The main areas examined in this section are:
General Trends in the findings ExamplesRight to Life Extrajudicial Executions Examples Killings Examples
Right to Personal Integrity Law Enforcement Examples Rape and sexual violence Examples Other non-lethal attacks Mob attacks Examples
Medical Violence against Intersex Persons Specific Violations Examples
Provision of health services Examples
Attempts to “change” Examples
Hate speech and the incitement to violence
Intersectionality Indigenous peoples Women Examples Human mobility Examples Children and Youth Examples Human Rights Defenders Examples Persons Deprived of Liberty Examples Afro-descendants Examples Poverty
General trends in the findings of the IACHR
1. Underreporting and lack of official data
The IACHR notes that the available data do not reflect the full dimension of the violence suffered by LGBTI persons in any given State.
2. Pervasiveness of Violence
The IACHR is of the view that violence against LGBTI persons is prevalent in all countries in the Americas. The IACHR found that there were at least 770 acts of violence committed against LGBT persons in a fifteen month period, between January 2013 and March 2014, across 25 OAS Member States.
3. Invisibility of everyday violence
The IACHR notes that underreporting also renders everyday violence against LGBT persons invisible, particularly as it relates to non-lethal attacks.
Non-lethal attacks are the most common type of violence suffered by LGBTI persons in all OAS Member States.
These acts of violence are reported to be so commonplace in some parts of the region that they may not be reported, because they are part of ‘everyday life’ for LGBT persons.
Killings are most prone to be reported by the media, leaving out ordinary and persistent forms of everyday violence, which have to be, nonetheless, fully exposed, identified and addressed by States.
4. Invisibility against certain groups:
Trans men and bisexual persons
Severe violence in the family, in the health sector, and school bullying, are among the most common types of violence suffered by trans men.
Violence against bisexual persons is often exerted because such persons are perceived as either gay or lesbian, or because such persons are witnessed expressing same-sex affection. This tendency in the data to categorize bisexual persons and bisexual expressions of affection as gay or lesbian renders violence based on prejudice towards bisexuality invisible for data collection purposes.
5. High levels of cruelty
Crimes against LGBT persons stand out for their brutality and cruelty. Killings due to sexual orientation and gender identity are characterized by levels of physical violence that “in some cases exceed those present in other types of hate crimes.”
Report of the Special Repporteur on violence against women, its causes and consecuences, A/HRC/20?16, 23 May 2012, para.71
In the Registry there are numerous examples of killings that are particularly heinous, including cases of stoning, decapitation, burning, or impalement. Many victims are repeatedly stabbed or beaten to death with hammers or blunt objects. Others are punched or kicked to death, have acid thrown at them, or are suffocated. Some victims in the Registry were repeatedly run over by cars, mutilated or set afire. In many cases, victims were killed after being subject to gruesome acts of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, and multiple forms of extreme humiliation, debasement, torture and/or rape.
6. Violence in response to public displays of same-sex affection
The IACHR has received reports of same-sex couples who were attacked because they showed affection in public, such as holding hands, caressing, embracing or kissing.
Same-sex couples showing public displays of affection are also a frequent target of police abuse and arbitrary detention by state agents –often with excessive use of force or verbal abuse– because of what is considered “immoral behavior” in public spaces.
Violations of the Right to Life
"Every person has the right to have his life respected."
"No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life."
1. Extrajudicial Executions
Extrajudicial executions or killings are understood as deprivations of the right to life unlawfully perpetrated by State agents.
According to one regional organization, which obtained its information from witness testimony, police officers have been directly involved in a “good number” of killings of trans women.Redlactrans, The Night is Another Country: Impunity and violence against transgender women human rights defenders in Latin America
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans persons are “especially vulnerable” to extrajudicial killingsReport of the Special Repporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions. Addendum. Follow-up country recommendations: Colomia, A/HRC/20/22/Add.2, 15 May 2012, para. 5a.
The majority of cases of violence against LGBT persons recorded in the Registry of Violence covering the time period of January 2013 to March 2014, there is little or no data as to the perpetrators of the violence, particularly in the cases of killings.
