Advocates Brief Congress on Growing Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislative Threats in Puerto Rico

Civil rights organizations call on federal lawmakers to intervene against discriminatory measures and systemic funding barriers harming the island's LGBTQ+ community

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. 

On the issue of restroom bans, they cited measures prohibiting inclusive restrooms in government facilities and the removal of restrooms that already existed at the University of Puerto Rico. They further noted insurance cuts affecting the community, specifically the elimination of hormone therapy coverage under Puerto Rico's government health plan for transgender and nonbinary people, along with a looming housing threat: a proposed federal policy that could exclude LGBTQ+ individuals from accessing public housing.

"In a historic moment, we came to Congress to denounce the systematic attacks against our community, particularly transgender and nonbinary people, by the current government administration," said Dr. Miguel Vázquez Rivera, Executive Director of the True Self Foundation. "It is imperative that allies across every level of government raise their voices in support of equality and against measures that restrict or strip away fundamental rights."

Beyond legislative threats, the briefing shed light on the unique financial hardships plaguing Puerto Rico's LGBTQ+ non-profits. Due to Puerto Rico's territorial status, organizations find themselves trapped in a philanthropic blind spot: many U.S.-based foundations overlook the island because it is a territory, while international foundations exclude it because it is not an independent nation.

Anita Teekah, Chief of Advocacy at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, emphasized how this political status exacerbates the crisis. "The anti-rights legislation being advanced, passed and implemented in Puerto Rico is antithetical to the ideals of advocates who believe all people have dignity," Teekah stated. "Puerto Rico's currently colonized status only compounds the difficulties that LGBTQ+ advocates are facing on the island."

The briefing concluded with an urgent call for federal lawmakers to support robust protections for Puerto Rico's LGBTQ+ community and to help bridge the funding gaps that threaten the survival of vital support services on the island.