reincorporation of paramilitaries -a right-wing informal army-, its members confessed with extreme serenity how they committed crimes against members of the LGBT community and the horrible methods they used -torture, acid attacks, chainsaw attacks-. Furthermore, if one of them was called “marica” (a derogatory term for a gay man) by their superiors they would express anger. This situation created a context where fear limited the rights of citizens whose sexual orientation was not socially accepted. As a consequence, the history of the LGBTI community in Atlantico has always been difficult since they face a lot of issues regarding their rights. In this department, this minority constantly faces challenges like discrimination and violence due to their sexual orientation and some of them are criticized for showing their true nature. Most cases of violence or harassment are towards gay men in their homes and transgender women, who identify themselves as such.
In addition, the social pressure created by those prejudices has led to cases where people commit suicide, which is a common situation in schools where bullying is not commonly taken into account as a serious issue. In 2019, there were 39 suicides in the department of Atlántico. Men have made this fatal decision with 37 cases with 2 women ending their lives.
The statistics of the suicide cases in Barranquilla show a decrease in the cases of suicide between January and July 2019 with 21 cases. Compared to 2018, when 42 cases were presented. It should be mentioned that the LGBTI young population, according to several studies, has between 1.5 and 3 times more suicidal ideation than other non-LGB (or heterosexual) youth. However, 10 years ago, the members of the LGBTI community were able to finally protest for the accomplishment and respect of their rights as citizens of Colombia. The community gained more value in society. Through this protest, they were finally able to freely express their opinions in the media and have it partially accepted by society without threats to their lives. However, legally-speaking, no significant change occurred through this march in the department of Atlántico.
Unfortunately, representing and defending the rights of this community is still a dangerous labor; Atlantico is a department where patriarchal values are very persistent in the society, political speeches, interpersonal relationships, and even societal customs. These values, perpetuate the discrimination of people whose sexual orientation goes against what is traditionally established or accepted. A person should be involved in a relationship with someone from the opposite gender, and if that’s not the case, then that person is going to be considered and treated differently. They frequently begin to be discriminated against by society as well as by their family and friends, and in some cases, threats to their life and physical integrity begin to occur. The armed groups have historically been responsible for most of the threats that have occurred in the department and in the country.
The social leaders who represent this community are greatly affected, as this can be a risk to their physical integrity as well as that of their families. In fact, on August 1 of 2019, Ariel López was killed in his home located in Barranquilla, Atlantico. In a statement to the public, the Caribe Afirmativo collective gave its opinion on the discovery of the lifeless body of Ariel López Romero:
“In the morning, the victim was seen by people close to him talking to another man on one of the soccer fields in the Las Moras neighborhood, where he lived. Minutes later, the latter moved to his home, where he entered with the other man and did not leave again. At 1:00 p.m. Lopez was found with his throat cut and lifeless in his room,”
The discovery, according to the Barranquilla Metropolitan Police, was made by a neighbor who was alerted about the event through the emergency line. However, minutes after the police arrived at the scene they established that the man had died at the scene due to a stab wound at the height of the neck on the right side. Police are still investigating the case and are still investigating the motive. He was considered an LGBTI activist, therefore, a Human Rights defender according to the UNHCR, since he promoted the protection of the LGBTI community rights. Besides, López also contributed to the coordination of some programs already created in the Peace Agreements of the 2016 that aimed for the protection of this minority.
Between 2018 and early 2019 Caribe Afirmativo had registered in its databases eight cases of gay men who were murdered violently – mostly with a knife – in the department of Atlántico. These cases continue to be a systematic action of violence used by armed groups, common criminals or unidentified actors that are intended to generate anxiety, fear, and intimidation. Likewise, the organizations point out that the main perpetrators, in addition to paramilitaries, guerrillas or Bacrim (organized crime groups), have also been civilians and common crime organizations.
In many respects, with crimes like the killing of Ariel, it would be easy to be pessimistic about the scenario, but progress is being made in the department. In the department of Atlantico, measures have been developed in favor of protecting the human rights of these communities. For example, organizations such as Caribe Afirmativo have implemented actions that favor the people of this community, in order to influence the construction of sexual and gender diversity agendas in the Caribbean region. This helps to recognize the rights and access to justice for LGBTI people in the post-conflict. This organization carries out reports, investigations, assessments, and booklets that publish what is happening with the LGBTI community in the Caribbean region; that is to say, whether their human rights have been respected, and they detail what they are doing to help this community.
For example, Barranquilla has just created a headquarter for this purpose, the House of Diversity, a space for people from the LGBTI community to find support and endorsement in the city. In this place, legal advice and psychosocial care will be given to people from this community. They will also provide information on the routes of care in terms of access to health and spaces for training in employability, culture, and access to other amenities.
The LGBTI community has traditionally been very poorly represented and they represent a significant community in the department of Atlantico. But their fundamental rights have been affected thanks to many factors such as discrimination. Values referring to the patriarchy have meant great discrimination towards people who think or act differently regarding the traditions of society. Taking this into account, many leaders of this community have been affected, as we have seen above in the case of Ariel. This is why organizations such as the Caribe Afirmativo are so necessary in order to give this community a voice and help to ensure that there is no more discrimination or violence towards people belonging to it.
Having a strong LGBTQI community can be really important to the region; it brings diversity to the department and it can be very beneficial to society, and the country as a whole. And as such, we should all feel invested in making sure their rights and leaders are respected.
*Article written by Oscar Melo, Angelica Ortega & Yahaira Quintero
Information for this article came from the following sources:
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