Gay Pride Costa Rica 2022
This Sunday, June 26th, the Gay Pride Costa Rica 2022 took place after 2 years of inactivity due to the pandemic.
This year it was finally possible to celebrate the adoption of equal marriage, which was approved on May 26, 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. Precisely this had been the theme used by the political parties in the 2018 election campaign, dividing Costa Ricans. There were 2 different routes: a traditional one that left from the statue of León Cortés towards the Plaza de la Democracia. The other, against the current, left from the Central Park towards the Sabana, as a protest and also to facilitate the journey for people with reduced mobility.
The Reason for the March
Gay Pride Costa Rica 2022 is a march against discrimination, against the oppressive, sexist and patriarchal state. It is a march against homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and interphobia. Also, against racism and the occupation of indigenous territories.
The Slogan of the Gay Pride Costa Rica 2022
This year the slogan of Gay Pride Costa Rica changed from “Let’s Paint San José with Colors” to “Celebrate, Fight and Resist”. This in order to put more emphasis on the notion of “fight” and less on “party”. This, in order to remember that the rights of the LGTBQ+ community are still disrespected and must be fought for. Among other issues, what still needs to be done is the following:
1) Approve a comprehensive law for trans and non-binary people that provides access to comprehensive health and labor integration services and guarantees full recognition of their identity, including minors.
2) Eliminate the Conscientious Objection Clause in the Public Employment Law.
3) Guarantee training and sensitization of public officials on LGBTIQA+ rights.
4) Pass an anti-discrimination law that includes explicit protection on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
5) Pass an intersex protection law to eliminate non-consensual surgical procedures and treatments, promote depathologization and the collection of anonymized data on this population.
6) Include and implement training on gender, human rights and sexualities as a requirement in the approval of standards for the qualification of care centers for the elderly.
7) Give continuity and budgetary content to the figure of the Presidential Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Affairs and to the Policy of the Executive Branch or to eradicate discrimination against LGBTIQA+ populations from its institutions.
8) Generate statistics at the national level on sexual orientation and gender identity, for the development of evidence-based public policies, as well as promote the production and use of statistics and open data at the local level.
9) Train and raise awareness about human rights and the LGBTIQA+ population among parents or family members and people linked to educational centers at preschool, school, college and higher education levels, and provide support to LGBTIQA+ children who may face discrimination for expressing their sexual orientation or gender identity.
10) Pass a law to prohibit conversion tortures (misnamed therapies) and enable a hotline for LGBTIQA+ people at risk.
Controversy over Concert for Gay Pride Costa Rica 2022
In this edition, a concert was organized with Paulina Rubio, who had not sung in Costa Rica for 20 years. The concert took place at the National Stadium. However, friction arose between a part of the LGTBQ+ community and the production company that brought Paulina. Indeed, one sector accused the organizers of profiting from the Gay Pride struggle by charging high prices for concert tickets. The organizers proceeded to lower the fees and stated that a portion of the proceeds would go to Gay Pride. The concert cost is $500,000.
Author: M. Barrantes for Sensorial Sunsets
Sources
https://www.teletica.com/nacional/va-para-el-pride-tome-en-cuenta-estos-aspectos_314214
Navigate articles
