Daily Report

Puerto Rico: LGBT activists criticize police

Hundreds of Puerto Ricans marched on June 6 in the island's 20th Pride event, held in San Juan's beachfront El Condado neighborhood. Olga Orraca, coordinator of the Rainbow Pride Coalition, which organized the march, said that that this year's event was intended not only to reaffirm the community's visibility but also to denounce hate crimes against LGBT people. Orraca and Human and Constitucional Rights Commission president Osvaldo Burgos criticized the inaction of the police in dealing with hate crimes eight years after a hate crimes law went into effect. (SentidoG, June 6 from El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico)

Mexico: Pride event remembers Carlos Monsivais

The 32nd annual Pride march in the Mexican capital, held on June 26, began with a moment of silence for journalist and activist Carlos Monsivais, who died on June 19 at the age of 72. Speakers noted Mexico's many famous LGBT writers and artists, including Salvador Novo and Frida Kahlo. "This march isn't about partying, it's about struggle and protest" was the slogan of the contingent that started the march from the Angel of Independence down the Paseo de la Reforma. Many marchers were calling for the right to same-sex marriage, established in Mexico City on Dec. 21, to be extended to the rest of the country. Contingents from outside Mexico City included The Two Mommies organization from the northeastern state of Nuevo León and Catholics for the Right to Decide, based in the states of Querétaro, Oaxaca and Guerrero, which calls for education to prevent discrimination. (Milenio, Mexico, June 27)

Central America: pride marchers praise El Salvador's Funes

On June 27 about 200 Costa Ricans joined a Pride march along Paseo Colón to the central park in San José. "Being gay isn't a sickness, it's a sexual preference," said one of the participants in the march, which was initiated by a group of female impersonators who perform in local discotheques. Abelardo Araya, a spokesperson for the Diversity Movement, said his group didn't support the march, which he said "reaffirms myths and prejudices." The Diversity Movement is leading opposition to a referendum scheduled for Dec. 5 on the right to same-sex marriage; LGBT activists fear that conservative Catholics voters will defeat efforts for marriage equality.

Andes region: demos celebrate LGBT gains

LGBT organizations in Cochabamba, Bolivia, held their fourth annual Pride event on June 26, marching from Las Banderas plaza to Colón square. Two days later, on June 28, Bolivian LGBT activists celebrated the first official Day of People With Diverse Sexual Orientation, which the government of President Evo Morales created on July 1, 2009 with Supreme Decree 0189. "We want to give an acknowledgment to all those who have been supporting us continually in everything that's a process of making human rights issues visible," said Luis Ayllón Martínez, general director of the organization Equity. (Los Tiempos, Cochabamba, June 27; SentidoG, Buenos Aires, June 28)

Southern Cone: marchers call for marriage equality

This year Pride celebrations, held on the last weekend in June in much of the world, coincided with a debate in Argentina over proposed legislation that would make the country the first in Latin America to authorize same-sex marriages. On June 28, hundreds of supporters of the legislation marched in front of the Congress building in Buenos Aires in a demonstration organized by the Argentine LGBT Federation and supported by about a dozen social groups and cultural figures, including singers Fito Páez and Vicentico, who were to hold a recital at the end of the march.

Rights group files FOIA requests on US knowledge of Israel's flotilla attack

From the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), July 1:

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed eight Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding the United States government's knowledge of, and actions in relation to, the May 31, 2010 attack by Israel on a flotilla of six vessels in international waters seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and US policy towards the blockade of Gaza, which has entered its fourth year. The FOIA requests were made to a number of US departments and agencies, including the Coast Guard, the Department of State, the Navy and the US European Command.

One year later, Amnesty calls on China to investigate Xinjiang riots

From Amnesty International, July 2:

Amnesty International has urged the Chinese government to launch an independent investigation into last year's riots in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, after new testimony obtained by the organization has cast further doubt on the official version of events.

Pakistan: Taliban target Sufis —again

Twin suicide attacks on the shrine of a Sufi saint in the Pakistani city of Lahore July 1 left 44 dead and 175 injured. The first blast went off at 11:20 PM in the basement of the tomb, an area reserved for ablutions; the second bomb exploded minutes later in the main prayer area which was crowded with worshipers who gather every Thursday for special rituals.

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