Read the report2. Killings
Gay men, or those perceived as such, were more likely to be killed by bladed weapons and in private spaces, such as the home of the victim.
Whereas trans women and trans persons who express themselves as female were more likely to be killed by firearms, and their bodies were more likely to be found in the streets or other public spaces, and sometimes in situations linked to sex work.
Organizations report that killings of LGBT persons are not found in police records, and where they are, they end in impunity.Organización de Apoyo a una Sexualidad Integral Frente al SIDA (OASIS), Crímenes de Odio en Guatemala: una Aproximación a los Retos y Desafíos para el Desarrollo de una Investigación sobre Crímenes en el País en contra de Gay, Bisexuales y Trans, abril de 2010, p. 35.
The IACHR was informed of numerous killings of trans women who were sex workers, most of the killings allegedly perpetrated by their clients. These included victims who were —among many other violent acts— smashed in the head with rocks, stoned to death while offering their services, beaten to death with a broken bottle, stabbed while waiting in their regular spots, repeatedly shot when approaching a car, and even shot following a disagreement over fees.
Entertainment and socialization spaces for gay persons, and their vicinities, are also common locations in which killings take place. Bars and dance clubs are reported to be frequent locations where perpetrators target their victims, a modus operandi colloquially referred to as “pick-up crime.”
Read the reportNumbers of Killings in the Americas
Many cases of violence against LGBT persons are underreported
(2009-2013, Mexico)Comisión Ejecutiva de Atención a víctimas (CEAV)
(2009-2010, Guatemala)Fundación Myrna Mack et. al, Discriminación por orientación sexual e identidad de género y una aproximación a la interseccionalidad con otras formas de discriminación en Guatemala, 4 November 2012, p. 33.
(2008-2013, Honduras)Cattrachas, Informe Anual Sobre Muertes Violentas de la comunidad LGTTBI, 2013, p. 4. It is noteworthy that the State of Honduras referred to the reliability of statistics gathered by this organization. Response to the IACHR Questionnaire on Violence against LGBTI Persons in the Americas submitted by the State of Honduras, Note DC-179/2013 dated November 20, 2013, received by IACHR Executive Secretariat on November 20, 2013, p.3.
(2011-2013, Peru)PROMSEX, Annual Report on the Human Rights of Transgender, Lesbians, Gays and Bisexual persons in Peru 2013, May 2014, p. 34; PROMSEX, Annual Report on the Human Rights of Transgender, Lesbians, Gays and Bisexual persons in Peru 2012, May 2013, p. 61; PROMSEX, Annual Report on the Human Rights of Transgender, Lesbians, Gays and Bisexual persons in Peru 2011, May 2012, p. 52
(2009-2013, Venezuela)Response to the IACHR Questionnaire on Violence against LGBTI Persons in the Americas submitted by Acción Ciudadana Contra el SIDA (ACCSI), 25 November 2013, received 25 November 2013, p.1; Acción Ciudadana Contra el SIDA (ACCSI), Informe Venezuela 2013 Crímenes de odio por orientación sexual, identidad de género y expresión de género en la noticia de los medios de comunicación y organizaciones de la sociedad civil, p.20.
(2011-2013, Argentina)Fundación Myrna Mack et. al, Discriminación por orientación sexual e identidad de género y una aproximación a la interseccionalidad con otras formas de discriminación en Guatemala, 4 November 2012, p. 33.
(2010-2011, Colombia)Colombia Diversa, Impunidad Sin Fin: Informe de Derechos Humanos de Lesbianas, Gay, Bisexuales y Personas Trans en Colombia 2010-2011, 2013, p. 14.
(2013, Brazil)Grupo Gay da Bahía (GGB), Assassinato de Homossexuais (LGBT) no Brasil: Relatório 2013/2014.
Violations of the Right to Personal Integrity
"Every person has the right to have his physical, mental, and moral integrity respected."
"Every person has the right to personal liberty and security."
1. Violations in the context of law enforcement:
Torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
Police involvement in discrimination and violence against LGBT persons leads others to believe that they can harm persons of non-conforming sexuality or gender with impunity.
