This project’s ultimate aim is to increase the safety, inclusion and acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people in the region.
Why Central America?
The countries where the project works – Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica – share many social, economic and cultural characteristics. The first three are part of the so-called Northern Triangle in Central America. It is one of the most violent regions in the world today. Here, LGBTIQ+ people are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence, disappearances, forced recruitment in the armed forces, gangs, extortion and violent displacement. For many LGBTIQ+ people, the only way to escape the violence is to seek asylum in the United States or Mexico. Quite a few end up stranded in Costa Rica.
In addition, conservative, nationalist and evangelical groups in the region use LGBTIQ+ issues to fight against gender equality, seeking and producing a backlash against the rights of both LGBTIQ+ people and women.
How do we think we can make a difference?
This project supports LGBTIQ+ people who face multiple and intersecting forms of marginalization and are underrepresented in decision-making spaces, including within the LGBTIQ+ community. These groups suffer even greater stigma, discrimination, and violence than other people who identify as LGBTIQ+. As a consequence, their priorities, needs and rights are often neglected and their organizations are underfunded and small.
We aim to change that by supporting rightsholders and their organizations so they can make their voices heard and ensure that their priorities, needs and ideas are considered and included in advocacy efforts to improve the situation of LGBTIQ+ people and women in the region.
The project also aims to increase the safety of LGBTIQ+ people by helping LGBTIQ+ organizations produce and use research, disaggregated data, and documentation on acts of violence and hate in an intersectional way.
Where
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica
Period
April 2022 to March 31, 2024
Partners and allied organizations
Xela GAX Support Group–Trabajando Unidos, Ajkab´awil, Somos Association–AMTA, MESART, ASPIDH, Arcoíris Trans, Unidad Color Rosa Collective
