LGBT Latinos for equal rights in Puerto Rico

So many a time, I've wanted to blog about the great work my friend (and President of Puerto Rico Para Tod@s) Pedro Julio Serrano has been doing to secure LGBT rights in the island. We profiled him back in October of 2005 just as he had came to New York City to live. He is now working at the National Lesbian and Gay Task Force.

Anyway, recently things in the island had been heating up as a sexual orientation non-discrimination bill started making its way to the Senate and details emerged about a possible revision to Puerto Rico's Civil Code that would allow same-sex couples to get the same rights as couples who enter civil unions (read more below) and when a leading Senator threatened to use his power last week to prevent the anti-discrimination bill from even being debated, well, let's say it made the blood boil.

So, on Saturday I asked Pedro Julio if he thought it would be good if Latino LGBT communities outside Puerto Rico expressed their support. Lo and behold, between Saturday and yesterday more than 35 organizations from Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, El Salvador, Peru, as well as Latino LGBT organizations in the United States, expressed their support. Pretty amazing. Let's hope it helps to move these legislative measures in a path towards approval!

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contacts:

Pedro Julio Serrano
Andrés Duque
LatinosLGBTporPuertoRico@gmail.com

“Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations support legislative measures that would guarantee equal rights for all in Puerto Rico”

September 21, 2006 – In a statement sent to members of the Puerto Rican Senate today, more than 30 Latino organizations that work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities throughout Latin America and the United States, expressed their support for legislative measures awaiting consideration in the island’s Legislature in favor of equal rights for LGBT communities in Puerto Rico. The measures endorsed by these Latino LGBT organizations are Senate Bill 1585 which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and a revision of the Civil Code which would allow a same-sex couple the same benefits granted to a heterosexual couple in a civil union.

“This declaration of solidarity from Latino LGBT communities in the United States and Latin America is a powerful message of support for the fight for equal rights in which our Puerto Rican sisters and brothers are engaged. Today we wholeheartedly assume the call to action, with the hope that Puerto Rico becomes a model of justice and equality for all other Latin American countries and the Latino communities in the United States,” said Andrés Duque, a New York-based advocate for LGBT rights in Latino communities.

The organizations that signed this declaration of solidarity in favor of the Puerto Rican LGBT community are: ALLGO, Organización Estatal LGBT de Color, Asociación Brasileña de Gays, Lesbianas y Travestis, Asociación de Derechos Humanos "Entre Amigos", ATTTA Asociación Travestis Transexuales Transgeneros Argentinas, BIENESTAR, Brazilian Rainbow Group, Las Buenas Amigas, Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association (COLEGA), Comunidad Homosexual Argentina (CHA), Encuentros: Instituto para la Promoción de la Diversidad y la Cultura, Federación Argentina de Lesbianas Gays Bisexuales y Trans, Federacion Mexicana de Educacion Sexual y Sexologia (A.C FEMESS), Shalom Amigos, Asociacion Nacional de grupos de padres de hijos/as LGBT Mexico, La Fulana - Centro Comunitario para mujeres lesbianas y bisexuales, Grupo CD4, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), National Latino Coalition for Justice, Latino Commission on AIDS, Latino Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (Latino PFLAG - NYC) & PFLAG for Families of Color and Allies – NYC, Latitud 0: Movimiento LGBT Ecuatoriano, Love Sees No Borders, MATEANDO: 1er grupo Argentino y Uruguayo en Nueva York, Organizacion Ecuatoriana de Mujeres Lesbianas (OEML), Primer Movimiento Peruano LGBT NY, Puerto Rican Initiative to Develop Empowerment (PRIDE), RED_LACTRANS: Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe de personas trans, Somos Latin@s LGBT Coalition of Massachusetts & Latino Pride of New England, S.O.S. Discriminación Internacional, Venezuelan & American Lesbian, Gay Organization (VALGO), Venezuela Gay United.

“We extend our deep gratitude for this gesture of solidarity and love by our sister organizations in Latin America and from the Latino LGBT community in the United States. With these new voices joining our fight, we are motivated to fight more forcefully so that Puerto Rico can truly belong to everyone,” concluded Pedro Julio Serrano, a human rights activist and President of Puerto Rico Para Tod@s.

