Colombian village offers hope for digeno gay men - People - The Jakarta Post

Contents:

• SENR DIVERSY COLOMBIA: GROUP FOR OLR GAY MEN
• COLOMBIAN VILLAGE OFFERS HOPE FOR DIGENO GAY MEN
• GAY COLOMBIA
• GAY BOGOTA

SENR DIVERSY COLOMBIA: GROUP FOR OLR GAY MEN

Much of this om mothers who eher teach their sons to be extra manly bee they are terrified of raisg a gay man, or by fathers who mand dner at 7:00 PM and sex daily. A few years ago, Juan had a sudn realisatn: all of his prevly large circle of gay iends had disappeared. This realisatn spired him to create Diversidad Senr Colombia (or Senr Diversy Colombia), a group for olr gay men to meet and share experienc and, most importantly, pany.

Juan believ many olr gay people stggle to accept themselv, as they grew up a time when beg gay was not accepted. In a stark illtratn of what thgs ed to be like for gay people Colombia, Juan told the story of his enunter wh police back the 1980s.

COLOMBIAN VILLAGE OFFERS HOPE FOR DIGENO GAY MEN

We ed to go to a gay club on the weekends and they’d e past every 2 hours askg for money.

Neighbours e out to take photos and impromptu show has unique signifince the streets of El Carmen Bolívar, reprentg the remarkable rurgence of a muny once btally victimised by homophobic armed nearly 30 years, the town and surroundg regn of Mont María were famo for vlence perpetrated agast LGBTQ+ dividuals, targeted at one time or another over the untry’s long civil war by rightwg paraari, leftwg guerrillas, ernment soldiers and the the 1990s, paraari formed rponse to leftist activism and surgency throughout Colombia.

While such btaly was wispread Colombia, El Carmen Bolívar and the surroundg regn of Mont María, was ma particularly public – cludg wh forced boxg match between gay men and transgenr vlence was rampant and meted out as a punishment. “They said they were gog to kill them for beg gay, that they were gog to kill them for not beg part of mastream society.

GAY COLOMBIA

Dpe ongog secury om dg traffickg groups like the Clan l Golfo, LGBTQ+ people El Carmen Bolívar say they feel more secure now than ever, a gay 46-year-old, says he has experienced a huge change over the years. ” He says he has LGBTQ+ iends who “fled om El Carmen Bolívar out of fear”, a 46-year-old gay man, says he feels much safer now, but has many iends who left out of fear of abe om armed groups“We’re nsc that armed groups are returng to the terrory, but at this moment, there haven’t been any threats directly agast the LGBT muny, ” says To, new perceived secury and acceptance is part the rult of a mpaign by Caribe Afirmativo, an anisatn which ns a muny centre the town. He utns that the creased visibily of LGBTQ+ people natnal polics n rerce discrimatn, as the flam of homophobia are fanned for polil El Carmen Bolívar still often face employment discrimatn bee of their sexual or genr inty, but say that they appreciate the current secury as a time to years of abe and threats, To, 30, ns a folk dance group wh many LGBTQ+ participants that has performed across Colombia.

Colombia, LGBTQ, gay, digeno.

But the 27-year-old has sce returned home, one of a number of gay rints who have found a place, of sorts, the eply nservative muny of Nazareth.

GAY BOGOTA

In recent s, the muny's lears said they have halted cel anti-gay punishments and offered a measure of refuge, but wh veats for about 20 gay rints like Sangama, Sl Olarte and Nilson Silva.

Read also: Queer K-pop: Chos grows for gay rights Asia. Anti-gay punishments. Yet when they returned, all three opted for discretn wh the knowledge of how gay people were treated the past by the Tikuna -- one punishment was beg forced to endure paful sect b.

Sexual diversy is th an visible phenomenon many Amazonian digeno muni, but Castaneda says would be unfair to brand them as homophobic.