Just over 7,500 Yucatecans are infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-AIDS), of which about five thousand are in Merida, but most worrying is that the rate of infection is 2.5 people a day, reported yesterday several groups that work against this disease..//
Given this scenario, 22 organizations that make up the Mexican LGBTI + Coalition Yucatan built a State Agenda for Public Policies aimed at improving the quality of life of LGBTI + people residing in Yucatan, a document that they intend to be integrated by the political parties in the platforms promoted by their candidates, facing the elections of July 1.
“There is no time to lose, because HIV is not discriminatory, it hits both rich and poor people, or with different sexual preferences. It (infects) anyone who does not have the protection tool, who does not care, who does not know how to use a condom, or where to get one, or the worst, when you know how to use it, but when it comes to exercising sexuality you have nowhere to go for a condom, ” said Carlos Renán Méndez, director of the Oasis shelter in San Juan de Dios.
THE DOCUMENT has already been received by all the political parties, with the exception of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
Méndez indicated that the municipalities where most cases have been reported after Mérida are: Valladolid, Progreso and the coastal zone, Ticul, Motul, Hunucmá, with quite high numbers.
“They are municipalities where you can establish municipal councils of sexual diversity, which attend, above all, prevention and culture actions to prevent HIV-AIDS,” he said.
In the press conference, the activists pointed out the document was already received by all the political parties except the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), under the argument that the presented format was not the correct one.
On the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia, they indicated that, for several years in the state, various groups have denounced the situation of discrimination, violence and exclusion that keeps Yucatan near the top at the national level of hate crimes for homophobia and transphobia.
Therefore, it is necessary to establish a “minimum floor” of legislative measures and public policies that should be established to ensure effective access to human rights for this sector of the population.
The activists proposed legislative actions such as the need to criminalize hate crimes derived from sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as to reform the legal provisions that guarantee the administrative change of the name or sex of transgender people.
They also encouraged that a state geo-reference base be created regarding the prevalence, types and nature of violence and discrimination against people with diverse sexual preferences.
The Coalition demanded that officials carry out social, educational and cultural programs, in addition to guaranteeing access to justice and health to members of the Lgbttti + community, both at the state and municipal levels.
“The candidates of all the parties have omitted in their campaign speeches any reference to the rights of sexual diversity, which seems to show that it is not a priority issue in their political agenda,” he said.
Text and photos: Esteban Cruz O.
