Collecting signatures for diversity and against transphobia in Mexico

Illustration, Andrea Paredes, Animal Politico

It was the repeated displays of homophobia and physical attacks against members of the LGBT community – of which she, too, had been the victim – that prompted Alba Rojas to launch a citizens’ initiative calling for the creation of a “Plazoleta de la Diversidad” (Diversity Square) in Guadalajara’s Parque Revolución.

“We want a section of the park to be named ‘Plazoleta de la Diversidad’. We’re also asking for a monument to be put up, to honour all the memories of sexual diversity that have woven history here,” explains the 21-year-old trans woman, who is studying law at the University of Guadalajara, in the western state of Jalisco.

Parque Revolución has a history. It was here that the Homosexual Liberation Pride Group (known by its Spanish acronym, GOHL) emerged in the 1980s, led by one of the pioneers in the struggle to defend LGBT rights in Mexico, Pedro Preciado.

In 1982 Preciado and his fellow activists were arrested while leading a demonstration. They were beaten up and jeered at, at a time when homosexuality was considered a crime and “had to be punished” by the local government, which clamped down on it, in one of the most conservative societies in Mexico.

Since then, Parque Revolución, also known as the “red park” because of its painted cement paving, has borne witness to the continued defence of diversity.

Violence against transgender people

“In recent years a group of trans-exclusionary women has been trying to push trans people out of the park. It’s a very divisive attitude that polarises and segregates the population even more than it already is,” Rojas says.

“I’ve been a woman all my life, but one day, as I was going into the park, a group of other women demanded in a very aggressive way that I leave. They surrounded me and drove me out,” she says, pointing out that the citizens’ initiative and the collection of signatures were launched not just because of what happened to her, as she is not the only one who has suffered violence and discrimination.

Since late 2021, LGBT groups have reported repeated acts of violence against them, such as an attack by a man on a motorbike who threw acid at a 26-year-old trans woman in the street. Shortly afterwards, a couple of girls were assaulted in the Parque Revolución.

“One of them, a trans woman, who was pushing her girlfriend’s wheelchair, was forced to leave the park, just like me,” Rojas says.

Symbol of an ‘inclusive city’

A week after this attack, in November 2021, a demonstration was held to send the message that the park was for everyone.

“We’re not seeking to exclude those who are obviously trying to push us out. All we want is to make it known and clear that Guadalajara is an inclusive city, whose doors will always be open to sexual diversity from all over the world,” Rojas says.

This is why she decided, based on the Law on Citizen Participation of the State of Jalisco, to collect signatures to activate the so-called “citizens’ initiative”, one of the 16 instruments available to members of the population to make their voices heard.

“With this citizens’ initiative, we want to create a space where people can co-exist freely, regardless of gender, identity and sexual orientation, and above all, to honour and commemorate all those who have been fighting for more than 40 years so that we can enjoy each and every one of our rights today.”

The citizens’ initiative is a participation mechanism in Jalisco through which people can submit proposals for new laws to the State Congress or bylaws to the executive branch or to city councils. The authorities then analyse the petitions and follow them up in accordance with the relevant legal procedures.

Jalisco’s Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute (known by its Spanish acronym, IEPC) is in charge of receiving the citizens’ petitions and, if all the criteria are met, channelling them.

According to its records, the IEPC has so far received 14 petitions, seven of which went through and two of which are currently under review. To date, only one initiative has been approved by the Jalisco State Congress – the Law on the Anti-Corruption System of Jalisco State, in 2017.

No popular votes

The Red Park Revolution Group, to which Rojas belongs, started collecting the necessary signatures (at least 0.5% of the local electoral roll, so 611 signatures) on January 12, 2023. On February 2, she delivered 1,954 signatures to the IEPC.

The IEPC’s director of citizen participation, Carlos Javier Aguirre, explains what happens next. “The IEPC must request support from the executive management of the Federal Electoral Registry of the National Electoral Institute to verify the authenticity of the voters and also check that the formal requirements are met, before forwarding the petition to the Municipal Council of Citizen Participation for Governance and Peace. This in turn will submit the initiative to the city council and the mayor of Guadalajara, who must decide whether to approve it or not.”

So citizens’ initiatives in Jalisco are never put to a popular vote? “No, the only time when the people participate is in collecting the necessary signatures,” he confirms.

For Alba Rojas and her group, gathering more than three times the required number of signatures to activate the citizens’ initiative was in itself a great achievement, but it does not mean that the proposal will be approved. It merely marks the start of the established regulatory procedure, during which the local government will evaluate the petition based on public interest.

“I feel enthusiastic and strong enough to face everything that lies ahead in order to defend human rights, and in particular those of transgender people in my community,” she says, waiting for the authorities’ decision.

Translated from Spanish by Julia Bassam

This article was published as part of a journalistic collaboration between Animal Político and SWI swissinfo.ch to exchange perspectives on democracy, its actors and the use of the tools of direct democracy in Mexico and Switzerland, in a global context.

Jesús Santamaría, Animal Político