Tag Archives: Lesbians in Bolivia

UN submission on discrimination and violence against lesbians

Posted on 14/08/2021 by | 1 comment

On 1 August 2021 Listening2Lesbians provided submissions in response to the following from the Commission on the Status of Women:

“Any individual, non-governmental organization, group or network may submit communications (complaints/appeals/petitions) to the Commission on the Status of Women containing information relating to alleged violations of human rights that affect the status of women in any country in the world. The Commission on the Status of Women considers such communications as part of its annual programme of work in order to identify emerging trends and patterns of injustice and discriminatory practices against women for purposes of policy formulation and development of strategies for the promotion of gender equality.”

Commission on the Status of Women: Communication Procedure

Information was provided to the UN on incidents dating back approximately 2.5 years across the 57 countries we have reported on in that time.

Legal, social and familial punishment of lesbians for failing to conform with the expectations imposed on women illuminates the status of women around the world. Homosexuality is understood to be a breach of sex-based expectations. Strictly enforced sex roles are accompanied by increased consequences for those who break them, individually or collectively. Lesbians, or women read as lesbians, are doubly punishable for their non-conformity, both overt and inferred.

Listening2Lesbians is not an expert on these countries and provided this information to augment and support the information provided by women from individual communities. We can only provide information on cases we have been able to locate and based our submissions solely around the available facts. Please note that we welcome corrections and updates.

We are painfully aware of the many communities not represented.

Anyone with information on missing communities is invited to contact us with information on reporting violence and discrimination against lesbians in their community.

Liz, Ari and Devorah @ Listening2Lesbians

Submissions:

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Bolivia: Lesbian Couple Denied Registration of Union

Posted on 21/07/2021 by | Leave a comment
Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

8 July 2021: Bolivia’s national civil registry (Registro de Servicio Cívico, SERECÍ) has discriminated against a lesbian couple by rejecting their application to register their relationship as a union, Human Rights Watch said today. All civil registries in the country should start legally recognizing same-sex relationships.

The lesbian couple, foreign citizens who legally reside in Bolivia, applied to La Paz civil registry in May 2021 to register a civil union, their lawyers told Human Rights Watch. In a June letter to those lawyers, the civil registry asserted that there is no current procedure to register same-sex unions in the country. The couple has begun administrative proceedings to appeal the decision. The letter ignores that the civil registry recognized the union of David Aruquipa and Guido Montaño, a gay couple, in December 2020, based on a court order. The civil registry claimed it needs to wait until Bolivia’s Plurinational Constitutional Court reviews the lower court ruling ordering Aruquipa and Montano’s registration.

“The national civil registry seems intent on doubling down on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “That only one same-sex couple in Bolivia has been able to register their union so far is unjust, and the civil registry should immediately give everyone the same opportunity to have their relationships legally recognized.”

Continue Reading: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/08/bolivia-lesbian-couple-denied-registration-union (source)

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International Lesbian Day: María Galindo – Lesbian and Feminist Militant

Posted on 08/10/2019 by | 1 comment

galinda.jpg

On December 17, 2015, this Bolivian activist, artist and performer, psychologist and radio host was called to testify in La Paz, accused of “destruction or deterioration of state assets and national wealth.” The crime: a street intervention signed by Women creating. The denounced graffiti said “Femicide is a crime of the patriarchal state” and referred to the murder of Andrea Aramayo Álvarez in August of the same year.

María appeared at the Prosecutor’s Office with an uneven scale that hung from her left hand and on her chest a necklace of shattered dolls, a symbol of the outrages on which justice does not have, in Bolivia or anywhere, substantial interference.

With a huge Phrygian on which an open sign was supported like a fan that said “Prosecutor’s Office rhymes with crap”, Maria climbed the three floors by stairs to the screams until she reached the room to give a statement. Although those who have seen her once, always remember her, when Galindo is asked about her daily performativity and about the use of her own image as a fighting tool, she responds to having built it as anyone would do with her own, as if she simply It will be a lady with tied hair and a tailor suit.

