Puerto Rico’s Hostile Environment To LGBT Leads To Murder

In 18 months, 18 people from Puerto Rico’s LGBT community have been killed, according to a report from Autostraddle. The murders are the result of homophobia, a tolerant political environment, legislative shortcomings and more, according to the report. Here’s an excerpt:

Eighteen gay, lesbian and transsexual individuals have been murdered in the last eighteen months.The most publicized of these murders is that of Jorge Stephen Lopez Mercado,  who was decapitated, dismembered, burned and left on the side of the road in the city of Cayey. His attacker, Juan Antonio Martinez Matos, claimed his attack was caused by the shock of realizing Lopez Mercado was a biological male and not a female prostitute. ”Gay panic” pushed him into a blind rage and allegedly forced him to violently murder Lopez Mercado.

…Puerto Rico itself seems to have been experiencing an epidemic of gay panic for years. These murders are the horrific end result of general ignorance and fear of the LGBTT community in Puerto Rico. Sensational details like “transsexual prostitute” and “decapitation” fly around the world and top Google News headlines, but what’s really going on in the island of enchantment?

There’s lots more information here, in the meantime, I will just reiterate what I’ve said before: homophobia is unacceptable. If you accept homophobia, you also accept racism, discrimination, prejudice, religious intolerance, or any other maltreatment of a group for a particular thing you do not agree with. When you think about the future, and the fact that we live in an increasingly global marketplace, there’s no way the U.S. or any society will be able to compete if we are fractured amongst ourselves for our irresistible hatreds.

Just imagine all of the effort that goes into homophobia in Puerto Rico, even as the country is suffering tremendous brain drain and economic problems. I can’t see how this makes any kind of sense.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD