The Fight for LGBTTTIQ+ Recognition in Mexico
Sexualization of bodies normalized binary classification, marginalizing diverse identities. Communities demand recognition, taking the struggle to institutions. Mexico's CNDH issued a report highlighting legal protections for LGBTTTIQ+ rights, but constant vigilance and adaptation are needed.
In a world where the sexualization of bodies has long functioned as a system of social classification, the division of individuals according to their reproductive systems has been normalized. However, this binary classification fails to account for human diversity, leaving those who do not conform to sexual duality - lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, transgender, transvestites, intersex, queer, and other identities - marginalized and often persecuted.
Faced with harassment, persecution, and discrimination, people with diverse identities, orientations, sexual preferences, and gender expressions have banded together, forming communities to demonstrate and gather in a collective demand for the recognition of identity plurality in the social, legal, and political spheres. This struggle, which has been brewing for decades, has forced nation states to confront and question the dominant discourse on gender and sexuality, which has long established a normality based on the binary identification of male and female.
One of the greatest challenges facing these communities is the need to take their struggle to institutional spaces, where their rights can be protected and guaranteed. As Ivonne Szasz and Guadalupe Salas astutely observe, "the political subjects of socially constructed sexuality are intensely involved with the institutional discourses and platforms of law and human rights."
In recognition of both international and national plurality, the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico has issued a special report on the human rights situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite, transgender, transsexual, and intersex persons in the country. This report communicates international pronouncements, pronouncements issued by the CNDH, the legal framework for the protection of LGBTI people, as well as national regulations, among others.
The report highlights contributions of the Mexican legal system that protect the rights of LGBTTTIQ+ persons. It cites the first article of the Mexican Constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disabilities, social status, health conditions, religion, opinions, sexual preferences, marital status, or any other factor that violates human dignity and aims to nullify or impair the rights and freedoms of individuals. The Constitution also establishes the obligation of authorities to promote, respect, protect, and guarantee human rights in accordance with the principles of universality, interdependence, indivisibility, and progressiveness.
State Constitutions and Anti-Discrimination Clauses
Thanks to the articles of the Magna Carta, many of Mexico's federative entities have granted anti-discrimination clauses in matters of gender, sexual orientation, and identity to their state constitutions. These include Baja California (Article 7), Chiapas (Article 5, Section 3), Mexico City (Article 4, Section c), Colima (Article 1, Section 4), Durango (Article 5), Guerrero (Article 5), Jalisco (Article 4), and the State of Mexico (Article 5), among others.
The construction and protection of human rights in relation to gender and sexuality are complex processes that require constant vigilance and adaptation to ensure that all individuals, regardless of their sexual identity, are recognized and protected under the law. While the recognition of sexual diversity in the constitutions of Mexico can be considered an achievement, the struggle is far from over.
The General Archive of the Nation houses research instruments that allow us to learn more about the defense of the rights of the LGBTTTIQ+ community. These include bibliographic resources such as "Sexuality, Human Rights and Citizenship. Dialogue on a Construction Project" and "Demography of the Other: Sexual Biographies and Pairing Trajectories among Males in Mexico City."
The archive also contains iconographic documents, such as negative photographs of the gay and lesbian pride march of June 28, 1980, found in the Hermanos Mayo fund. Additionally, the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF) publishes laws, regulations, agreements, circulars, and orders of the United Mexican States, providing a valuable resource for understanding the legal landscape of LGBTTTIQ+ rights.
