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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. The labor court in the city of Oberá ruled in favor of Raúl Julián Bjorklund, the teacher who was dismissed from a school in 2016 for discrimination based on his sexual orientation. The Emanuel Institute will have to pay Bjorklund almost one million pesos for "moral damages."

“The ruling is extremely important because it sets a legal precedent and establishes a very important legal framework. It also provides a framework to support future claims that people suffering discrimination may make. Above all, it sends a message that we must take action and not allow ourselves to be trampled on,” Julián told Presentes about the news. Today, he is in charge of the Carlos Linneo Institute and heads the Undersecretariat of Citizen Services at the Ministry of Government of Misiones , an office created “to defend minorities,” the young man explained.

Bjorklund had been working at the institution for five years when he taught Chemistry and Research Projects. This came after he announced his engagement to his boyfriend .

“The professor’s sexuality is incompatible with the institution’s values, therefore, in order to avoid conflict, the institute offers, and the professor accepts, a sum of money as compensation,” states the document, which bears the logo of the Emanuel Private Institute and the signature of its legal representative. In October of that year, Bjorklund filed a complaint with the Misiones branch of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI). He later filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

A decision that took six years

After six years, the court has reached a decision. The ruling orders the establishment to pay Julián Bjorklund the sum of 992,074.83 pesos. This is "as compensation for moral damages," and the deadline for payment is set at 10 days.

“The temporal correlation between the actor’s decision to marry, followed by his immediate dismissal from the institution, allows us to establish, at least indicatively, a cause-and-effect relationship between these events, thus creating an appearance or suspicion that the termination of employment may be a reprisal by the employer motivated by the actor’s decision to marry a person of the same sex and that this became public knowledge,” the ruling argues. 

Faced with the defendant's failure to respond regarding whether the reason for the dismissal was something else, the court ultimately determined that it was a discriminatory act. "The plaintiff has been the victim of discriminatory treatment based on his sexual orientation," the ruling states.

Since the start of the legal dispute, the school has not contacted Julián again. “There was never an apology or anything like that,” the young man stated. 

An award for activism

The compensation amount will be donated to the organization Somos Diverses , made up of professionals from Misiones who work on “mainstreaming the diversity perspective and defending the rights of the LGBTI+ community.” “It’s an organization whose work I really admire; they have a lot of experience in providing support and guidance to people in the LGBTIQ+ community. I think they will put those funds to very good use,” Bjorklund told Presentes .

The organization received this news with great enthusiasm, both symbolically and economically. “All third-sector organizations are self-managed. Everything is done through sheer effort, with the dedication of each member and whatever little they can contribute. The fact that we can receive a certain amount of money today, which also stems from such a necessary reparation as the one Julián received, is enormous,” Adam Yan, president of the organization, told Presentes.

“Receiving this donation means so much, not only in economic terms, but also symbolically. This gesture from Julián today will allow us to continue helping other colleagues in need,” he concluded.