Tuesday, March 3, 2026

PERU: A day of kisses for LGBTI visibility

On Saturday, February 11, as every year, self-organized members of the LGBTIQ community will gather in San Martín Square in Lima to say enough to homo-lesbo-transphobia.

February 9, 2017

On Saturday, February 11, as they do every year, self-organized members of the LGBTQ+ community will gather in Lima's Plaza San Martín to say enough is enough to homophobia, lesbophobia, and transphobia. Six years ago, Peruvian LGBTQ+ people organized a "kiss-in" in Lima's Plaza Mayor to demonstrate that the streets belong to everyone. That afternoon, they were brutally repressed by the police: beaten with batons, pepper-sprayed, and insulted. The violence and persecution ended hours after police closed off the perimeter of the Plaza. As a way to remember and to reclaim the rights of LGBTQ+ people, every February the BCLH (Kisses Against Homophobia) collective organizes a day of "kisses and hugs" in Lima. This coming Saturday, the gathering will be in Plaza San Martín, starting at 3 PM. “Since that day, lesbians, bisexuals, gays, queer, transgender, transsexual, and intersex people continue to resist the systematic violence against our bodies that the State endorses and perpetrates. Every year we self-organize and return to the streets to remind the authorities, the media, and ordinary people, like you, that the city is a space where we all have the right to fully develop and where we can celebrate our diversity. Expressing our affection is neither an insult nor a provocation to anyone,” the organizers . According to a report by the sexual diversity collective “I’m Not Afraid,” almost half of the LGBTI people surveyed were victims of violence at the hands of strangers solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

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