Many countries see a paradox in their approach to LGBTQ+ rights between robust legal protections and the daily reality of harassment and prejudice in everyday society. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than Mexico, where murder of LGBTQ+ individuals are disturbingly high and activists accuse authorities of little more than indifference in tackling these hate crimes. ReportOUT Human Rights Researcher, Josh Hurn explains more
The current position of the LGBT+ community in Mexico is curious. On one hand, hate crime protections for gender and sexual minorities are relatively robust, and equal rights such as gay marriage nationwide have been adopted (Al Jazeera 2022). Outwardly, progress appears to be moving in the right direction for non-heterosexual and non-cisgender citizens. None of this, however, reflects the reality of the current disastrous situation of the community. LGBT+ people in Mexico are suffering from an orgy of violence, suicide, sexual violence, and targeted harassment.
A Perplexing Paradox
The figures around homicides of LGBT+ people in the nation are horrifying; with 453 (reported) incidences between 2018 and 2022 alone (Cole-Schmidt 2023). Although these statistics are already painfully high, there are fears amongst some organisations in the nation, including Letra S, Sida, Cultura y Vida fearing that they are vastly underestimated. The organisation warned the 2022 figures of 78 murders could, in reality, be closer to 200 (La Prensa Latina Media 2023).
The stark contrast between legislative progress and the extreme violence facing LGBT+ people in the nation is an uncomfortable paradox seemingly ignored by the country’s leaders.
How can it be possible that in the same year at least 78 members of the community were murdered, Mexico granted its first non-binary citizen a birth certificate that reflected their gender identity? (Ng 2022). Mexico’s seeming dedication to improving the rights of LGBT+ citizens through legislation is commendable, but with the bloodshed facing the community these changes simply obfuscate a painful and violent reality.
This carnage was brought to international attention near the end of 2023 when the country’s first non-binary magistrate, Jesús Ociel Baena, was found dead alongside their partner (Fredrick 2023). Described as a ‘beacon’ for the queer community, Baeana’s death brought the violence facing the community to the fore. There has been further consternation and ‘outrage’ amongst the queer community for what it believes to be as a ‘rush to conclusions’ by the authorities who appear to have largely discounted there being a hate crime motivation behind the murder despite many death threats received by the magistrate (Frederick 2023).
Baena was a prominent figure in the nation’s LGBT+ community and protests against their murder have been numerous (Euronews 2023). Alongside being the first non-binary magistrate, they secured the country’s first non-binary passport and first non-gendered professor title (Frederick 2023).
Whilst no definitive investigation has been completed, the case is a clear example of what LGBT+ activists in the country say is a total paucity of motivation from the part of the police or the judicial system to take their concerns seriously.
A Crisis of Confidence
This carnage is taking place alongside an overarching crisis in Mexico’s justice system. Perpetrators of violence against LGBT+ people are unlikely to consistently face justice in a country where only 1% of crimes were reported, investigated, and resolved in 2022 (Janetsky 2022). There is a vacuum of legal protection for queer people, and this appears to be being exploited en masse by those wishing harm upon the community. Indeed, on paper, one can say that Mexico is certainly one of the leaders in Latin America for attempting to improve the legal equality of its queer community. However, none of this matters when they are not even protected from murder.
Whilst being LGBT+ in Mexico is a risk in itself, being a member of an indigenous community compounds the risk even further. 27% of indigenous Mexicans have faced physical aggression in school due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and 73% of trans men and 58% of trans women have had suicidal thoughts (Linares 2021). Indigenous people in the nation may already suffer from structural discrimination; this data further highlights how being LGBT+ in the country is, tragically, yet another aggravating factor for these communities.
One has to only look to the region of Veracruz (the third most indigenous state in Mexico) where violence against the community is particularly brutal (Schmal 2023).
The uninhibited cruelty suffered by LGBT+ murder victims in the state is unbelievable; the case of Alaska Ponce , a 25-year-old transgender woman who was tortured and murdered in 2018 is a particularly sickening example of the situation in this state (Davison 2023).
Alaska’s murder was one of fifteen murders of transgender people in this single state in 2018 alone (Davison 2023).
Patchwork Protections
Mexico has the unfortunate designation of being the second most dangerous country in the world to be a transgender person, after Brazil only (Grant 2021). Again, contradictorily, Mexicans largely hold positive opinions of transgender rights, with 83% agreeing that they should be protected from discrimination by the government (The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law 2021). These positive opinions sadly do not reflect the reality of life for transgender Mexicans. The limited data available points to untold despair; 90% have faced physical or sexual abuse, and more than 50% have attempted suicide at least once (The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law 2021). A patchwork of progress has also appeared within the progressive ideals of recent governments regarding LGBT+ rights.
