Moral Protection's Trojan Horse: A Discussion on CDMX's Transphobic Proposal Against Trans Youth Rights.

  

  Victoria Samano stands with other protestors at Mexico City’s Congress building. Photo taken by Isis Magdalena on Twitter.  Source

 MEXICO CITY (CDMX)- On February 21^st, transactivists, LGBTTTIQ+ communities, and allies protested outside Mexico City’s Congress building. Aside from chants, the protestors threw paint at, wrote on, and broke the windows of the building. When 3 demonstrators who successfully entered the lobby had decided to leave, they were quickly assaulted by security. One of these demonstrators, transactivist Victoria Samano, was held in the building for an hour, teargassed, and sustained injuries on her legs, feet, and ribs from being kicked, the glass of windows, and from a fire extinguisher (Nava, 2023). Yet, the Board of Directors of the CDMX Congress claim that no protestors were injured directly by their personnel and that injuries were self-inflicted by the glass windows the protestors broke (Diaz, 2023). But what incited the protest in the first place?

To understand why protestors marched to the Congress building on the 21^st, we must not only contextualize transphobia in Mexico, but look at the events of February 9^th. America Rangel, who currently serves as a Deputy on Mexico City’s Congress, has been involved in the PAN party since 2008. While she campaigns on defending life, family, and individual liberty, her work in legislation and public comments say otherwise. Most recently, on February 9^th, she proposed changing aspects of Article 79 Bis to the local Penal Code and the State’s Law of the Rights of Children and Adolescents. Below is the translated version of the proposal to Article 79 Bis:

"Article 79 Bis. Arbitrary or illegal interference in their private life will be considered any attempt at conditioning, pressuring, or obliging on the part of an adult, to determine the sexual identity of girls, boys and adolescents contrary to their biological identity. It will be considered a violation of the privacy of girls, boys and adolescents, to exercise on them any mechanism of an external, therapeutic or similar nature that seeks to carry out a conversion of their sexual identity.” (Rangel, 9)

            Essentially, what this article would do is make it illegal for anyone to perform, encourage, or support hormonal and/or surgical operations related to gender affirmation/reassignments on transgender children. In fact, it would punish any adult, including parents, who are involved in the process with 2-7 years of imprisonment, but 3-10 years if you are a health professional (Rangel, 10; Rangel, 2023). Aside from deterring health professionals, it would make the resource inaccessible for trans youth. After reading through America’s proposal, there’s a large amount of pathologizing, demonizing, and invalidating transgender identities in youth (Rangel, 2-6). In the initiative, she claims that people who experience gender dysphoria in childhood or adolescence accept their biological sex before adulthood 90% of the time (Rangel, 6). She also argues that surgery would be genital mutilation and hormone treatments would lead to drug dependence in children.  However, these claims aren’t backed by reputable facts. She suggests that trans youth don’t truly exist because children and adolescents are irrational, “confused,” or easily swayed by the “brainwashing” that the LGBTTTIQ+ community promotes. Moreover, she and other PAN members also suggest that being transgender is not “normal” and that not ratifying the proposal would be contradictory when kids aren't allowed to drink, smoke, or vote for their own well-being.

While America parades her “Con los Niños No” (With the Children, No) slogan, you will find that her logic and proposal is riddled with contradicting and misguided information. In fact, the procedures that she attacks are neither legalized nor practiced on children anywhere in Mexico (Pastrana,2023). Hormone treatments are only applied to minors who are 16 years or older if there is parental consent, otherwise, like surgical operations, the individual must be 18 years old (Alonso Viña, 2023) Another point mentioned by many critics is that gender-affirming care and procedures are often hard to afford for those over 18 (Pastrana, 2023; Barbosa & Orozco, 2023). This would make it unlikely that minors would have access to those options, were it available.  In the case of Mexico City, teens under 16 years old can only change their genders on birth certificates, and (like some states) parental consent is required. It should also be noted that procedures aren’t necessary for transpeople’s identities to be recognized (Alonso Viña, 2023).

    Screenshot of Mexico's statistics from the F&M Global Barometers website.

