CORONAPAPERS, AN ILGALAC COLLECTION RAISES ITS VOICE IN THE MIDST OF THE PANDEMIC

(this is a statement issued by ILGALAC, regarding the launch of the Coronapapers. The original statement can be accessed here)

As part of the activities to commemorate May 17, International Day against LGBTIphobia, ILGALAC is launching an exclusive compilation of documents called Coronapapers. It consists of 16 articles written by LGBTIacronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. Although this is not the acronym available to describe people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics, it is the most commonly used in United Nations spaces and advocacy. More activists from all over Latin America and the Caribbean covering an immense range of issues related to the impact that quarantine and confinement measures have had on our LGBTI communities.

Pedro Paradiso Sottile, Executive Director of the ILGALAC, points out that “we are proud about the production of this unprecedented and necessary material in the framework of our campaign #AyudanosAAyudar, to understand the challenges we face in the region and to learn the perspectives of the human rights defenders who are working hard within the civil society to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time reflecting on the future we will face as LGBTI+ community and movement”.

The Coronapapers involve activists from a dozen countries, including places as far apart as Argentina and Haiti, Mexico and Guyana. They also cover a wide range of issues such as indigenous LGBTI communities in Bolivia, bisexualadjective used to describe a person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of other genders. More women, transadjective/umbrella term to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. More children and sports activists of sexual diversity and Central American LGBTI migrants.

Paul Caballero, Programme and Project Coordinator of the ILGALAC who also worked as an editor of the collection, points out that “ILGALAC has inclusion in its DNA, so the challenge was to ensure that we had not only a wide range of issues, because we understand that this crisis affects people at very different levels. We also set out to put together a great mosaic where several generations of activists would meet and contribute and also guarantee that the geographical scope of the articles would be broad and diverse. For the ILGALAC team it is a privilege to be able to cover the entire continent and to gain knowledge about the situation of the big metropolises such as Mexico or Buenos Aires, as well as small islands like Martinique or Guadeloupe”.

FOR COMMENT CONTACT:
Diego Trerotola, ILGALAC: [email protected]