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

Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas

Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas Andrew Reding [. . .] Methodological Cautions   groups occasionally fall into the methodological trap of assuming that all violence directed toward members of sexual minorities is motivated by those persons ’ sexual orientation. But like any other persons,  individuals also fall victim to crimes that have nothing to do with their sexuality. In countries with high overall crime rates, one would expect a comparably high crime rate against homosexuals even in the absence of societal prejudice. The only point that can validly be made from aggregate crime statistics, in the absence of specific evidence indicating intent for each crime, is that higher crime rates against homosexuals—as opposed to the population at large—point to the effects of social stigma and hatred. In its first annual report on human rights in Chile (covering the year ), the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movimiento de Integración y Liberación Homosexual, ) cautioned: 290 That a homosexual is murdered does not necessarily mean that it is the result of homophobia , since other phenomena can lead to homicide, such as common crime, drug trafficking, amorous disputes between partners, etc. Simply put, homosexuals, like other persons, are assaulted, robbed, and murdered by criminals, and not necessarily because they are gay, lesbian, transvestite, transgendered, or transsexual. Our organization does not wish to commit the error, which is quite frequent among homosexual organizations in various parts of the world, to explain any tragedy or problem that affects a member of a sexual minority as being motivated by homophobia. Besides being immoral, such an approach is sensationalist and irresponsible.₁ In the late s, two reports by a Mexican group raised serious concerns about killings of homosexuals. At the May , , launching of the Citizen’s Commission against Homophobic Hate Crimes (Comisión Ciudadana contra los Crímenes de Odio por Homofobia, ), conveners presented a report alleging a national epidemic of homicidal hate crimes. The report listed  murders throughout Mexico over a three-year period from February  through April , with  occurring in the Federal District,  in the adjoining state of Mexico,  in Veracruz, and a lesser number in other states. Though the report raised troubling questions, it suffered from methodological shortcomings.Its sole source was the Mexico City daily newspaper La Prensa,a tabloid (nota roja) that focuses on the police beat.² Second, many of the victims were listed as “unknown,” with brief descriptions—“beaten and strangled,” “hung,” “stabbed,” “asphyxiated with a plastic bag and shot in the head”—insufficient to corroborate either their homosexuality or allegations of a hate crime. Third, no effort was made to verify any of the newspaper accounts, or find corroborating sources.³ Rodolfo Millán, the attorney who was the report’s chief author, explained that human-rights investigators face serious challenges in trying to obtain the facts needed to find out what really happened in such murders. The first problem is legal. Mexican law restricts access to police files to those who have a material interest in the case, such as family members. That leads to a second problem. Relatives are often reluctant to allow public disclosure of information that could expose the sexual orientation of the deceased, and thereby embarrass the family. For these reasons, he said, it had been virtually impossible to obtain further information about the cases.⁴ Mexican criminologist Rafael Ruiz, on the other hand, cautioned that the overall numbers did not point to a higher homicide rate for homosexuals than for the general population.There were , reported homicides in the Federal District (Distrito Federal , D.F.) in the years  through . The  reported killings of homosexuals in the D.F. during that period represented only . percent of total reported homicides.₅ That figure is, if anything, smaller than most estimates of the percentage of the population thought to be homosexual. It is likely, however, that homicides of homosexuals were underreported, to avoid unwanted publicity for their families. Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas / 291 In the summer of , the Citizen’s Commission against Homophobic Hate Crimes issued a second report, claiming a total of  hate-motivated“executions”of homosexuals in the four years beginning in  and culminating in . The much higher reported number of killings attracted sensational coverage in some news media.₆ Yet careful examination of the report revealed little that was different from the first report. The only new information was a figure of...