Civil rights organizations call on
federal lawmakers to intervene against discriminatory measures and systemic
funding barriers harming the island's LGBTQ+ community
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| From left, Shaena Johnson, Cleopatra Jach Acquaye, Anita Teekak and Miguel Vazquez Rivera |
Published on Substack
By Sandra Rodriguez Cotto
Civil rights and Puerto
Rico-based advocacy groups took to Capitol Hill yesterday to alert Members of
Congress to a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and policies sweeping through the
archipelago. In a briefing hosted in collaboration with the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus (CHC), representatives from the True Self Foundation and
LatinoJustice PRLDEF detailed the escalating challenges confronting Puerto
Rico's LGBTQ+ residents, with a particular focus on the systemic targeting of
transgender and nonbinary individuals.
Advocates presented a comprehensive overview
of recent measures advanced or enacted by Puerto Rico's Legislative Assembly
and the current local administration. On the matter of service denials, they
pointed to legislation permitting government officials and state-licensed
professionals to deny services based on religious freedom claims. On
healthcare, they described both restrictions and criminalization: a ban on
gender-affirming medical care for transgender and nonbinary individuals under
the age of 21, coupled with criminal penalties for the healthcare providers who
offer such treatment.
Advocates also detailed a series of legal
and administrative rollbacks, including the appeal of a federal court ruling
that allows nonbinary people to correct the sex marker on their birth
certificates, as well as the elimination of gender identity references from the
Puerto Rico Department of Health's curricula, protocols, and official
documents.
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