Arbitrary detention is another major concern in the overall context of police abuse against LGBT persons.
“To the police, all transgenders are prostitutes.”Human Rights Watch, Sex Workers at Risk, Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities, 2012, p. 20.
The violence occurs at all stages of police custody, including apprehension, transportation in police vehicles and, above all, in the premises of police stations and lock-up facilities
"States must refrain from arresting or detaining persons on discriminatory grounds, including sexual orientation and gender identity."UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, A/HRC/29/23, 4 May 2015, para. 15.
In Argentina, civil society indicates that .ATTTA, Ley de Identidad de Genero y Acceso al cuidado de la salud de las personas trans en Argentina, Pages 12-13.
The IACHR has received reports from multiple organizations of cases in which police agents not only perpetrate violence, but also incite others to attack LGBT persons, or are indifferent toward violence perpetrated by third parties.
The defender explained: “only some police are abusive, but the lack of response and impunity concerns the whole police force.
”Testimony of a transgender woman human rights defender from Cali. Meeting of LGBTI persons with the President of the IACHR in Cali. September 30, 2014.
2. Rape and sexual violence
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex persons can be particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. One of the reasons for this vulnerability stems from the fact that diverse sexual orientations and identities challenge the core notions of heteronormative sex, sexuality, and gender.
Forcible introduction of objects into the anus appears to be a common way of inflicting excruciating pain on victims, and is usually a part of brutal acts of violence perpetrated against gay men and trans women.
LGBT and gender non-conforming persons are at high risk of being denied medical treatment or being further victimized when seeking health care following a sexual assault, it may be the case that the impact of sexual assaults on LGBT and gender non-conforming persons is higher than on gender-conforming and non-LGBT victims of assault.
Corrective Rapes
“Corrective rape” has been defined as a “hate crime in which an individual is raped because of their perceived sexual or gender orientation, with the intended consequence of the rape being to ‘correct’ the individual’s orientation or make them ‘act’ more like their gender
.”Keren Lehavot and Tracy L. Simpson, Incorporating Lesbian and Bisexual Women into Women Veterans’ Health Priorities, 27 June 2013.
Behind this crime lies the perverse and erroneous belief that being penetrated by a male will render the woman “normal” again.
The very concept of “corrective rape” is incoherent and deplorable, since any attempt to “correct” a fundamental aspect of a human being’s life by violence is repugnant to human dignity and decency.
In Ecuador, “corrective” rape has been reported to take place as one of the heinous methods employed in the “clinics of de-homosexualization.” Fundación de Desarrollo Integral “Causana,” Clínicas de Deshomosexualización: ¿Delito Común o Violencia Estructural?, 20 February 2014, p. 3.
3. Other non-lethal attacks
The IACHR has been informed that sometimes attacks are religiously motivated, particularly attacks targeting young gay men.
In Brazil, three men attacked a 19-year-old gay man. Two of the men punched the victim repeatedly while the third prayed for the victim to be saved from his “sins.
” One of the attackers then wrapped the victim’s arm in a cloth and set it on fire. The attackers allegedly abandoned the victim with a note in his pocket that read: “the fire of purification was set upon he who declared his bestial lover.
”O Tempo, “Homossexual é agredido em ritual de ‘purificação de gays’,” 20 September 2014; O Tempo, “Polícia investiga motivação religiosa em agressão a gay,” 26 September 2014. tweet this
In the United States, five members of an evangelical church were charged with the kidnapping and assault of a young gay man. According to available information, the victim stated that the attack “was meant to rid him of homosexual demons.
”Daily News, “Indictment for 5 members of North Carolina’s Word of Faith Fellowship for alleged 2013 attack on gay man,” 11 December 2014.tweet this
4. Mob attacks
"Large crowds barricading, throwing objects (such as stones and Molotov cocktails), or calling for lynching of gay men."IACHR, Press Release No. 79/13. IACHR Expresses concern about Mob attacks, police abuse and other forms of violence against LGBTI persons. October 24, 2013.
