Uruguay: Update to URY32841.E of 14 October 1999 on the situation and treatment of gays, lesbians, transvestites and cross-dressers, including whether there is state protection available to them

Social Watch, an non-governmental organization that monitors commitments made by governments at the World Summit for Social Development and the Beijing World Conference on Women, reported the following on the situation and treatment of sexual minorities in Uruguay in its 1999 Country Report:

Uruguayan society has strong homophobic traits. This contrasts with the liberal and progressive image that the country has projected since the beginning of the century, thanks to legislation considered to be "front line" in its day.

Uruguayan society continues to repeat the same discriminatory patterns, however. The majority of lesbian, gay, transvestite, trans-sexual and bi-sexual communities live under cover, harassed by an environment that hurts them in ways ranging from the brutal (insults, blackmail, beatings), to the subtle (jokes, systematic denial of information, repetition of obsolete classifications, etc.). On the job harassment, and some times cloaked dismissals, continue to accompany voluntary or involuntary "detection" of homosexual workers (2001).

The following information was provided by Diana Mines, a pioneer of the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual (LGTB) movement in Uruguay during an interview with The Gully, an online magazine self-described as providing "a sharp queer view of international news," including news on gay and lesbian issues, in the fall of 2000 and published on 5 March 2001.

Although the issues of LGBT are still received by the Uruguayan population with "scorn and lack of understanding," there is a greater openness in the society to listen to the issues and to accept them; there is also greater media coverage dedicated to the issues.

With regards to state protection, while no laws "punish" sexual minorities directly, there is no specific law in place in Uruguay that protects them either. Members of the LGBT community are discriminated against in that they cannot donate blood and can be arrested for acts considered "public indecency" by the police. Such an arrest can lead to a person being denied his/her Certificate of Good Conduct (Certificado de Buena Conducta) which is necessary to obtain a passport. In the context of prostitution, the government is considering a bill that would regulate it. Currently, transgendered people get "very minimal" state protection in that they are provided condoms and at times, food rations; there is some freedom to work on the street, but often they must "bribe the police to avoid harassment." A leader of the Uruguayan Transgender Association has been serving a prolonged jail sentence.

Dr. Washington Abdala, majority whip of the Chamber of Deputies, was planning to introduce two bills related to LGBT issues on discrimination, civil unions, and sexual reassignment surgery. Currently sexual reassignment surgery is performed free of charge in the Hospital de Clínicas in Montevideo, but civil registries do not recognize the gender reassignment afterwards.

Mines summarizes the situation of the LGBT community in Uruguay as follows:

We are never openly censored, and we have never experienced violence or opposition during our marches, perhaps because we're not yet big enough to be considered "dangerous." However, we have been the butt of jokes and ironic remarks by some radio broadcasters. We also know of individual cases of verbal and physical violence against gay and lesbian people.

Please consult the attached article for additional information on the situation of homosexuals in Uruguay.

The Parliamentary Nexus Program (Programa Nexo Parlamentario, PRONEP), a parliamentary consultancy group associated with majority whip Washington Abdala, published a report on sexual diversity in Uruguay in October 2000 (PRONEP 5 Oct. 2000). Some of the problems facing sexual minorities, such as homosexuals, bisexuals and transexuals, was articulated in the report and are as follows:

Unlike other countries that have embraced anglo-saxon legal systems, Uruguay has never penalized homosexuality. However, norms and rules exist that implicitly discriminate against sexual minorities (e.g. administrative regulations with regards to the issuing of the Certificate of Good Conduct and the donation of blood). According to the report, this implicit discrimination in the law leads to and encourages sexual minorities to live in fear and stigmitizes their sexual orientation.

With regards to legal protection, the report states that the rights of sexual minorities would be included in the citizens' rights that Uruguay protects (derecho positivo). There is an abundance of legal jurisprudence in the country and sexual minorities may rely on the appropriate legal safeguards (homosexuales, bisexuales y transexuales ya cuentan con la salvaguardia jurídica) for protection. Although the law makes explicit provisions for equality for all persons in the workplace, PRONEP has identified three areas where legislation may be improved to the benefit of sexual minorities. The first proposal is to add sexual orientation or sexual identity as grounds for protection under the Penal Code's hate crimes' provisions given that homosexuals and transexuals are often the targets of expressions of hate, contempt and violence. The second proposal relates to transexualism (transexualismo) and calls for the state to regulate sex change operations and change of sexual identity; the spirit of this proposal is to provide greater protection to transexuals, who are more discriminated against in Uruguayan society than homosexuals. The third proposal relates to establishing new legislation regarding marital status as to include both opposite- and same-sex couples. Currently, same-sex couples are not recognized under the Law on Civil Unions and therefore, have no legal protection in this regard.

In December 2000, Washington Abdala was reported as saying in La Republica de las Mujeres that the legislative suggestions mentioned above would be introduced to the Commission on the Constitution and Codes (Comisión de Constitución y Códigos) for analysis in 2001 (15 Dec. 2000).

In February 2001, The Gully reported that the Uruguayan president, Jorge Batlle, was cited as saying in an interview with The New York Times that "homosexuality was a 'pathology' which should be 'corrected'" (5 Feb. 2001). The full transcript of his interview was also posted on the Presidential Website (ibid.). Homosexual activists feared that Batlle's "homophobic" comments could contribute to an "unpleasant" environment for the few who were openly homosexual and for the closeted majority (ibid.). The Gully adds that rights for homosexuals are "largely ignored" by the government (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

The Gully [New York]. 5 March 2001. Diana Mines. "Uruguay: A Very Out Lesbian." [Accessed 23 May 2001]

_____. 5 February 2001. Ana Simo. "Uruguay: Prez Disses Gay: But the Lady Protesteth Too Much." [Accessed 23 May 2001]

Programa Nexo Parlamentario (PRONEP). 5 October 2000. Informe PRONEP sobre diversidad sexual. [Accessed 23 May 2001]

La Republica de las Mujeres [Montevideo, Uruguay]. 15 December 2000. "La presidencia de la Cámara de Representantes generó una propuesta que favorce a las minorías sexuales." [Accessed 23 May 2001]

Social Watch. 2001. 1999 Country Report: Uruguay. [Accessed 23 May 2001]

Attachment

The Gully [New York]. 5 March 2001. Diana Mines. "Uruguay: A Very Out Lesbian." [Accessed 23 May 2001]

Additional Sources Consulted

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000. 2001

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

La Brujula [Montevideo]

Clarín [Buenos Aires]

Derechos

Gay Law Net

Grupo Diversidad

Gay Guide Net

Gay Uruguay

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)

International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA)

La Nación [Buenos Aires]

Resource Center of the Americas

Servicio de Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ)

World Policy Institute

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