For the first time, Mexico celebrated the Pride parade online. This day reminds us that although there is more and more acceptance, there is a lot of work left to do regarding the civil and human rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, who have several demands that have yet to be fulfilled.
Although the LGBTQIA+ community couldn’t march to express their pride because the parade was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic , let’s not forget that this sector has been subjected to discrimination and many of their members have been murdered , to the point that statistically, they have one of the shortest life expectancies in Latin America, where Mexico holds the second place in the femicides of transgender women.
Although Mexico is not one of the countries where homosexuality is punished by the law or by religion, it is not among the most open-minded nations, in contrast with first world countries, where they protect the LGBTQIA+ community .
Recommended: Missing trans activist and doctor María Elizabeth Montaño found dead in Mexico
During Pride 2020 , the community and its allies remembered Dr. María Elizabeth Montaño , a transgender woman and activist who passed away recently. Her death has been ruled a suicide, although it was first believed that it was a hate crime , which shows how pressured transgender people feel, even when they accept themselves and manifest their identity with pride.
In Mexico, respect is a word that acquires new dimensions when it is linked to the LGBTQIA+ community ; however, a large part of society harasses the community. Moreover, homophobia could also be considered a terrible pandemic that spreads throughout the world and that results in death; nevertheless, there is a cure: education . We must push for a country where rejection, repression, and prejudices are seen as abnormal because sexual diversity is certainly not abnormal.
Recommended: The struggle for transgender identity in Mexico
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