Election campaigns in Peru use homophobia and transphobia to win votes
Presidential and congressional elections are on Sunday, April 11th in Peru, and messages of LGBTphobia have already been heard in the media.
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By Verónica Ferrari
Presidential and congressional elections are being held in Peru on Sunday, April 11. Political parties have already presented their candidates, and most have been approved by the National Elections Board. For the LGBTQ+ community, women, and Indigenous people, the situation is not very promising. The vast majority of candidates seeking power through popular vote in two months' time are from the right wing and have little interest in changing the legal neglect or guardianship that these populations, in particular, face.
As expected, because this isn't a situation unique to Latin America but occurs worldwide, homophobia becomes a campaign strategy to win over voters in the context of elections. Peru is no exception, and the political manipulation of these issues through disinformation is commonplace.
The trans candidate, the most attacked
Perhaps the one who has been most attacked by electoral transphobia has been the trans candidate Gahela Cari, from the party Together for Peru, led by Veronika Mendoza, being the only candidate of sexual diversity in a left-wing party in these elections.
The activist has received violent messages after another candidate attempted to humiliate her by publishing her legal name on Twitter, denying her identity and her right to be recognized. Frank Krklec is the transphobic candidate who, before running for office with the right-wing Popular Renewal party, edited a fascist blog called “Catharsis and Harakiri” and worked as an advisor to former congressman and evangelical pastor Julio Rosas, a leading opponent of LGBTQ+ rights while in office.
Krklec belongs to the party led by Rafael López Aliaga, a millionaire Peruvian businessman who likes to call himself the "Peruvian Bolsonaro," as he shares the same authoritarian, conservative, and retrograde vision as the president of Brazil.
López Aliaga believes in the existence of “gender ideology” and stated as one of his proposals that he would take girls pregnant as a result of rape to a five-star hotel until they give birth to prevent them from having abortions. The presidential candidate is spreading outlandish proposals to inflate his image and constantly trend on social media, another strategy of the right wing: the avalanche of disinformation, the use of trolls and bots, and controversy, in a campaign overshadowed by the quarantine ordered by the Peruvian government, which could be extended beyond February 15 if the mortality rate from the second wave sweeping the country does not decrease.
Political harassment against visible lesbians
Other candidates who are being attacked for their sexual orientation are those from the Purple Party, Susel Paredes, who is the head of the list, and Gabriela Salvador, who went from the leftist Broad Front to the center-right, are lesbians and say so openly.
Paredes is well-known in Peru, first for her role in one of the most popular telenovelas of the 1980s, "Carmín," then for coming out as a lesbian while serving as general secretary of the Socialist Party and running for Congress for the first time. She is also known for being a lesbian activist and for having a pending legal case with the Peruvian state to have her marriage to Gracia María Aljovín de Losada recognized. In addition, she held important public positions in several district municipalities of Lima.
Feminist organizations have called on the relevant bodies to stop the political harassment of candidates based on their gender identity and sexual orientation, as this limits the political participation of vulnerable populations..
The National Elections Board, through its Court of Honor, also called for respect for the Ethical Pact signed by the majority of parties, urging candidates not to attack each other and to avoid discriminatory phrases or those that harm the dignity of people. The Popular Renewal party ignored this call because it has not signed the Ethical Pact, considering that it has "communist" ideas.
LGBTphobia in the media
Another arena where violent displays of homophobia and transphobia occur is on regional and local radio stations. These media outlets are more difficult to monitor and operate without any institutional protocols, often being private entities that prioritize controversy to generate revenue and wider reach. Consequently, there have been numerous cases of disinformation and discrimination disseminated through these media, such as the incident in Trujillo during an interview conducted by journalist Iván Cruces with Natalia Arbildo, the candidate for Juntos por el Perú.
As long as there are no laws in Peru that administratively or criminally sanction homophobia and transphobia, these cases will continue to occur.
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