Internacional Day Against Homophobia celebrated, but little progress made

By: Helena Prentis

17th May 2016 marks the 26th Internacional Day Against Homophobia, and yet with Mexico being ranked second most homophobic country in the world, there still remains a lot of work to be done.

Many people may find the country’s ranking shocking as in Mexico and indeed throughout Latin America, homosexuals are gaining wider recognition, but the damning statistic of Brazil followed by Mexico in the rankings for highest rates of homophobic crimes shows the reality.

The Citizens’ Commission Against Homophobic Hate Crimes published recently that it is predominantly men who are victims of sexuality orientated violence, with over a thousand homosexual men being murdered in the past 20 years, followed then by 228 transgender victims. There are only 17 murders of women due to sexuality. The commission continued that it is estimated that for every case reported, three go unreported.

It is not all doom and gloom though, the Mexican soccer team made headlines in April this year for standing up to homophobia by speaking out against their own fans for using homophobic slurs in their chants. A video entitled ‘Abrazados por el Fútbol’ asks fans to refrain from their chanting, and can be viewed on YouTube.

In honour of the Internacional Day Against Homophobia, there will be a march starting at 10 am on Saturday in Mexico City, starting at the Ángel de la Independencia.