On November 16-19, PGA participated in the annual Regional Conference of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) in Guatemala City.

The PGA delegation was composed of PGA member Dip. Gloria Reyes from the Dominican Republic, Dominican civil society representative Ms. Rosanna Marzan, Executive Director of the NGO Diversidad Dominicana, and Mr. Alex Roche, Program Officer of PGA’s SOGI Campaign. Approximately 60 people from a wide variety of countries in the region attended the conference, mostly LGBTI activists, as well as academics and representatives of governmental and intergovernmental organizations.

Dip. Reyes intervened at a panel entitled “Best practices and policies in favor of the rights of LGBTI people,” in which she spoke about PGA, its SOGI Campaign and its work in the Dominican Republic in collaboration with PGA’s National Group in the country. She specifically referenced the project of General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination that PGA has been promoting in the Dominican Republic in collaboration with Dominican partners and other initiatives for the inclusion of LGBTI people in which she has participated, including the LGBTI Dominican Republic School of Political Leadership.

Dip. Sandra Morán, an openly lesbian MP from Guatemala and also a PGA member, spoke during the same panel as Dip. Reyes and gave an interesting overview of the situation of LGBTI people in Guatemala and the different initiatives she has been working on to advance their rights, namely a gender identity law, a prejudice-motivated crimes law and a civil union law. The panel also included interventions by Ms. Julia Suárez, from Mexico’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination, and Mr. Manuel Vázquez, from Cuba’s National Sexual Education Center, who spoke about the situation in their respective countries.

The PGA delegation participated in a two-hour workshop on effective collaboration between MPs and civil society entitled “Parliament as a key ally in the protection of the fundamental rights of LGBTI people in the Americas”. Mr. Roche gave a 25-minutes presentation about the content of “Advancing the Human Rights and Inclusion of LGBTI People: A Handbook for Parliamentarians,” a joint publication by PGA and the United Nations Development Program, focusing on actions that MPs can take to promote the rights of LGBTI people. Dip. Reyes and Ms. Marzan shared their experiences on the cooperation between MPs and civil society, followed by an engaging discussion with participants.

PGA wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the Global Equality Fund (GEF), administered by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) to its Parliamentary Project on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Caribbean, which made possible PGA’s participation in ILGALAC’s Conference.