The Politics of Sexuality in Latin America: A Reader on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights

From Invisible Subjects to Citizens: A Report on Human Rights and Lesbians in Paraguay, 2006

From Invisible Subjects to Citizens A Report on Human Rights and Lesbians in Paraguay, 2006 Rosa M. Posa Guinea, Carolina Robledo Desh, and Camila Zabala Peroni, on behalf of Aireana, Group for Lesbian Rights Translated by Sarah Harper C  within the framework of women’s rights will make visible the diversity among women, who represent half of the population.Analyzing the degree of compliance with international pacts and conventions on human rights ratified by Paraguay demands a reflection on the guarantee (or lack thereof) of these same rights for lesbians. A proper consideration of lesbian rights requires addressing, in our current Paraguayan context, not only what are considered“specific”rights—for example, the recognition of civil unions and the right to adoption—but also the obstacles that lesbians face in exercising their human rights within a framework outlined by a state that, in its Magna Carta, is committed to removing these obstacles, but still fails to recognize discrimination against this particular sector. If human rights mean “the affirmation of the dignity of the citizen with respect to the State,”₁ what we can emphasize is, on the one hand, the inaction of the state, exemplified by the complete lack of public policy or government response, but also in the encouragement of discrimination as a norm; and, on the other hand, the impossibility of communicating with the state, due to the inexistence of proper mechanisms of denouncement, and the stigma surrounding the act of denouncement 365 caused by cultural pressures that condemn sexual practices that deviate from the heterosexual norm. Consequently, looking at , as in other years, we encounter cases of the violation of the human rights of lesbians that go undenounced. While contemplating various basic rights, the examples presented in this report demonstrate how women’s sexual orientation influences the practice of their economic , social, and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights, and how the stigma against homosexuality impedes, for lesbians, the fulfillment of the measures identified by the Convention Concerning the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women  and the Convention of Belém do Pará. Labor Rights Convention Concerning the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article : “States will adopt all necessary methods to eradicate discrimination against women in the realm of employment.” We maintain that discrimination against women is not limited to heterosexual women. The case of one lesbian who was pressured to resign while working for a private company is an example of how discrimination based on sexual orientation prevents the exercise of economic rights, and how discrimination operates as an impediment to acts of denouncement.² Discrimination against lesbians in the labor environment is evidence of this problem,³ but the existing public policies that seek to eliminate discrimination against women do not include specifications for lesbians.⁴ One sixteen-year-old girl in the city of Itá was a victim of domestic discrimination, as well as discrimination in her workplace and discrimination in housing, for having publicly identified herself as a lesbian. After the news was released that her girlfriend had committed suicide, the girl was thrown out of her home and fired from the mechanic shop where she worked. She tried to acquire a lease for a place to live, but the landlords did not want to lease to a publicly open lesbian.₅ This case exemplifies the series of limitations that may be placed on a lesbian’s economic, social, and cultural rights, such as the right to work and the right to shelter, simply for having “outed” herself. This instance of discrimination, and in reality all discrimination, impedes the fair practice of human rights. The Right to Education and the Right to a Nonsexist Education Convention Concerning the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article : “States will adopt all necessary measures to eradicate discrimination against 366 / Rosa M. Posa Guinea, Carolina Robledo Desh, and Camila Zabala Peroni women, with the intention of ensuring equal rights for women and men in education spheres . . . Subparagraph c) The elimination of all stereotyped concepts of masculine and feminine roles at every level and in every form of teaching . . . Subparagraph f) The reduction of the female dropout rate . . .” The pressure to conform to obligatory heterosexuality as the only valid gender norm for women (and men) is one of the reasons that adolescent and young lesbians do not get to fully...