When Julio Nuño commented on his intention to visit a “sauna” in Caracas, his sister responded with a resounding “no”, thinking that he could end up in jail, a fear that was triggered by LGTBI+ people after, recently, 33 men were detained in a gay bar in Venezuela, which reinforced complaints from this group, which feels victim of “criminalization”.
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For Nuño, his relative’s reaction is proof that events such as the arrest of these men, later released under “presentation regime”, “have increased” the fear of being gay in the countryamong the most backward in Latin America in terms of recognition of rights for this group.
“They should leave them in jail, I hope they die, they don’t deserve life, the Bible says man and woman,” are some of the messages that, according to Nuño, are read on social networks after the multiple arrests in the state of Carabobo (north). With these expressions as proof, this 68-year-old activist, who admitted to EFE that he has “never” felt “really integrated” into Venezuelan society, wondered if anyone would like to feel “so hated” simply for “deciding with who to be”.
‘Unjustified hate’
In Venezuela, a homosexual is not allowed to donate blood, a trans person is required to legally identify themselves with a name that does not represent themay same-sex couples do not have the right to marry, among other prohibitions.
Despite this context, Nuño openly expresses his orientation since he was 16 years old, for which he has lived with the obligation of “having to hide, having to hide, having to be alert.”
He assured that being homosexual has cost him verbal and physical aggression, discrimination and even an episode of sexual violence when he was younger and that he decided not to denounce it because -he specified- the perpetrators were police officers, and because he did not feel protected, neither before nor now, by the law.
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The same fear is felt now, after the Justice accused 33 men for the crimes of “indecent insult”, “grouping” and “sonic pollution”, and that police officers subjected them to abuse, mockery and ill-treatment, as denounced the detainees themselves.
Julio Nuño tells his experience.
EFE/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
Nuño affirmed that both he and his friends feel threatened and exposed by this situation, which human rights NGOs have identified as a policy of “State homophobia” that promotes hatred.
“Hate me for something that is justified, because I am an irresponsible citizen, because I am a bad person, because I am cruel, because I am dishonest, because I lack integrity. Hate me for that, but are you going to hate me because I decide not to even love someone? a man, being sexually with a man? Are you going to hate me for that?”
naturalized violence
Although Aisak Ovalles -human rights activist, stage artist and drag queen- defines himself as “a lucky person” for not having “so serious” experiences of discrimination, he assures that he has experienced acts of violence that he himself has “naturalized” for ” prejudices”, “machismo” and “nurture”.
He remembers an episode in 2019, when he and other colleagues from his theater group were arrested for wearing police uniforms for a play without the required permits, a fact that – he admitted – represents a crime, but that led to their being victims of violence due to their sexual orientation.
Ovalles told EFE that “never”, as on that occasion, had he felt “so much hatred” towards him, and that it came from the policemen who arrested them and insulted all the gays who worked in this assembly, in which many used makeup and heels.
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“On the street, I have not felt so much hatred (…) Sometimes one is exposed. I record in the square or do activities and I catch a taxi late and, in a certain way, one is exposed, but I have never felt that I hate how I felt inside that dungeon,” he said.
This and other experiences have allowed him to adopt protection mechanisms, such as “always being accompanied” or being cautious with the places he visits, measures that – he assured – are taken by all Venezuelans, but which more frequently must be taken by vulnerable groups.
“When you cross-dress or when you are a trans person or you are a lesbian or you have a bit of a dissident and diverse gender expression, the vulnerability is greater,” she said. This activist recalled that events such as the arrest of “the 33” remember that today “the fear of the State is greater, because he is the one who is going to tell you: ‘look, no, you can’t, you can’t exist or if you are going to exist you have to hide'”.
EFE
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