Why efforts to promote LGQBT inclusivity matter

"A bold attempt, is half success"

-Danish Proverb

If we take five minutes to look back in history, just 10 years ago, it was illegal to be gay in Panama. Only in 2008, while other countries started to approve LGBTQ unions or marriages, a presidential decree decriminalized homosexual relationships.

In 2019, even though there are no laws against that directly discriminate the LGBTQ community, they still find most of their rights diminished compared to other citizens. Beyond not being able to get married or adopt children, LGBTQ couples cannot ask for a sharedbank loan to buy a house, deduct their spouse in the Income Tax,or  accompany his/her partner into a public hospital if an accident occurs. Even small details are denied, such as having to fill two different customs paperwork when they enter the country, as they are not considered a “family group”.

 Those are only a few examples on why LGBTQI inclusivity is one of our priorities in the GS Panama Hub. We aim to construct a more solid community, free of any kind of discrimination, and more egalitarian to ever single citizen. 

How we are doing this

Our Hub is proud to embrace and promote LGBTQ members and allies. We have focused in developing a more inclusive community and creating stronger bonds with other foundations, whose objectives are mainly focus on LGBTQ people. We have brought a project called “Panama: Allied City in LGBT+ Pride” which aims to make the city a safer place for the LGBTQ community, free of any kind of discrimination, to the Municipality of Panama. This project focuses mainly in collecting and implementing best practices that other cities have developed in Latin America, such as: creating a specific sub-direction in the municipality to tackle LGBT+ discrimination and helping out transgender people, installing “non-discrimination” stickers in businesses and shops, encouraging LGBT+ tourism, and decorating some places with the pride colors, amongst others.

Panama Pride 2019

Although we made great advances by having several meetings in the municipality, the project was put on stand-by during the presidential elections by the city. This, however, did not stop us, and we focused on a cause-related project: The creation of the first “LGBT+ House” in Panama, which will be a refuge for people who are kicked out of their homes by families due to their sexual orientation, and will function as a Cultural Center to develop our community. Currently, we are looking for funders and applying to a variety of grants to make it a reality in the short term.

Finally, with the Foundation Convive Panama (@convivepanama), we have successfully accomplished the second Congress on Business Diversity on March 2019. Almost 200 attendees from local and multinational companies shared their experiences on how to create more inclusive workplaces and strengthen the network “Pride Connection” (@prideconnectionpa)

So much more must be done

We have come a long way since we started working on these matters. However, until every citizen shares the same rights in Panama there are still a lot of work to do. Besides, once those rights become a reality, we need to keep building community. LGBTQ people are afraid of coming out and showing their true colors in every aspect of society. Most of us tend to hide our sexual orientation in at least one of our social groups: work, family, friends, sport teams, etc. We are afraid of being rejected, of being discriminated against, instead of being proud that we share a common history, that we have struggled for years, that our lives matters, and that nowadays we can live out and proud!

This year we are having the all-time biggest pride movement in Panama, but that is only during one week. We need to create a city where all year-round every single kid does not need to be afraid of saying “I am gay” in public, and no adult will need to fear being fired if they come out at work. We are building the basis for that. We are becoming resilient to political setbacks, by finding new allies: companies, embassies, NGOs, other GS hubs. We will continue the hard work, not because we must, or it is the right thing to do.  We will keep the hard work because equality is non-negotiable. And, as my fortune cookie - which I just received while I was writing this article – wisely states: “A bold attempt is half of success”.

Article published in the Blog of the Global Shapers Panama Hub.https://www.globalshaperspanama.com/blog/why-efforts-to-promote-lgbtq-inclusivity-matter More on the project "Allied Cities on LGBTQ Pride" and Shapers initiatives of Shapers around the world, can be found in the article of World Economic Forum These activists are making Pride Month last the whole year round en el junio del 2019.