Declaration of support for the LGBT community in Puerto Rico

Honorable members of the Puerto Rican Senate:

We, as members of the Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community join our Puerto Rican sisters and brothers and call on the legislative powers to honor their sworn responsibility to protect its citizens and eliminate any discriminatory barriers that prevents the free development of all its citizens.

In a Democracy, it is imperative that the Senate allow open debate on legislative measures which include Senate Bill 1585, which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, and a revision of the Civil Code which would allow a same-sex couple the same benefits granted to a heterosexual couple in a civil union.

We appeal to you highest sense of justice to validate the demand for equal rights for LGBT communities throughout Puerto Rico. We are hopeful that Puerto Rico will take the leadership in the Caribbean region and not only allow a debate on these measures but also vote for their passage in order to protect members from the LGBT community from unjust and immoral discrimination and protect the rights of couples who love each other, including same-sex couples, as has been already done by communities in Argentina, Brazil and, in the near future by Uruguay and possibly Colombia.

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY NAME OF ORGANIZATION

Jesús Ortega
Director, Community Development
ALLGO, Organización Estatal LGBT de Personas de Color
Austin, TX, USA

Toni Reis
Secretary General
Asociación Brasileña de Gays, Lesbianas y Travestis
Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

William Vladimir Hernandez Valenzuela
Director
Asociación de Derechos Humanos "Entre Amigos"
San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America

Marcela Romero General
Coordinator and Representative
ATTTA Asociación Travestis Transexuales Transgéneros Argentinas
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Oscar De La O
President & CEO
BIENESTAR
Southern California, CA, USA

Steven A. Toledo
Associate Director
Brazilian Rainbow Group
New York, NY, USA

Cathy Chang President
Las Buenas Amigas
New York, NY, USA

Andrés Duque
Co-Founder
Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association (COLEGA)
New York, NY, USA

Cesar Cigliutti
Director
Comunidad Homosexual Argentina (CHA)
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Alejandro Merino Rosas
Representative
Encuentros: Instituto para la Promoción de la Diversidad y la Cultura
Lima, Perú

María Rachid
President
Federación Argentina de Lesbianas Gays Bisexuales y Trans
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Luis Perelman
Representative
Federacion Mexicana de Educacion Sexual y Sexologia (A.C FEMESS); Shalom Amigos (Mexican LGBT Jewish Group); and Asociacion Nacional de grupos de padres de hijos/as LGBT
Mexico Ciudad de México, DF, México

Claudia Castro
Coordinator
La Fulana - Centro Comunitario para mujeres lesbianas y bisexuales
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Antonio Ortega
Representative
Grupo CD4
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Marcelo Ernesto Ferreyra
Coordinator, Latin American and Caribbean Program
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)

Stephen Barris
Spokesperson
International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA)
Brussels, Belgium

Sandra Telep
Co-Chair
National Latino Coalition for Justice
Washington, DC, USA

Dennis deLeon
President
Latino Commission on AIDS
New York, NY , USA

Nila Marrone
Representative
Latino Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (Latino PFLAG - NYC) & PFLAG for Families of Color and Allies - NYC
New York, NY, USA

Bolívar Nieto
Representative, Board of Directors
Latitud 0: Movimiento LGBT Ecuatoriano
New York, NY, USA

Marta Donayre y Leslie Bulbuk
Co-Founders
Love Sees No Borders
San Francisco, CA, USA

Hugo Ovejero
María Berrio
María Belén Correa
Co-Directors
MATEANDO: 1er grupo Argentino y Uruguayo en Nueva York
New York, NY, USA

Sandra Álvarez Monsalve
Executive Director
Organizacion Ecuatoriana de Mujeres Lesbianas (OEML)
Quito, Ecuador

José Sánchez
Director
Primer Movimiento Peruano LGBT NY
New York, NY, USA

Luis A. Robles
President & Chairman
Puerto Rican Initiative to Develop Empowerment (PRIDE)
New York, NY, USA

María Belén Correa
Administrator & Founder
RED_LACTRANS: Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe de personas trans

Wilfred Labiosa and the Board of Directors
Somos Latin@s LGBT Coalition of Massachusetts & Latino Pride of New England
Boston, MA, USA

Manuel Edmundo Ramos Gutiérrez
President
S.O.S. Discriminación Internacional
Querétaro, México

José Tineo
Director
Venezuelan & American Lesbian, Gay Organization (VALGO)
New York, NY, USA

Gerardo Pineda
Director
Venezuela Gay United
New York, NY, USA