In particular, the Commission has received reports of mob attacks occurring with unsettling frequency in Jamaica. See IACHR, Annual Report 2014, Chapter V: Follow-up of Recommendations issued by the IACHR in its country or thematic reports, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Jamaica, para. 173 and ff.
Read the reportMedical Violence against Intersex Persons
The IACHR has received reports of systematic and generalized human rights violations carried out against intersex persons because their bodies do not physically conform to the medically and culturally defined standards for “female” and “male” bodies.
There is often no medical benefit to “genital-normalizing” surgeries, particularly those that pertain only to cosmetic modifications of external genitalia, because intersex conditions generally pose no danger to life or health.Anne Tamar-Mattis, “Exceptions to the Rule: Curing the Law's Failure to Protect Intersex Infants” in Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, Volume 21, Issue 1, September 2013, p. 99, citing: Ford, Kishka-Kamari, "First, Do No Harm, The Fiction of Legal Parental Consent to Genital-Normalizing Surgery on Intersexed Infants” in Yale Law & Policy Review, No. 19, 2001, p. 476; Beh, Hazel Glenn & Diamond, Milton, “An Emerging Ethical and Medical Dilemma: Should Physicians Perform Sex Assignment Surgery on Infants with Ambiguous Genitalia?” in Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, No. 7, 2000, p. 7.
"Medical treatments of an intrusive and irreversible nature, when lacking a therapeutic purpose, may constitute torture or ill-treatment when enforced or administered without the free and informed consent of the person concerned.
"
UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Specific human rights violations
commonly suffered by intersex persons
In regards to Intersex persons, the IACHR notes that
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health recommended that health-care providers strive to postpone non-emergency invasive and irreversible interventions until the patient is sufficiently mature to provide informed consent.Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, A/64/272, 10 August 2009, para. 49.
Violence in the provision of health services
Mistreatment, harassment, and even physical violence are part of the experience of LGBT persons seeking medical attention.
in United States affirmed that they had experienced at least one of the following types of discrimination or aggression:Lambda Legal, When Health Care Isn’t Caring Lambda Legal’s: Survey on Discrimination Against LGBT People and People Living with HIV, 2010, p. 10.
- being refused needed care;
- being blamed for their health status;
- health care professionals refusing to touch them or using excessive precautions;
- health care professionals using harsh or abusive language; or
- health care professionals being physically rough or abusive.
One astounding example of denial of medical treatment was the case of Robert Eads, an American trans man who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It has been documented that at least twelve medical professionals refused to treat him because they feared that “treating this case of gender variance would hurt the reputation of their medical practices.
”
Violence related to attempts to “change” sexual orientation and gender identity
Young LGBT persons are subjected to harmful so-called ‘therapies’ intended to ‘modify’ their orientation or identity. Such therapies are unethical, unscientific and ineffective and may be tantamount to torture.Joint Statement on International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia “Discriminated and Made Vulnerable: Young LGBT and Intersex People Need Recognition and Protection of their Rights,” May 17, 2015.
The person under “treatment” is confined to a center, a boarding school or “clinic,” most times against their will or through deception, and subject to very strict regimes. These regimes usually include inhumane or degrading treatment and even sexual abuse as part of the “procedure” to attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Family members often deceive or even kidnap the victim; there have been cases in which victims were allegedly handcuffed or drugged so that they would not resist.
"Clínicas de deshomosexualización" in Ecuador:
The IACHR recognizes the State’s efforts in this regard, and encourages it to adopt all measures necessary to prevent the existence of these centers and to investigate them, as well as to punish those responsible.
Survivors indicated that once interned, they were:
- exposed to systematic verbal abuse, yelling, humiliation, and rape threats;
- housed in overcrowded rooms;
- held in isolation for long periods of time;
- deprived of food for several days or forced to eat unsanitary food or drink water from wells infested with dead toads, cockroaches and other insects;
- forced to “dress and behave like prostitutes to learn feminine behavior”
- and have sexual relations with other male interns by order of their “therapists;”
- kept in handcuffs for more than three months or
- chained to toilets that were being used by other persons;
- awakened with cold water buckets or urine being thrown on them;
- subjected to electroshock therapy;
- and touched, molested and even raped by custodial personnel.