Thus, it’s evident that this bill not only misinforms the public, but also stigmatizes transgender identities. While America and her supporters claim that they are fulfilling the state’s obligation to protect children from “evil,” transgender minors and adults are the ones most impacted by the use of hateful speech, especially in legislation. Unaccepting peers and families would most likely cite this proposal as evidence to justify any maltreatment of trans youth within their circles.  Based on Mexico’s CONAPRED’s survey report, childhood (49.4%) and adolescence (28.8%) were periods when people with non-normative gender identities knew they were trans. This study also found that 7 of 10 parents rejected their identities when “coming out” (Sáez, 2023). Rejection from family members comes in a variety of forms. In Mexico, only 11 states, as of November 2022, prohibit conversion therapies or torture practices that attempt to “correct” behaviors (13% of transgender and diverse gender identities underwent some form of attempted “corrections”). Although the Senate approved the amendments to prohibit and punish such practices, it doesn’t mean that the operations will vanish, but most likely be hidden (Sáez,2022). Informal methods of “correction” within the home can escalate to running away, being kicked out, bullying from peers,  or enduring physical, verbal, or sexual abuses after revealing their gender identities (22.2%) (Pastrana, 2023; Barbosa &Orozco, 2023; Animal Político, 2022). It is without a doubt that additional stigmatization and invalidation would drastically impact mental health, whether or not the operations America argues against exist. In fact, in every aspect aside from criminalization in the GBTR, Mexico not only fails, but falls below the regional average consistently over the last 12 years.

                        America Rangel discusses her proposal on February 9^th at the CDMX Congress. Source.

As of 2022, only 19 states have changed their criminal, civil, family, and local civil codes that protect transgender identities on paper (Sáez, 2023). Even intersectional communities such as women’s movements have villainized, rejected, and invalidated trans people by claiming that they are “confused” oppressors who threaten women’s rights (La Transcontingenta,2023). Often, these terfs will burn trans flags or teach children to be aggressive towards trans people by painting a piñata with trans colors as seen in the recent March movement (Aceves,2022; Drullard,2023). In 2022, 14 types of hate crimes were documented against transwomen, and of the LGBT+ violences that Letra S covers, transwomen face the highest number of violences consistently from 2015-2022 (Mares Rivera,2023; Letra S, 2022). In such cases, it is unlikely that a victim will receive justice because preparators receive minimal punishments, family members must pressure the authorities to make discoveries, and many are ignored (Mares Rivera, 2023). You can also view specific demographics on age, gender, sexuality, etc on LGBT+ crimes reported from 2015-2022 here.

While some have faith that this legislation will not pass due to the criticisms and  misinformation, America expresses that she is “talking with legislators from other states so that this law is introduced in as many states as possible” (Morales, 2023). It may not convince every legislator, but the hateful rhetoric will spread further into the public, shaping more social intolerance of trans people. As one of the most vulnerable populations, there are very few spaces for trans identities to be themselves without being threatened, villainized, abused, or discriminated against. With the amount of societal persecutions and insignificant de jure and de facto protections, “freedom of speech” in the form of hate speech should not be a valid excuse. The excuses of“freedom of speech” and “the validation of transpeople leads to our (children, women, etc) rights being taken away” only legitimize the reduction of trans visibility, removal of their rights, and is against the rights of humans. Trans folks should not only be validated in their private lives but also in their public lives with the freedom to be who they are without discrimination or fear.

References:

Aceves, Évolet. “La Piñata Trans En El 8m.” Pie De Página, 12 Mar. 2022, https://piedepagina.mx/la-pinata-trans-en-el-8m/.

Alonso Viña, Daniel. “Una Protesta Por Los Derechos De Las Personas Trans Enfrenta a Las Autoridades Con Los Manifestantes En El Congreso De Ciudad De México.” El País México, 22 Feb. 2023, https://elpais.com/mexico/2023-02-22/una-protesta-por-los-derechos-de-las-personas-trans-enfrenta-a-las-autoridades-con-los-manifestantes-en-el-congreso-de-ciudad-de-mexico.html.

