In 2011 alone, 266 homosexuals were murdered in Brazil, the Grupo Gay da Bahia revealed yesterday in occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

The group had based its study on press reports published by Brazilian media throughout the whole year. The federal government and most states in Brazil, however, do not record official statistics for this kind of crimes.

The Brazilian hotline Dique Derechos Humanos receives every day an average of 3.4 reports of cases of gender-related violence. Reported cases include episodes of physical, sexual, psychological and institutional abuse. After a report has been made, cases are brought to the attention of police and local governments.

Yesterday, Peruvian LGBT communities also revealed the number of gay people murdered in the country. Fourteen homosexuals (10 gays and four transsexuals) have been killed in 2011, four less than 2010. Figures were compiled by the Peruvian LGBT Network and the NGO Promsex.

Promsex director and secretary of the International Gay and Lesbian Community of Latin America and the Caribbean, George Liendo, pointed the attention to the lack of an official record of killings of homosexuals, like records for femicide.

Also Mexican LGBT communities have denounced yesterday how hard it is to investigate crimes related to gender identity or the victim’s sexual orientation in the country.

The ineffectiveness of many law systems in Latin America encourages high levels of impunity, which in turn lead to its chronic repetition, plunging the victims and their families in total helplessness. In Bolivia, 30 homosexuals were killed in the last two decades and none of these murders got punished, the local Civil Association of Social Development and Cultural Promotion revealed.

The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses 22 years ago. It is still illegal in 78 countries, while 12 states around the world allows gay adoptions and 10 recognise gay marriages.

Following the brutal Neo-Nazi attack of a young gay man, Daniel Zamudio, in March this year, on the 9^th of May the Chilean Congress approved an anti-discrimination law. The new law states that it is a criminal offence to discriminate against race, ethnicity, nationality, political opinion, religious beliefs sexual orientation, gender, illness, handicap and appearance, among other motives.

Recently, US President Barack Obama expressed his support for the gay marriage cause, and Argentina passed a Gender Identity bill into law.

The Argentine upper chamber of the parliament is set to debate and turn into laws on two bills to regulate the right of “death with dignity” for terminally ill patients and that of “gender identity“.

The project on “death with dignity” would amend the current law that regulates the Patient Rights in relation to professionals and health institutions.

The bill will normalise “the right to accept or reject certain therapies or medical or biological processes, with or without cause, as well as the subsequent withdrawal of the initial wishes.”

Terminally ill patients will therefore be granted the “right to express their will concerning the refusal of surgical procedures, artificial reanimation or life-support treatment.”

The project also clarifies that “no professional intervener who had acted according to the [new] law “is subject to civil criminal or administrative liability.”

Senators will also debate a bill to give everyone the right to “recognition of their gender identity.”

The initiative seeks to provide citizens the power to “freely develop their personalities in accordance with their gender identity,” and the right “to be treated according to their gender identity.”

National IDs will have to comply with the new guidelines, in order to guarantee the respect for each one’s “name, photo and gender.”

According to the state-owned newswire Télam, the two law proposal should favour the support of both the majority and the opposition blocks in the lower chamber.

“Marica somos todos.”

An interesting statement, that roughly translates as “we are all queer”.  Yet read it again: apart from the literal meaning of Marica, deriving from Maricón, (meaning homosexual), the slogan of this one-man play hopes to dig a little deeper than that.

Marica is an epilogue to director Pepe Cibrian Campoy’s struggle for rights; an artistic outlet, through explaining and pondering on the death of a famous poet, writer, theatre director and role model: Federico Garcia Lorca.

But more than just a play, Marica is part of the real-life journey of creator and sole protagonist Pepe, whose campaigns for gay rights took him to the Senate prior to the passing of same sex marriage laws in Argentina in 2010.

“This homage to Federico is at the same time dedicated to all of those who, throughout the history of humanity, were sacrificed one way or another; for thinking and being different,” Pepe states in the programme.

Much controversy continues to surround Lorca’s death. It is widely believed that the Spanish poet was killed by a Marxist group on the brink of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 due to his outspoken liberal views. Some historians allege that his sexual orientation were a major reason behind his murder.

