Transgender Murders In El Salvador

Many transgender people in El Salvador are living in fear of murder. According to the article below, three transgender people were killed this past February. There is speculation that these killings have come as a result of the country’s Roman Catholic Church that does not believe in the legitimacy of the LGBTQ community.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/el-salvador-transgender-murders_us_58dac266e4b01ca7b4278e8a

We think that it is absolutely awful that Salvadorans are living in fear. In order for Salvadorans to make progress towards LGBTQ equality, we believe that they need to separate the idea of gender identity and sexual orientation from the Church. Regardless of religious beliefs, we are all humans at the end of the day.

 

Transgender man has private audience with Pope Francis

 

The article attached talks about a transgender man named Diego Neria Lejárraga who had been denied access to his local church in Spain after his transition. After leaving a letter for Pope Francis describing the situation, Pope Francis welcomed him by meeting with him and his fiancée. Although Pope Francis has had mixed views regarding gender identity in the past, we believe that the Pope has come to recognize the importance of this issue and is taking the steps to bring equality for all identities in the Catholic church. We are hopeful that churches will see the Pope’s actions as an example, and that they will be more accepting in the future.

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/01/25/transgender-man-private-audience-pope-francis/

 

Jory Mandell

My name is Jory Mandell and I am a sophomore public relations major at the University of Maryland. I was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey, a town that is very diverse and accepting of anybody and everybody.

Growing up, I was surrounded by people of all races, religions, sexualities, and gender identities.  For the most part, my peers were all very open and comfortable about who they truly were, and were rarely judged or shamed for it. However, over the years I have come to realize that the rest of this world is not the same as my hometown, and it is something that upsets me greatly.

I chose to come attend this university because of the diversity and the large population of the student body. While it is, for the most part, more accepting than others and there are many apart of communities such as that of the LGBTQ one, people are still not nearly as aware as they should be when it comes to this subject.

I am lucky enough to feel comfortable with who I am and in my own skin, but unfortunately, that can not be said for everyone. It is appalling that people have to feel shame when it comes to matters of their gender identity and that they are unable to have the same rights as everyone else.  This is a topic that I am personally very passionate about, and through this blog, I am hoping to inspire others to feel the same.  

Daniela Rietti

My name is Daniela Rietti, and I am currently a sophomore public relations major at the University of Maryland, College Park. I grew up in Westchester, New York, and in high school many of the kids in my grade were in the LGBTQ community. Since my town is very small, everyone in the school knew who these people were, and sometimes would make comments or judge them because of it.

I wanted to write about the topic of gender identity in my group’s blog posts because I feel that many individuals around the world do not completely understand what it means to be a transgender man or woman. Nearly one million people in the United States identify as transgender, but often people assume that being transgender means that a person is gay, suffers from mental disabilities, or hates their bodies.

Since gender identity has become a highly conversed topic, I feel that discussing and debunking the myths associated with it is extremely necessary in order for the future of society to become more widely accepted and understood.