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By Juliana Quintana

The Mariscal López Shopping Mall (Asunción) was the scene of another case of discrimination and homophobia. On Thursday, August 29, Adison Montiel (22) and Mattias Ayala (19) went to the mall's food court for dinner at 8:00 p.m. Beforehand, they decided to go to the restroom, and while fixing their hair in front of the mirror, they kissed. A security guard, who was watching them on one of the cameras, entered the restroom and yelled at them, "You degenerates, you can't be like that!"

“That day we were getting ready because it had been a super long workday and we had to meet up with some friends. Suddenly, my boyfriend gave me a peck on the lips and I said, 'Hey, there's a camera here,' because I knew it was that complicated to be at Mariscal. And as soon as I finished saying this, a guard came in kicking the door, really arrogant, and said to us, 'You can't have sex here, you're sick,'” Mattias told Presentes .

The security guard ordered them to leave the shopping mall, arguing that they were behaving inappropriately in public. In front of people in the food court, he called for backup and began yelling at them, calling them "sick," "degenerates," and "you're going to be kicked out." Two guards escorted them to the exit, and along the way, they berated them with comments like, "Why are you kissing if you're both men?" 

"You won't even reach my age in your condition."

Mattias tried to answer, and one of the guards told him, "Don't talk to me. You won't even live to see my age in your condition." That's when Mattias took out his cell phone and managed to record one of their faces. "What he said to me was pretty awful because they were already calling us crazy, sick, and all sorts of things, but these people really hate us," he said.

“Everyone turned around and stared at us as if we were criminals. On top of that, the guard forbade Mattias from recording because, honestly, he was the only one answering him. I was stunned; I'd never experienced anything like it,” Addison continued. 

I can't express how humiliated and hurt I felt.
Respect is for everyone, regardless of gender.
I'm starting a thread to upload the video.
This fight belongs to everyone, don't stay silent!
I learned that today. pic.twitter.com/wJ4yCeZdQG

— Adison Montiel (@wrapdehummus) September 4, 2019

Pinkwashing?

On September 2nd, the shopping center launched an advertising campaign titled "Break the Labels ," which featured diverse people tearing down signs bearing words like "bullying," "prejudice," "animal abuse," and "racism." This was the catalyst that prompted Mattias and Adison to speak out on social media about what they had experienced.

“When I found out, I got really nervous, and at that point, I honestly didn’t care about anything else,” Adison said. He and Mattías decided to report what happened on their personal Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. They shared the security guard’s video and demanded a response from the shopping center. 

“At first, we weren’t going to do anything at all, we were going to stay silent, but when that was launched, we said no. Imagine knowing the truth and having all the means to tell it and staying silent while a shopping mall or a meeting place for many LGBT people is lying to them like that. I think nobody should have to go through something like that,” Matti emphasized.

The security manager at Mariscal López called Adison to apologize for his officers' poor performance. “He told me it was all the guards' fault for rushing things. Maybe so, but they should train their staff. They're running a big anti-discrimination campaign. The manager apologized to me about the shopping incident, but it's no good to me if they apologize only to me and not to my boyfriend, or if they don't even schedule a meeting with us,” Adison said. 

A history of discrimination in shopping malls

But this isn't the first time a shopping mall in Asunción has turned away LGBTQ+ people. In June of this year, Lola Asunción, a trans woman, was denied entry to Shopping del Sol. She posted about it on her Facebook account, writing: “I now feel like an animal or an unwanted, worthless person, and incredibly sad in Paraguay as a trans woman.”

In 2016, an employee at the Villa Morra Shopping Center kicked Carol Sotelo and her then-partner, Carmen Valdez, out of the premises for holding hands. The man sat down at their table without asking permission, demanding "proper conduct and good behavior." "He told us that if we were going to continue like that, we should leave," Carol recalled.

In Paraguay, there is still no law against all forms of discrimination, and the government of Mario Abdo Benítez reaffirmed its position against LGBTQ+ rights, both in international human rights forums and nationally, due to the lack of implementation of public policies.