Animal Político. “Senado Prohíbe Las Terapias De Conversión Sexual.” Animal Político, 11 Oct. 2022, https://www.animalpolitico.com/politica/el-senado-prohibe-las-terapias-de-conversion-sexual.

Barbosa, Melina, and Leslie Orozco. “Desinformación Culmina En Transfobia y Violencia Institucional.” Verificado, 27 Feb. 2023, https://verificado.com.mx/desinformacion-causa-transfobia-y-violencia/.

Diaz, Omar. “América Rangel: ¿Quién Es La Diputada Local Que Presentó La Iniciativa Que Prohíbe El Cambio De Sexo En Menores?” El Universal, 21 Feb. 2023, https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/metropoli/america-rangel-quien-es-la-diputada-local-que-presento-la-iniciativa-que-prohibe-el-cambio-de-sexo-en-menores.

Drullard, Mikaelah. “8M: Un Lugar No Seguro Para Noso–Trans. La Experiencia De Una Mujer Trans Negra Sobre Las Marchas Feministas  .” Volcánicas, 7 Mar. 2023, https://volcanicas.com/8m-un-lugar-no-seguro-para-noso-trans-una-experiencia-de-una-mujer-trans-negra-sobre-las-marchas-feministas/.

La Transcontingenta. “Pronunciamiento Contra La Marcha ‘Del Borrado De Mujeres’ y Los Discursos y Actos De Transodio.” Animal Político, 10 Mar. 2023, https://www.animalpolitico.com/analisis/invitades/pronunciamiento-contra-marcha-terf-y-transodio.

Letra Ese. “Muertes Violentas De Personas LGBT+ En MÉXICO 2021.” LetraEse, 2022, https://letraese.org.mx/crimenes-de-odio-archivo/.

Mares Rivera, Tamara. “Mujeres Trans Enfrentan Cada Mes Al Menos Una Agresión, Incluso De Autoridades.” SinEmbargo MX, 8 Mar. 2023, https://www.sinembargo.mx/08-03-2023/4333601.

Morales, Ana Paula. “Protesters Attack Mexico City Congress over Bill That Would Ban Sex Changes for Minors.” Catholic News Agency, Catholic News Agency, 24 Feb. 2023, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253719/protesters-attack-mexico-city-congress-over-bill-that-would-ban-sex-changes-for-minors.

Nava, Jenifer. “Activista Trans Denunció Que Fue Golpeada y Amenazada Por Manifestarse En Congreso De La CDMX.” Infobae, 22 Feb. 2023, https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2023/02/22/activista-trans-denuncio-que-fue-golpeada-y-amenazada-por-manifestarse-en-congreso-de-la-cdmx/.

Pastrana, Juan Carlos. “La Transfobia En El Congreso De La Ciudad De México.” SPR Informa, 10 Feb. 2023, https://sprinforma.mx/noticia/la-transfobia-en-el-congreso-de-la-ciudad-de-mexico.

Rangel, America. “América Rangel Propone Prohibir a Menores Cirugías De Cambio De Sexo.” América Rangel, 9 Feb. 2023, https://americarangel.mx/america-rangel-propone-prohibir-a-menores-cirugias-de-cambio-de-sexo.

Rangel, America. “INICIATIVA CON PROYECTO DE DECRETO POR EL QUE SE REFORMAN Y ADICIONAN DIVERSAS DISPOSICIONES DE LA LEY DE LOS DERECHOS DE LAS NIÑAS, LOS NIÑOS Y ADOLESCENTES DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO Y DEL CÓDIGO PENAL PARA EL DISTRITO FEDERAL.” Congresso De La Ciudad De México, 9 Feb. 2023.

Sáez, Amaranta. “19 Estados Reconocen La Identidad De Género De Las Personas Trans En México.” Cuestione, 9 Mar. 2023, https://cuestione.com/nacional/ley-trans-identidad-genero-mexico-derechos-humanos/.

Sáez, Amaranta. “Terapias De Conversión, Prácticas De Tortura Que Sólo Prohiben 11 Estados De México.” Cuestione, 7 Nov. 2022, https://cuestione.com/nacional/terapias-conversion-practicas-tortura-prohiben-11-estados-mexico/.