“If you see two lesbians having sex, kill them,” said the leader of the World Missionary Movement. The Peruvian Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating him for incitement to violence and discrimination against the LGBTI population. This is one of the many forms of violence that lesbian women face in the country. Solange Saldaña recounts her story in this video. By Brunella Landi Production: Chola Contravisual (#LIMA) – “Being a lesbian woman in Peru means being harassed for not being what a woman is supposed to be. It means you’re going to experience gratuitous violence and you’re going to have to fend for yourself to defend yourself against that violence, because there are no organizations to protect you,” says Solange Saldaña. One of the most recent acts of violence against lesbians was promoted by Pastor Rodolfo Gonzáles Cruz, leader of the Missionary Movement of Peru. “Lesbians! Women who sleep with women. God didn’t make you a man, a woman. God made you a woman to have a man with you. And the devil has deceived you because you don’t know what awaits you. Until they stab you, until they shoot you, until you fall into hell, you won’t realize it,” he said days before the #KeepYourHandsOffMyChildren march, the campaign promoted by leaders of Christian churches and religious fundamentalists against the inclusion of diversity in the school curriculum. After the pastor exhorted, "If you see two women having sex, kill them," the Peruvian Public Prosecutor's Office decided to open a case and investigate him for the crime of incitement against life to the detriment of the LGBT community (article 106 of the Penal Code) and for discriminating and inciting discriminationThe National Network of Lawyers for the Defense of the Family has taken on the defense of the leader of the Missionary Movement. Through a release They stated that it was an edited video in which the pastor was reading from the Bible. Investigating it, they said, was "a risk to freedom of expression."

[WATCH VIDEO: The ideology of hate against the LGBTI community]

In her testimony, Solange Saldaña mentions another type of pressing risk: those that lesbian women face throughout their lives in some countries. “Being a lesbian means that many men will be upset with you because they don’t understand how you can live without a man and be happy that way. It means you have to be very careful because your life is in danger. At home, within your family, on the street. You can’t hold hands or kiss the person you love because it might be frowned upon or dangerous for others. Being a lesbian means being strong and, after all that, continuing to love, embrace, and care.”

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