Gay rights in Latin America Out of the closet (from The Economist)

Gay rights in Latin America Out of the closet

Mar 8th 2007

LIMA From The Economist print editionAnd into politics
LATIN AMERICANS are surprisingly tolerant of homosexuality—within limits. Though they may face taunts and violence, men in particular can sometimes lead openly, even flamboyantly, gay lives as long as they conform to certain stereotypes (such as working as hairdressers). Those who prefer to be discreet usually benefit from Catholic society's widespread "don't ask, don't tell" tolerance of private foibles. It is when they start challenging norms and agitating for legal rights that the trouble typically starts.

Giving the kiss-off to machismo

Now, this too is gradually changing. In January two lesbians became the first same-sex couple to register a "civil solidarity union" in Coahuila, the first Mexican state to legalise such partnerships. This month Mexico City will follow suit. Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, and the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul also allow same-sex unions.
Argentina and Costa Rica too are considering giving legal recognition to same-sex unions. Last month Colombia's Constitutional Court granted gay couples who have lived together for more than two years the same inheritance rights as married heterosexuals. A bill to give them the same social-security rights is pending in Colombia's Congress.
The beginnings of a shift are visible in more conservative countries as well. In 2004 Peru's Constitutional Court struck down a law that banned members of the armed forces from having homosexual relations, whether on or off base, while the police's human-rights manual instructs officers not to mistreat gays, lesbians or transvestites. A Peruvian activist, Jorge Bracamonte, ran for a seat in the Andean Parliament last year, not so much to win (he didn't) but in order to campaign against homophobia. Even in Chile, where divorce has been legal only since 2004, a gay-rights group has begun lobbying politicians to legislate against discrimination.
Such legal changes would have been unthinkable in the region a decade ago. Abortion remains illegal in many Latin American countries. However, gays who campaign for change still face prejudice, and worse. The International Lesbian and Gay Association, a Brussels-based NGO, reported that in 2005 a gay man was killed every two days in Latin America solely because of his sexuality. In Brazil, whose government launched a campaign against homophobia in 2004, 2,509 gay men have been murdered over the past decade.
"Countries that have made the most progress, such as Brazil and Mexico, also have the highest levels of hate crimes," says Mr Bracamonte, a historian. The more they come out of the closet, the easier targets gay people become. In January an immigration judge in the United States who had previously denied a Mexican gay man's asylum bid, on the ground that he could conceal his sexual orientation and was therefore not in danger of persecution as a homosexual, reversed his decision.
Same-sex unions face powerful opposition from conservative political parties and the Catholic church. Because of that, campaigners have so far pushed only for civil unions, not marriage. But across the region, gay groups are slowly becoming part of the political scene.

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