Author: Laura Maria Espinosa Estrada
800 forms of gender identity expression have been identified from Queer theories or those of Judith Butler.
Today, this commemoration will take place in Armenia, through a march whose meeting point is the pedestrian area of the University of Quindío at 12 noon.
As a commemoration of a struggle that has been going on for more than 50 years, on June 28, International Gay Pride Day, voices are raised in all the streets of the world, it is recognized that there are other forms of expression of identities, and the resilience of those who resist what is considered normal and with their art and gender expression show that the world is transforming.
Nataly Camargo Marulanda, transgender woman, teacher, academic, researcher, leader, expressed that, “on June 28, 1969, a great dispute occurred in the New York riots, where a police raid shot down hundreds of homosexuals, since peaceful assembly between people of the same sex was not allowed; In that order of ideas, when this dispute arose, there were 21 days of pitched battle between the New York Police and the LGBT population, there were 8,000 police officers against 14,000 people from the population, there were casualties from all sides, until the Inter-American Court of Human Rights spoke out on the 21st to stop this violence and it was commemorated on June 28, 1969, as the International Day of Sexual Diversity or Freedom of Expression, as we celebrate it, as Gay Pride Day.”
Thus, the different streets of Quindío, especially those of La Tebaida, yesterday were decorated with the colors of diversity and became, through a parade led by the municipal mayor’s office, which started from the municipal theater, passing through different streets, to culminate this day with a conference by Nataly Camargo Marulanda, leader of the municipality, and a play titled ‘‘Dog, love, explode’ accompanied by artists and cultural managers from the Edén Tropical del Quindío; in a demonstration of the resistance and resilience that has been the main characteristic of this community for years.
“I believe that this day is an action of resistance and more than transformation, it is an example of resilience, to demand government protection from the states, to be able to march for our rights. In reality, nothing is celebrated, all the victims we have had are commemorated, and in the same way, in the process of transformation there is a lack, because I still believe that religious criteria and ideologies persist a lot around the territories and contexts, and the The rulers themselves are biased people and not very open to diversity and diversity enriches us, but we are in a territory that is a little patriarchal, conservative, and I also think that many political currents have not allowed the transformation of the scenarios,” Nataly noted. .
Taking into account the above, in addition to the rights, this commemoration represents the opportunity to strengthen internal fabrics and ties of the community itself, as a demonstration of struggle and support to achieve, jointly, make visible and sensitize the population about the other realities that since then are due to the fact that the world is not heterosexual, but is also represented and shaped by other forms of expression of identities.
“We are all born free and equal before the law, Article 13 of the Political Constitution, and what is sought with these spaces is for people to know that there are support networks, that there are collectives formed, that we have fundamental rights, regardless of our sexual orientation, and also in this exercise what is sought is to make visible and sensitize the population about other realities and alterities, since the world is not heterosexual, the world is not pink and blue, there are other forms of expression of identities and among that range of possibilities, there are us, those of us who resist what is considered normal, those of us who want to show from our art and gender expression that the world is transforming and that with it political currents and social mobilization must also transform,” said Camargo Marulanda.
As an example of this transformation of reality, this community expands, through activism and leadership processes, its acronym LGTBI, which initially responded to 5 forms of expression, and today, under academic and training processes, it speaks of OSIGD, sexual orientations, diverse gender identities, which identifies 800 forms of identity expression of genders.
“The acronym for the population, inclusive language, is not an acronym, the acronyms from the Royal Spanish Academy are used to refer to social organizations, viruses and bacteria; when we talk about configured people or political subjects of rights, we talk about acronyms. Previously we talked about LGTBI, now we talk about OSIGD, which responds to sexual orientations, diverse gender identities, under decree 762 in 2018, when this new acronym was classified, since 800 forms of identity expression of genders have been identified from Queer theories or Judith Butler’s theories, that is why it is important that activism processes and leadership processes come accompanied by academic and training processes. LGTBI only recognized 5 forms of expression, instead the OSIGD includes them all,” Nataly concluded by expressing to NCQ.
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“I also make a strong call to the territorial entities, Quindío enjoys a public policy, under the draft ordinance 0015 of the year 2019, where I am the author of that policy, together with the Semillas Diversas collective and the leaders of the different municipalities, We did the first x-ray and social mapping in relation to the LGTB population, giving us a characterization of 14,834 LGTB people in the department. We are a social collective, we are not politicians, and due to the fact that we are not associated with any political party, or are activists in any campaign, we have been censored and violated; The departmental Health Secretariat and the Interior Secretariat gave the order to no longer serve the people of the social group ‘Semillas Diversas’, for not having supported the political processes of the current ruler, and the call for attention is to him, to the Dr. Juan Miguel Galvis and also to all the mayors of the territory, because they are rulers and were elected to govern the entire department, including the groups that are apolitical to the processes and what we have received is contempt, discrimination and rejection from these entities states,” Camargo concluded.