Victims are extremely reluctant officially report these brutal acts to the autorities, among other, because:
- family members were involved in the abductions,
- law enforcement officials were involved in the wrongdoing and victims feared reprisals,
- lack of protections for those who report these crimes and a pervasive perception of impunity,
- the perpetrators were able to obtain written “consent” from the victims, and the victims believed that the existence of these documents precluded their possibilities of seeking justice.
Clara was waiting to go home with her parents when three men approached her, grabbed her by her hands and told her that “anything she said could be used against her.
” Clara demanded to see an arrest warrant, but the men instead threw her into a car and tried to handcuff her. Clara’s mother approached the car and told the men not to handcuff her. During the ride, Clara realized she was being “arrested” by her own family. She was in the backseat held at gunpoint by two men, each holding one of her legs. Minutes later they arrived at the “Julio Endara” psychiatric hospital. Clara saw her father and one of the men talking to a hospital guard. She was taken to a room where a female doctor injected a sedative which made her feel numb and incapable of reacting. She was then taken to a “clinic” in Chone, in the Ecuadorian province of Manabí, where she was locked up.
Hate speech and the incitement to violence against LGBTI persons
Information indicates that violence against LGBTI persons in the region is often fueled by the dissemination of hate speech targeted at this community in different contexts, including the media and the Internet.
It is essential to recognize that hate speech and incitement to violence can endanger the lives and safety of LGBTI people.
The IACHR reiterates that the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression should coincide with efforts to combat intolerance, discrimination, hate speech and incitement to violence.
Read the reportAccording to the standards established under the American Convention speech cannot be prohibited simply because it expresses an intolerant or offensive idea or opinion. Rather, it must specifically incite violence or other similar action before it rises to the level of an act that must be punishable by law. The offensiveness of speech in and of itself is not sufficient reason to prohibit it.
The formal rejection of hate speech by high-level public officials and the condemnation of hateful ideas expressed can work as a preventive measure to combat incitement to violence and discrimination.
Preventive mechanisms could include: education to promote understanding and combat negative stereotypes and discrimination against LGBTI persons, including programs aimed at schoolchildren and informational campaigns; training for law enforcement agents and those involved in the administration of justice on the prohibition of hate speech and incitement to violence; and data collection and analysis in relation to freedom of expression and hate speech.
Intersectionality of violence against LGBTI persons
When lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex persons are victims of violence, their actual experiences of such violence are very diverse.
This diversity is a result of differing personal circumstances and characteristics, and in particular, the existence of certain factors that make some LGBTI persons especially vulnerable to violence, or which worsen the consequences of such violence.
1. Indigenous peoples
The IACHR notes that such persons might not self-identify as LGBT, and instead might self-identify with another expression of diverse sexuality, for example two-spirited, or might not discuss their gender or sexual orientation in terms that easily translate to the concept of LGBT as used in this report and elsewhere.IACHR, Public Hearing on Situation of Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Transexual, Bisexual and Intersex Indigenous Persons in the Americas, 147 Period of Sessions, 16 March 2013.
During a public hearing held in March 2013, a group of petitioners presented information on the negative impact of colonization on the ancestral sexualities and spiritualties of indigenous peoples.
According to the information provided, colonization resulted in the suppression of non-heteronormative sexualities among indigenous peoples. This had devastating consequences, including loss of acceptance of people of non-heteronormative sexualities within their own societies, self-harm, and suicide.
2. Women
Acts of violence against women, including lesbian, bisexual and trans women, are experienced by women as manifestations of the structural and historical sexism and inequality between men and women.
Lesbian women are at particular risk for violence because of misogyny and gender inequality in society, but there is significant underreporting of violence against lesbian women.
Lesbian women are “victims of ‘corrective rape’ or rape targeted to punish them, in an effort to ‘change’ their sexual orientation; collective beatings for public display of affection; attacks with acid; and forcib[le] commit[ment] to centers that offer to ‘convert’ their sexual orientation.
