In Paraguay, the "Rohendu" hotline (Guarani for "I hear you") offers support and guidance to the LGBTI community experiencing discrimination, as well as to their families and friends. "It's not normal to be mistreated," emphasize the videos promoting the service. It operates Monday through Friday and is free to access from any phone. The public service announcements for Rohendu, the telephone hotline that offers support and guidance to LGBTI people in Paraguay, are based on real stories. A trans woman is evicted from her boarding house because they don't accept "people like her." A lesbian mother has problems with her daughter's teacher: the teacher asks her to withdraw her daughter from school or authorize her to explain "what a real family is like." A young gay couple kisses on the waterfront and a police officer asks them for a bribe. This is an initiative of Aireana , an organization that has been advocating for lesbian rights for 14 years. "These videos stem from a desire to make visible the stories that bring us to Rohendu, which in Guarani means ' I hear you, '" says Rosa Posa, one of Aireana's founders. "Since we started, people have been telling us stories, and we wanted to explore them further," she adds.

Ángel Molina, a renowned Paraguayan filmmaker, directed the three public service announcements. They have been circulating on social media since the end of last year. Under the slogan "what's not normal is being treated badly," the hotline addresses cases of discrimination, violence, or abuse related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Free, Monday to Friday from 1pm to 8pm

Calls to this helpline are free from any landline in the country. You can also send a text message from your mobile phone, and operators will contact you quickly. The service began operating systematically in 2013 and is staffed by a volunteer team: four psychologists, an educator, and a lawyer. They answer calls Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. They receive approximately 200 calls per year. In 2016, 11% of the cases involved violence against LGBTQ+ adolescents within the family.  

  “Rohendu arises as a necessity because in Paraguay we do not have an INADI (The National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) is a national agency of the Argentine State“Our organizations fill this gap left by the State. By sharing these stories, we want people to know what happens to them so they can understand what discrimination is. We rely on creativity; we do what we can within the limitations of our resources. We don't have a favorable legal framework. It's one of our biggest struggles,” Rosa points out.  

Without a law against discrimination

In November 2014, a law against all forms of discrimination—which all countries in the region have except Paraguay—was rejected by Congress, amid fears that it would enable the recognition of LGBT rights. In 2016, legislators removed the word “gender” from the text of the comprehensive law on protection against violence against women. They did not want this law to be applicable to transgender people. [READ MORE: TRANS WOMEN LEFT OUT OF A COMPREHENSIVE PROTECTION LAW ] Rosa explains that the Rohendu service also provides a diagnosis of the LGBTI situation in Paraguay: within the education system, healthcare, and families. Furthermore, it serves as a database for a broader strategy. The founder of Aireana says, “When it comes to formulating our ideas for public policy, it’s a tool that supports our demands.”

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