In his theatre work, Pepe attributes the death of Lorca to his political views and sexual orientation. Even still, the intricate text tampers and plays with this, questioning life, death, unrequited love and other people’s feelings toward Lorca (and Pepe himself) throughout the monologue.

The play is performed in one act, with Pepe playing all five characters: Federico Garcia Lorca, his father, mother, his murderer, and friend Salvador Dali. The script itself is very moving and can be unsettling in parts, for example, when the role of Lorca questions his death before it occurs (“Will they cry for me on the day that I die?”).

Each line in the play is detailed and poetic. In another moment, Lorca’s personal insecurities and feelings toward his killer are revealed: “Maybe he might have applauded or rejected one of my works or, what’s more probable is that he wouldn’t have even known who I was… I would want him to cry more for me, more than anybody, because of him I have cried more than ever in my life.”

Another particularly gripping scene surrounds Lorca’s killer and the poet having a full conversation before he is murdered.

Pepe Cibrian Campoy {Photo: Alejandro Palacios}

The master acting by Pepe is what makes the show. He is able to draw passion, anxiety, sadness and emotion to the characters the whole way through the play and cleverly distinguish between them. Dressed simply in a white shirt and white trousers, with but one prop – a wooden chair – above the literal extremity and dramatic content of the story itself, Pepe manages to communicate across with intensity, the complexities of discrimination against people because they are different.

It is clear that this play embodies Pepe – who is as humble and down to earth off the stage as on it – and his personal views are displayed in a very sensitive fashion. Inside the small and intimate Teatro del Cubo – a beautiful and perfect venue for this play hidden the cobbled backstreets of the Abasto neighbourhood – were pictures of Lorca, collections from different periods of his life. The sense of adoration for the Spanish playwright and poet was clear.

The content hits close to home for all of the Argentines who waited so long for the homosexual marriage law to be approved in Argentina. Pepe is seen as a pioneer not just in the theatre world – he is one of Argentina’s biggest and most famous theatre directors and writers– but due to his efforts on spreading the message about gay rights.

With audience members including the likes of Maria Rachid, the former vice-president of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, and now legislator for the City government, it is clear to see that Pepe has influenced above and beyond the four walls of the theatre.

Having experienced the more musical side of Pepe Cibrian Campoy’s work as a writer and director in the world of Argentine theatre (including Dracula and Excalibur), it is refreshing to see a whole new side to his skills as an actor.

This play managed to delve deeper into the issues of homosexuality, society, feeling, overall being different and being discriminated against. Even if your Spanish is not fully up to scratch, it’s definitely worth a look into, especially if you’re a fan of Lorca.

My hat goes off to Pepe. This is a thought-provoking, wonderful production.

For the first time in South American history, a foreign gay couple will get married today in Rosario, province of Santa Fe.
Simón Cazal and Sergio Lopez, two Paraguayan citizens, will be the first homosexual foreigners to tie the knot in Latin America.

The Argentine Homosexual Community (CHA) is celebrating this union as an inclusion of foreign people into the “exercise of a constitutional and human right.”

Cazal and Lopez, leaders of the Paraguayan organization SomosGay (WeAreGay), worked with the local LGBT Argentine Federation to make this marriage possible. 

They decided to get married in Rosario after the Socialist municipality passed a resolution ordering civil servants to accept marriage requests coming from all foreigners and tourists. To be granted the right to get married in Santa Fe people have to stay for at least four days. In Buenos Aires, foreign gay couples have to wait at least for three months to get a work/study visa that would allow them to get married.

After the honeymoon, the couple is travelling back to Paraguay where they will ask for the official recognition of their marital status.

“One of the options for us was [to get married in] Spain,” told Simón Cazal to a journalist. “Sergio lived there for a while and part of his family still lives in Tarragona, he could have applied for citizenship there. But when heard about marriage here, so close, literally across the river, we got very excited and we opted [for Argentina]. It was available, it was real.”

Cesar Cigliutti, president of the CHA, wrote in an official statement that “the marriage of Simon and Sergio is also an act of defiance against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The marriage took place today at 11am at the Civil Register in Calle Wheelwright 1486, Rosario.