(Translated)

El 17 de diciembre de 2015, esta activista boliviana, artista y performer, psicóloga y conductora de radio fue llamada a declarar en La Paz, acusada de “destrucción o deterioro de bienes del Estado y la riqueza nacional”. El delito: una intervención callejera firmada por Mujeres creando. El grafiti denunciado decía “El feminicidio es un crimen del Estado patriarcal” y aludía al asesinato de Andrea Aramayo Álvarez ocurrido en agosto del mismo año.

María se presentó en la Fiscalía con una balanza desnivelada que pendía de su mano izquierda y sobre el pecho un collar de muñecas destrozadas, símbolo de los ultrajes sobre los cuales la justicia no tiene, ni en Bolivia ni en ningún lado, sustancial injerencia.

Con un enorme frigio en el cual se apoyaba un cartel abierto como un abanico que decía “Fiscalía rima con porquería”, María subió los tres pisos por escaleras a los gritos hasta llegar a la sala a prestar declaración. Aunque quienes la han visto una vez, la recuerdan siempre, cuando a Galindo se le pregunta por su performatividad cotidiana y sobre el uso de su propia imagen como herramienta de lucha, ella responde haberla construido como cualquiera haría con la suya, como si simplemente se tratara de una señora de pelo atado y trajecito sastre.

(Original)

Continue reading: https://www.paginasiete.bo/ideas
/2019/8/11/maria-galindo-militante-lesbiana-feminista-226902.html (source)

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Bolivia: Lesbians discriminated against on bus

Posted on 12/08/2019 by | 1 comment

LaPazBus Apology

A lesbian couple reported through their Twitter account that a PumaKatari bus official discriminated against them, interpreting that the act of boarding the bus holding hands implied “a lack of respect for families.”
…
Following the reaction of many users and more information from the complaint, the La Paz Bus company expressed its apologies using its account on the same network. “PUBLIC APOLOGY
Through this means we are aware of your case, and we already have inbox contact with you, in the first instance it is appropriate to ask for our sincere PUBLIC APOLOGIES. Our commitment is to provide the best transportation service in Bolivia,” La Paz Bus wrote.
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The complainant considered that she and her partner had a difficult time boarding the bus, which even brought her girlfriend “to the brink of tears,” and wondered if PumaKatari officials do the same with heterosexual couples. “I would like to know how many heterosexual couples do the Puma make cry for being together? How many are publicly humiliated for looking at each other with tenderness?”

“I want to be told with numbers. How many times have you approached a heterosexual couple to tell them to have RESPECT FOR FAMILIES? ”

(Translated)

Una pareja de lesbianas denunció a través de su cuenta en Twitter que un funcionario del bus PumaKatari las discriminó entendiendo que, al ingresar tomadas de la mano al bus, el acto implicaba “una falta de respeto a las familias”.
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Luego de la reacción de muchos usuarios y más elementos de la denuncia, desde su cuenta en la misma red la empresa La Paz Bus expresó su disculpas. “DISCULPAS PÚBLICAS A través de este medio tomamos conocimiento de su caso, y ya tomamos contacto inbox con Usted, en primera instancia corresponde pedirle nuestras sinceras DISCULPAS PÚBLICAS, nuestro compromiso es brindar el mejor servicio de transporte en Bolivia”, escribió La Paz Bus.
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La denunciante consideró que ella y su pareja pasaron un momento difícil al abordar el bus, en el que incluso su novia “bajó al borde de las lágrimas”, y se preguntó si los funcionarios del PumaKatari hacen lo mismo con parejas heterosexuales. “Quisiera saber a cuántas parejas heterosexuales hacen llorar en el Puma por estar juntas? A cuántas les humillan públicamente por mirarse con ternura?”

“Quiero que me digan.con números. Cuantas veces se han acercado a una pareja heterosexual a decirles que tengan RESPETO POR LAS FAMILIAS?”
(Original)

Continue reading at: http://www.la-razon.com/sociedad/bolivia-discriminacion-pumakatari-denuncia-lesbianas_0_3194680530.html (Source)

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