Lesbian activist Rosa Posa Guinea says that, amid Paraguay's political crisis, repression has been particularly vicious against women and LGBTQ+ people. "With the state's legality on their side, they bullied, injured, sowed terror, and unleashed all their prejudices. To date, there has been no investigation into this." While the anti-discrimination law is delayed, she asks: " We are not a priority. What has to happen for us to become one?" Rosa Posa Guinea * Illustration: Florencia Capella Photo: Augusto Ferreira When problems affect an entire country, prejudices against the LGBTQ+ community resurface. In Paraguay, at the end of March, after several months of tension, a political crisis erupted: the possibility of presidential reelection (prohibited by the current Constitution) through a constitutional amendment. One of the issues raised was whether the appropriate way to allow reelection was through an amendment or if a constitutional reform was necessary. The Senate's approval of the amendment—in a contentious session—led to protests outside Parliament. Around 200 people set fire to the building in an incident still under investigation. Furthermore, police illegally entered the headquarters of the main opposition party and killed Rodrigo Quintana, a 25-year-old leader. For a large number of parliamentarians, there are always issues more important than people's rights. While they fight in the Senate over the interests of party leadership, our bill against all forms of discrimination has not been passed. Their attention is not there. It's important to emphasize that this bill covers all forms of discrimination, not just against LGBTQ+ people. This means we are not a priority. What needs to happen for us to become one?

Repression against women and LGBTI people

The day of the police repression,The ferocity was also directed at women and LGBTI people. It was extreme and It was not limited to the people who were demonstrating in front of Parliament. Outside an LGBTQ+ nightclub, police beat and shot rubber bullets at about 20 people (trans, gay, and lesbian), kicked, and punched them. They hurled insults: “fucking faggot,” “parasites,” “Are you a man or a woman?”A group of unhinged individuals, acting with the full force of the law, bullied, injured, terrorized, and gave free rein to all their prejudices. To date, there is no open investigation into this particular incident.   

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On social media, many people asked us not to exaggerate. Others told us not to play the victim. We know very well that The core of this entire political disaster is not LGBTQ+ rights. But we know better than anyone that if we don't speak out, we contribute to the normalization of a violence that is already largely silenced. I want to say something politically incorrect: Some deaths are more strategic than others, more manipulated by vested interests, or more easily manipulated. 57 trans people have been murdered in Paraguay from 1989 to the present; nothing has really changed. My trans sisters have been speaking out for years, making themselves visible so they can be heard. I think about the crimes against lesbians and gay men that are hidden under headlines like "stabbed at a party" or "found dead in her home." I think about the reports that many lesbians, victims of violence at the hands of their own families, withdraw, and the deaths that go uninvestigated. I trace the mental journey of gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual, and intersex people who call the helpline. “Rohendu” From Aireana, every time they call and hang up, because what we learned was fear, but we fight for the exact opposite. Last week, the president of Paraguay, Horacio Cartes, announced that he is withdrawing his bid for reelection. I doubt that this devastating crisis will end with his religious resignation. I say religious because, to communicate this decision to the country, the first thing he did was deliver a letter to the Archbishop of AsunciónThis is further proof that the president doesn't know what a secular state is. As long as this head of state continues to entrust himself to the Catholic god to govern, our rights will hardly be recognized.

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Despite all this, feminist and LGBTQ+ organizations continue to build. And we haven't done it alone; we have alliances in many places, including with people both for and against the constitutional amendment. What we've already done isn't destroyed overnight.  

*Rosa Posa Guinea is a member of Aireana, a civil society organization for lesbian rights.

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