”IACHR Annex to the Press Release 153, An Overview of Violence against LGBTI Persons in the Americas: a Registry Documenting Acts of Violence between January 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014
According to data from the 2010 U.S. National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) the lifetime prevalence of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner was: IACHR Annex to the Press Release 153, An Overview of Violence against LGBTI Persons in the Americas: a Registry Documenting Acts of Violence between January 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014
women
women
women
The IACHR emphasizes that States have the obligation to prevent, punish and eradicate all forms of violence against women, including lesbian, bisexual, trans, and intersex women, as per the Belém do Pará Convention.
Trans women
Violence against trans persons, particularly trans women, is the result of a combination of factors: exclusion, discrimination and violence within the family, schools, and society at large; lack of recognition of their gender identity; involvement in occupations that puts them at a higher risk for violence; and high criminalization.
The IACHR has expressed concern about the young age of trans victims.
There are certain specific acts of violence present in many cases of attacks against trans women:
- beatings targeted at the breasts;
- the puncturing of silicone breast implants, which causes the implants to leak toxic substances into the body;
- and genital mutilation, including even post-mortem castration.
3. Persons in the context of human mobility
The IACHR has affirmes that persons in the context of human mobility, such as migrants and their families, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced persons, among others, are vulnerable to human rights violations. Within this group, LGBT persons are extremely vulnerable to violence and discrimination.
Refugee claims based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity are most commonly recognized under the grounds of “membership of a particular social group” under the five grounds for persecution established in the 1951 Refugee Convention.
LGBT refugees’ experiences “have taught them that they need to hide to survive. Speaking openly with strangers about their lives can feel shameful and dangerous.
”ORAM, Blind Alleys: The Unseen struggles of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Refugees in Mexico, Uganda and South Africa, February 2013, p. 11.
Recommendations for adjudicating the refugee status of LGBT applicants: do not rely on stereotypical assumptions of LGBT persons.
In several countries trans women are housed with the general male population in immigration detention centers. Decision on where to house trans persons should be done on a case by case basis, with due respect to their personal dignity, and to the extent possible, with prior consultation of the person concerned.
“After living in the U.S. for twelve years, Johanna was apprehended by ICE and placed in an all-male detention facility [where she] was beaten and sexually assaulted [...] Unable to bear the conditions of her detention, she elected to self-deport. Life in El Salvador quickly became too dangerous for her and she attempted to return to the U.S. She crossed the border illegally and was apprehended by the Border Patrol. [... She] was sent to an all-male federal prison and was held in solitary confinement for seven months before being deported back to El Salvador for a second time [where] she was kidnapped and gang-raped. [...] the police, they refused to help her and suggested that the men should have killed her. Soon after this, she fled to the U.S. for a third time and was once again arrested [...] and imprisoned...”
tweet this4. Children and Youth
Children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex, or who are seen as such, face stigma, discrimination and violence because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation and gender identity, or because their bodies differ from typical definitions of female or male.
According to UNICEF, the range of this discrimination and violence includes:
- isolation from peers at school, at home, or in the community;
- marginalization and exclusion from essential services like education and health care;
- abandonment by family and community;
- bullying and intimidation;
- and physical and sexual violence, including “corrective” rape.
There are cases in which parents or other family members exert physical violence against children because they perceive them as gender non-conforming, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. The intent of this violence is to “correct” the children, a brutal method referred to as “beating the gay out/away
.”
The authority of the family does not entitle it to exercise arbitrary control over a child where such exercise of control could pose a threat to the minor’s health or development.
Violence that takes place in educational environments
“LGBT children are often bullied by classmates and teachers, resulting in some students dropping out. They may even be refused school admission or expelled on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.”Joint statement marking the 2015 International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the IACHR, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN human rights experts and other regional experts.