Photo by Beatrice Murch

Gay Pride Parade down Av de Mayo – Nov 2009.

The 1st December 2009 should have been the happiest day of Alex Freyre and José María di Bello’s lives. They had been granted permission to become the first same-sex couple to marry in Argentina, in a landmark legal decision.

This was taken away from them one day before the ceremony however, when Judge Marta Gomez Alsina ordered the union to be suspended pending a Supreme Court hearing. The couple pressed ahead regardless and wed in a ceremony in Palermo but its legitimacy, and the future of gay rights in Argentina, remains uncertain.

Civil unions between same-sex couples have been legal in Argentina since 2002, although they are not recognised in every province. However, this ruling was the first time a couple would have been recognised as ‘husband and husband’, in an official matrimonial ceremony. Judge Gabriela Seijus, presiding over the case declared unconstitutional the parts of the civil code restricting same-sex marriages and unions. He later commented: “The law should treat everyone with the same respect according to their singularities, without the need to understand or regulate them.”

Judge Alsina however, at the request of lawyers looking to annul the judgement, found issues in the competency and procedure of the first hearing. This was sufficient motivation to overrule its’ judgement and suspend the wedding until the issue was resolved by the country’s highest authorities, in roughly two months.

Gay rights activist Bruno Bimbi represented the voice of many Argentines in expressing his outrage with Alsina’s decision, and her authority to pass it. “In a country with functioning institutions, Alsina would lose her position due to abuse of power and end up behind bars,” Bimbi fumed in the aftermath of the ruling.

Couple Freyre and Di Bello had petitioned the judiciary for permission that their union would hold the same legitimacy and legal standing as that enjoyed through heterosexual marriage. The date chosen for the ceremony was also no accident, being World Aid’s Day; both are carriers of the disease, and committed campaigners to raise awareness of it. “It is a date that forms part of our struggle against discrimination, that not only focuses on sexual diversity but also against people who have Aids,” Di Bello affirmed shortly after receiving permission to marry.

Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri sealed the fate of the couple in a dramatic u-turn. The chief had previously supported the wedding by not appealing Judge Seijus’ ruling, telling associated reporters “The world is moving in this direction. We have to live with and accept this reality. I hope that they are happy together.”

However, on 1st December after Seijus had declared the suspension illegal, Macri had the opportunity to confirm this and give the wedding final legal approval. This ruling however was subject to the mayor formally approving it. He declined to act, and the ceremony went ahead in a farcical atmosphere of confusion and dispute. Macri had come in for harsh criticism from church figures and conservative political allies in the wake of his first decision.

Photo by Beatrice Murch

Gay Pride Parade down Av de Mayo – Nov 2008.

Buenos Aires has long held a reputation as a “gay-friendly” locale. The city contains myriad bars, clubs, restaurants and meeting groups for the homosexual community, as well as tourists from all over the world. Despite the social conservatism often associated with Catholicism, which the vast majority of porteños associate with, same-sex couples together in public are usually accepted with the minimum of trouble.

Despite this seemingly liberal appearance however, there is strong opposition to gay rights amongst the Catholic leadership in Argentina, which influences all levels of society. The strongest critic was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who in a text signed by other senior church figures including Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, dubbed the verdict “absolutely illegal”.

The Archbishop warned that the ruling signified “a sign of grave rashness, and sets a serious precedent for our country and for all of Latin America”. The text also mentioned “the crisis of traditional values that affects our country today”, with the obvious implication that the fact of gay marriage directly challenges these values.

Despite this and other opposition, reports suggest that the Argentine public itself is open to the idea of gay marriage. In a poll commissioned by the government in November, 66% of those asked were in favour of marriage being opened up to same-sex couples.

The wider issue of gay marriage in Argentina remains in a legal grey area; a bill that would officially legalise it at a federal level remains in deadlock, with talk that it will not gain sufficient support to be passed.

Bimbi for one is adamant that the confusion over this issue is symptomatic of the wider corruption and weak will of political forces in Argentina. “In a country with brave politicians, Congress would meet to give a definitive response and stop our people being hostage to a lobby of powerful authority figures not used to the concept of democracy. The only definitive response is to approve the gay marriage law.”