Many local states and governments have not yet adopted comprehensive hate crime legislation. By 2021, just 14 of its 32 states considered sexual orientation as an aggravating factor in hate crime (Linares 2021). Even after the Mexican Supreme Court’s 2017 approval of simplifying the administrative steps to simplify changes in sexual orientation classification, just 10 of 32 states had ratified these changes as of December 2020 (The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law 2021).
Ultimately, It is difficult to be optimistic for Mexico’s queer community and one cannot ignore the extent of the danger facing it. Every year, they are suffering overwhelming levels of murder, violence, sexual violence, abuse, and discrimination. Heterosexual Mexicans may well be largely supportive of the LGBT+ community and its governments may wish to push the legislative agenda in the right direction, but this support rings hollow when hundreds are being slaughtered each year without recompense.
The LGBT+ community in Mexico is facing a daily struggle to live freely, safely, and in dignity. It does not appear anyone in the nation with political power has either the temerity, or the means, to stop this.
One can only hope the government is able to control the situation as soon as possible to protect the country’s LGBT+ population before hundreds, if not thousands more, face certain death.
Article By Josh Hurn
Bibliography
Al Jazeera. (2022) 'Same-sex marriage becomes legal nationwide in Mexico,' Al Jazeera, 27 October. Available at : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/27/same-sex-marriage-is-now-legal-nationwide-in-mexico (Accessed : 9 January 2024).
Cole-Schmidt, G. (2023) 'High-profile murders inspire calls for justice at Mexico’s ‘muxe’ festival,' Al Jazeera, 30 November. Available at : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/30/high-profile-murders-inspire-calls-for-justice-at-mexicos-muxe-festival#:~:text=High%20rates%20of%20violence&text=From%202018%20through%202022%2C%20homicide,binary%20people%20at%20particular%20risk. (Accessed January 9 2024).
Davison, T. (2023) Murder in Veracruz: Is enough being done to protect Mexico’s transgender community? - Aztec Reports. Available at: https://aztecreports.com/murder-in-veracruz-transgender-community/1104/. (Accessed 11 January 2024).
Equaldex (no date) LGBT rights in Mexico. Available at: https://www.equaldex.com/region/mexico. (Accessed: 9 January 2024).
Euronews (2023) 'Thousands in Mexico demand justice for LGBTQ+ figure found dead after death threats,' Euronews, 14 November. Available at : https://www.euronews.com/2023/11/14/thousands-in-mexico-demand-justice-for-lgbtq-figure-found-dead-after-death-threats. (Accessed: 10 January 2024).
Fredrick, J. (2023) '‘A painful loss for our community’: Mexico’s queer population demands answers in magistrate death,' The Guardian, 14 November. Available at : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/14/mexico-lgtbq-jesus-ociel-baena-non-binary-magistrate. (Accessed: 11 January 2024).
Grant, B.W. (2021) 'Three lives, one message: Stop killing Mexico’s transgender women,' BBC News, 1 February. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-55796384. (Accessed 11 January 2024).
Janetsky, M. (2023). ‘Mexican government sends conflicting messages over death of LGBTQ+ magistrate’, PBS, 14 November. Available at : https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/mexican-government-sends-conflicting-messages-over-death-of-lgbtq-magistrate. (Accessed: 12 January 2024).
La Prensa Latina Media (2023) Mexico No. 2 in LatAm in hate crimes vs. LGBT community despite legal progress. Available at : https://www.laprensalatina.com/mexico-no-2-in-latam-in-hate-crimes-vs-lgbt-community-despite-legal-progress/ (Accessed : 10 January 2024).
Linares, A, Telemundo, N. (2021) 'We are invisible': Discrimination, risks abound for Indigenous LGBTQ in Mexico’, June 30th. Available at : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/-are-invisible-discrimination-risks-abound-indigenous-lgbtq-mexico-rcna982. (Accessed: 10 January 2024).
Ng, K. (2022) 'Mexico issues first birth certificate recognising non-binary gender,' The Independent, 19 February. Available at : https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/non-binary-gender-certificate-mexico-b2018908.html. (Accessed: 11 January 2024).
Schmal, J. (2023) Veracruz: the third most indigenous state of Mexico — Indigenous Mexico. Available at : https://www.indigenousmexico.org/articles/veracruz-the-third-most-indigenous-state-of-mexico. (Accessed: 11 January 2024).
The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law (2021) Public opinion of transgender rights in Mexico – Williams Institute. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/opinion-trans-rights-mexico/.