Students reported having being physically harassed or assaulted because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity:Eagle Canada Human Rights Trust, Every Class in Every School: Final Report on the First National Climate Survey on Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia in Canadian Schools.
bisexual
Bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity involve:
- relentless teasing, name-calling, and verbal abuse which escalated to more severe attacks, including: repeated molestation or touching of the victim’s genitals while the perpetrators hurled derogatory epithets;
- dragging the victim behind a pickup truck with a lasso around the victim’s neck;
- punching, kicking, and throwing the victim into a urinal;
- spraying water and dumping hot melted cheese on the victim’s head;
- urination and mock rape;
- throwing bottles and pushing the victim down the stairs;
- continuously shoving the victim into lockers and spiting on the victim;
- and continuous harassment culminating in a sexual assault in the school locker-room;
- among others.
For instance, the State of Argentina informed the IACHR that a local survey estimated that thans women had been unable to finish:Response to the IACHR Questionnaire on Violence against LGBTI Persons in the Americas submitted by the State of Argentina, Note 96357/2013, dated 29 November 2013, received by IACHR Executive Secretariat on 13December 2013, p. 16.
studies
school
of violence
If bullying is tolerated, a strong social message is sent to LGBT persons that the open expression of their orientations or identities is not accepted.
5. Human Rights Defenders
The IACHR reiterates that the work of human rights defenders is fundamental for the universal implementation of human rights, and for the full existence of democracy and the rule of law. Human rights defenders are an essential pillar for the strengthening and consolidation of democracy.
UN Special Procedures have noted that LGBTI human rights defenders may face greater risks because their work “challenges social structures, traditional practices and interpretation of religious precepts that may have been used over long periods of time to condone and justify violation of the human rights of members of such groups
”.Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, A/56/156, 3 July 2001, para. 25; Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, E/CN.4/2001/94, 26 January 2001, para. 89(g).
LGBT human rights defenders suffer such violence as a consequence of their situation of triple vulnerability:
- persons who identify as LGBT are already vulnerable because of their sexuality, sexual orientation and/or gender identity
- because of their role as human rights defenders and
- because of the specific causes that they champion.
Among the most vulnerable to this severe violence are trans women who are human rights defenders and who also engage in sex work.
The IACHR has received troubling information concerning opposition groups and church groups that are constantly waging campaigns to discredit organizations that defend the rights of LGBTI persons.
to protect defenders of LGBTI persons in Belize, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Guatemala.
in Honduras between 2006 and 2013 Response to the IACHR Questionnaire on Violence against LGBTI Persons in the Americas submitted by Cattrachas, (Honduras), received by the IACHR Executive Secretariat on 1 December 2013, p. 26.
Public officials must refrain from making statements that stigmatize human rights defenders or that suggest that human rights organizations act improperly or illegally, merely because they engage in the work of promoting and protecting human rights.
6. Persons Deprived of Liberty
According to the UN Special Rapporteur, LGBT persons are at the bottom of the informal hierarchy in detention facilities, which results in double or triple discrimination, and they are disproportionately subjected to torture and other forms of ill treatment.Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, A/HRC/22/53, 1 February 2013, para. 79.
LGBT persons who are deprived of their liberty are at a heightened risk for sexual violence and other acts of violence and discrimination at the hands of custodial staff or other persons deprived of liberty.
Female prisoners whom guards viewed as “masculine
” in appearance have reportedly been subjected to harassment, physical abuse, and “forced feminization.
”
Additionally, gay men or trans women deprived of their liberty may be forced into servitude by other inmates, required to do menial tasks on their behalf, and provide sexual services to them.
Several NGOs report that LGBT persons often decide to remain in their cells as much as possible in order to avoid being attacked by other inmates.
Trans women are at heightened risk of sexual violence because of their routine imprisonment in male facilities, without regard to the specificities of the person or the case. The IACHR has affirmed that the decision on where to house trans persons should be done on a case by case basis, and to the extent possible, with prior consultation of the person concerned.
On the other hand, according to the available information, several prison compounds in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Paraguay, the United States, and Uruguay, have separate pavilions or cells in male prisons to specifically house trans women and gay men.
Among LGBT prisoners:
in MéxicoUS Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Statistics, PREA Data Collection Activities 2013, June 2013, NCJ 242114, p.2.
