As part of the activities commemorating Pride Month, the Michoacán State Human Rights Commission held the event “Your Pride, Your Health, Your Rights,” a space for information, awareness-raising, and access to preventive health services aimed at contributing to the overall well-being of the LGBT community and the general public.
A press release states that, during the event, the ombudsperson, Josué Mejía, acknowledged that people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities have historically faced discrimination and exclusion, making the eradication of these practices a priority for the organization he leads.
He noted that one of the fundamental tasks of the Michoacán State Human Rights Commission is to work continuously to guarantee full respect for human dignity, particularly for priority groups.
She also emphasized the need to promote legislative reforms that allow for the recognition and proper punishment of transfemicide, addressing the specific forms of violence faced by trans women.
For his part, the organization’s technical secretary, Jonatan Isahib Villa Vargas, highlighted that this initiative stems from the recognition that full dignity cannot exist until each and every human right is guaranteed.
He added that this event represents a tool to help dismantle the prejudices that still persist in society regarding people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, based on fundamental principles such as love, respect, equality, and inclusion.
Speaking out, Judge Elvia Higuera Pérez, representing the Judiciary; Gerardo Andrés Herrera Pérez, from the State Attorney General’s Office; and Itzel Yunuen Iturbe Hernández, from the Legislature, all agreed that the obligation of a democratic state is to guarantee that all people can live in freedom and equality.
They emphasized that building a truly democratic society means ensuring that thinking, feeling, desiring, and loving are never grounds for exclusion, but rather conditions that allow for the creation of environments based on respect, equal opportunities, and non-discrimination.
They also shared the premise that the diverse manifestations of LGBT Pride represent a historical response to contexts of exclusion and oppression that for decades rendered this population invisible.
The event was organized by medical and psychology staff from the Michoacán State Human Rights Commission (CEDH Michoacán) and included the talk “Diversity with Dignity: The ABCs of LGBTIQ+ Rights,” presented by psychologists Iris Daniela Navarrete Hernández and Héctor Hernán Herrera Lunar, as well as rapid HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B tests conducted with the support of staff from CAPASITS, part of the Michoacán Ministry of Health.
Representatives from government institutions, activists, social fighters and members of groups defending the rights of people of sexual diversity attended, as well as students from the faculties of Law and Social Sciences and Psychology of the Michoacan University of San Nicolas de Hidalgo.
Source: quadratin
