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From All Over:
GenderNews
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Posted Sept 17 1998 |
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Copyright © 1995-1998 PlanetOut Corporation.
NewsPlanet Staff
Brazilian Police Kill T* (with thanks to GAIN, Gender Advocacy Internet News) Brazil's Grupo Gay da Bahia and the local Salvador Transvestites Association have staged protests of assaults against two transvestite sex workers by four Salvador military police officers. The police reportedly humiliated and tortured the cross-dressers, forcing them to strip off their clothes and jump into the sea on August 4, resulting in the death of one. The other, known as Joyce, along with Salvador Transvestites Association president Lena Oxxa, believe their lives are in danger, and are said to be under the protection of human rights groups. The demonstrations resulted in the arrest and discharge of the four perpetrators, but not of their lieutenant. Grupo Gay da Bahia's continuing documentation of murders of gays and transgenders in Brazil has reached 1,600 for the period 1980 - 1997, with only 5% ever resulting in a trial. |
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Both items copyright © 1995-1998 PlanetOut Corporation.
T* Runs for Mayor of LimaAugust 19, 1998 Fulvia Celica is the first transsexual to run for a local office in Lima, Peru, having registered as a mayoral candidate this past weekend, according to a Reuters report. Should she lose the October race to one of the three candidates running against her, she says she'll run for the national Congress in 2000. She complained of having been marginalized by Peruvians' homophobia and ignorance of transgenders. Celica performs as a clairvoyant on a local TV show. . . .Disqualified Under Questionable CircumstancesAugust 26, 1998 Fulvia Celica, the transsexual who had filed to run for mayor in a district of Lima, Peru, has had her candidacy blocked by the National Election Board for lack of grassroots support. Although Celica had presented 2,800 signatures on her petition for candidacy, well above the 2,300 required, the Board found only 135 to be valid. Celica told Reuters, "Right from the beginning it was difficult for me because the election board invented obstacles, saying they were unsure if I were a man or a woman. I'm staying calm for now. But if they say I committed fraud, then I -- an irreproachable woman -- will resort to presenting my case to the top human rights courts." Celica believes she may have been targeted by a "dirty tricks" campaign, possibly including destruction of her campaign materials by city workers. Celica, who entertains on TV with psychic predictions, still intends to run for the national Congress in 2000. Susana Higuchi, former wife of President Alberto Fujimori, was also found by the Board to have only about one-fifth of the valid signatures needed to become a candidate for mayor of Lima. |
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Copyright © 1995-1998 PlanetOut Corporation.
NewsPlanet Staff (with thanks to GAIN & Rex Wockner)
Summary: A transsexual activist building a case for Canadian asylum argues that L/G/B/T Mexicans live in danger, despite supposed discrimination protections there (it's hard to file a complaint when you're dead). Canadian officials stopped deportation proceedings for immigration violations against Mexican transsexual Luis Ezequiel Manzo Chavez, also known as "Shadmith" or "Shameif," to allow her to argue that her life would be endangered if she returned to her homeland. Manzo has been held in a detention center in Malton since appearing at Pearson airport for deportation late August 17 dressed as a woman. Officials ordered a psychiatric assessment, and a hearing scheduled for August 24 was delayed to August 27 to enable Manzo to obtain counsel. Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, who has been supporting Manzo's bid for asylum, reports that Manzo has been living in Toronto for 3-1/2 years, where her work as a counselor and activist has won her popularity and admiration in the transgender community. Manzo also recently held a two-bride wedding ceremony with her partner Crystal. Mexican diplomat Alfonso Nieto, stationed in Ottawa, publicly denied Manzo's claims of danger in Mexico, saying, "There are many transvestites in Mexico. It's illegal in Mexico to discriminate," adding that those who feel they have experienced discrimination can file a complaint with Mexico's human rights commission. Nieto continued, "What he's saying is false and just a story. Sounds like a good excuse for him to try and stay here.... I don't believe he'll face any problems at home.... People can behave as they want in Mexico. It's very easy to say these things to try and stay here." However, earlier this month Mexico's Citizen Commission Against Homophobic Hate Crimes distributed a report to the Spanish and European Parliaments citing the assassinations of 125 gays "with viciousness and extreme violence" since April 1995. In May, "Proceso" magazine reported increasing numbers of Mexican gays seeking asylum in the U.S., leading Deputy David Sanchez Comacho to tell the Mexico City council that, "Arbitrary discrimination, exclusion and segregation against homosexuals and lesbians affects all facets of their lives, from the family, in which they suffer the first rejection, to social repudiation ... including police extortion, raids on gay gathering spots, beatings, firings, being kicked out of rented housing due to the stigmatization of which they are the object, on up to unpunished murders." Sanchez Comacho's PRD (Democratic Revolutionary Party) went on to hold a pioneering conference in Mexico City in May to look at legal reforms to protect the rights of lesbigay and transgendered people. There journalist Carlos Bonfil said, "In the history of Mexico, homosexuals have been burned alive, systematically morally lynched, disowned by their families, fired from their jobs, imprisoned, banished from their hometowns ... excommunicated and murdered -- solely for the crime of their sexual orientation."
On August 27, Manzo was deported from Canada. Read this Community Notice for more information, including ways to help her. |
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Page prepared by Beth Lewis.
Brazilian Police Kill
TS Foiled in Run
Mexican T* Seeks