The IACHR calls on OAS Member States to adopt urgent and effective measures to guarantee the life, personal security, and integrity of LGBT persons, or those perceived as such, in the region’s places of detention, including prisons and immigration detention centers.
The IACHR calls on OAS Member States to restrict the indiscriminate and prolonged use of solitary confinement of LGBT persons in places of detention, including immigration detention centers and prisons.
7. Persons of African Descent
The IACHR has received troubling information concerning the high levels of discrimination and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) persons of African descent in the Americas.
LGBTQ persons of color are more likely to experience violence perpetrated by their intimate partners, and are more likely to experience intimate partner violence that occurs in public.
When compared to white cisgender persons, trans persons of color are six times more likely to experience physical violence at the hands of the police. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, A Report of Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Queer, and HIV-Affected Hate Violence in 2013, 2014, p. 10.
Out of the killing of LGBTQ persons in 2014:
color
of color National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, National Report on Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities Released Today.
In 2011, self-identification of the LGBT victims of violence in Brazil:
(pretos and pardos)
The Commission was informed of the case of “Alias el Oso,” a member of a Colombian paramilitary group, who ordered the torture of gay men, especially those who were “effeminate”, and of Afro-descendants. The torture was to be carried out in the homes of the victims, and was intended to terrorize the population. The victims were subsequently forced to leave their communities.
tweet this8. Persons Living in Poverty
LGBT persons often face poverty, social exclusion, and high rates of homelessness. LGBT persons are expelled from their families and schools and in some instances cannot even obtain jobs paying minimum wage. This pushes them into the informal economy or into criminal activity.Spade, Dean. Interview by Laura Flanders, The Laura Flanders Show, GRITTV, 2015.
In Latin America, discrimination and structural exclusion in the labor market, based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, is one of the triggers that “sets into motion an endless cycle of continued poverty.”Cabral, Mauro and Hoffman, Johanna. International Gay and Lesbian Humans Rights Commission, They Asked Me How I Was Living/Surviving, I said, surviving: Latin America Trans Women Living in Extreme Poverty, 2009, p. 6.
Some LGBT persons in such situations engage in sex work, or in survival sex, which is the exchange of sex for money, food, shelter, or other material goods needed for survival.
“Regardless of socio-economic origins, a large number of trans women who are thrown out of their family homes at an early age end up among the high number of trans women who are severely impoverished most of their lives.
”Cabral, Mauro and Hoffman, Johanna. International Gay and Lesbian Humans Rights Commission, They Asked Me How I Was Living/Surviving, I said, surviving: Latin America Trans Women Living in Extreme Poverty, 2009, p. 5.
It is reported that homelessness among LGBT persons “is almost always the result of discrimination or violence.
” LGBT persons are displaced from their homes, families, communities, and sometimes their country, by their families, landlords, and neighbors.J-FLAG, (re)Presenting and Redressing LGBT Homelessness in Jamaica: Towards a Multifaceted Approach to Addressing Anti-Gay Related Displacement, 2014, p. 2.
When intersex persons are born into impoverished families or to parents lacking access to formal education, the power imbalance that is normally present in the doctor-patient relationship tends to be exacerbated, with a consequent negative impact on intersex persons’ right to informed consent. Alcántara Z., Eva. Pobreza y Condición Intersexual en México: Reflexiones y Preguntas en Torno al Dispositivo Médico, Córdoba, Mejico: Anarres Editorial, 2009, p 16-30.
The prevalence in Latin America of informal and risky sex reassignment procedures causes a high number of (preventable) deaths of trans women. Cabral, Mauro and Hoffman, Johanna. International Gay and Lesbian Humans Rights Commission, They Asked Me How I Was Living/Surviving, I said, surviving: Latin America Trans Women Living in Extreme Poverty, 2009, p. 5.
One study conducted in Bogotá, Colombia showed in relation to reassigment procedures: Pachón, N. E. and Cruz, K. J. Uso De Modelantes Estéticos, Como Proceso De La Trasformación Corporal De Mujeres Transgeneristas, Bogotá, 2013. Obtenido de Tábula Rasa: Revista de Humanidades.