From the May-June 2020 issue of News & Letters

by Elise

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the Peruvian government must provide psychological treatment for, and pay damages to, Trans woman Azul Rojas Marin, who was stripped, beaten and raped with a truncheon by three Peruvian police officers. The ruling that she was tortured and that her detention was discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal, is that court’s first finding of torture against an LGBT person. Peru must also create protocols to investigate and track anti-LGBT violence. Rojas Marin’s complaint went to the Inter-American Court after prosecutors had dismissed it.

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LGBTQ Asians are fighting the explosion of hate crimes against them, physical, verbal and online, blaming them for the COVID-19 pandemic rather than the Chinese government for the coverup of its origins and the poor response by governments including the U.S. Amazin LeThi Foundation, Filipino LGBT Europe Out & Proud and National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance are speaking out against COVID-19 hate and racism against Asians. They offer courses on support groups and skill building specifically for Asian LGBTQ groups.

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Transgender rights groups including Transgender Health and Wellness Centre; Gender Justice LA; Transgender Law Center; El/La Para TransLatinas; and Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project are demanding California Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately enact the Emergency Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund. This fund would ameliorate disparities in housing, healthcare and employment and move Transgender, Gendervariant and Intersex people towards release from incarceration. Queer people may be especially susceptible to COVID-19, with higher rates of smoking, HIV, AIDS and cancer.