{"id":114988,"date":"2020-05-27T10:01:47","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T13:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fraterinternacional.org\/?p=114988"},"modified":"2020-05-27T10:01:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T13:01:47","slug":"international-day-against-homophobia-young-venezuelan-lgbtqi-of-the-shelter-in-roraima-tell-about-their-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fraterinternacional.org\/en\/international-day-against-homophobia-young-venezuelan-lgbtqi-of-the-shelter-in-roraima-tell-about-their-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"International Day Against Homophobia: Young Venezuelan LGBTQI+ of the Shelter in Roraima Tell About Their Experiences."},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Day Against Homophobia, May 17, was a date established by the\u00a0United Nations (UN)<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0as a symbol of the struggle for human rights and for sexual and gender diversity after the term \u201chomosexuality\u201d was no longer used and homosexuality was taken off the list of illnesses of the\u00a0World Health Organization (WHO)<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in 1990.<\/p>\n

Being a part of the LGBTQI+ community (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders, Queers, and Intersexual) requires resilience to live in a world where discrimination leads to crimes seen frequently in the headlines of newspapers, in a world where there still exist 70 countries that consider homosexual relationships to be a crime. To be LGBTQI+ and a refugee demands double the resiliency, because of the situation of vulnerability imposed by conditions that make it impossible to maintain human dignity.<\/p>\n

Struggle is a word constantly present in the testimonies of two young Venezuelan refugees, members of the LGBTQI+ community, that currently live in the\u00a0Tancredo Neves Shelter<\/a>,<\/strong> managed by the\u00a0Fraternity \u2013 International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF)<\/a><\/strong>, through the\u00a0Roraima Mission<\/a><\/strong>, with funding and support from the\u00a0United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dia<\/a>

A welcome helps to bring out talent and creative ability.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWithout struggle there is no sacrifice, no victory,\u201d says the young transgender, Stefania, 20 years old, who is also part of another minority: a disabled person.<\/p>\n

Without the support of her family and a victim of discrimination because of her physical condition, she travelled to Brazil, as so many other Venezuelans, in search of a better life. Here she found what she was seeking.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere in Brazil you are treated better,\u201d she affirms. As if her difficult journey were not enough, she contracted the new coronavirus (COVID-19). With access to medications and what she defined as \u201cfraternal caring,\u201d she recovered from the illness.<\/p>\n

Now, Elier, 19 years old, defines the stay in Brazil as remarkable for the \u201clegal, moral, spiritual, mental, and physical\u201d support that they did not find in Venezuela, a country that is supposed to be very beautiful in its landscapes, but whose economic situation forced their departure, as well as that of many others.<\/p>\n

Regarding homophobia, it is categorical: they can\u2019t allow discrimination to affect them, they must move on. That is only possible with an understanding of who they are and of self-acceptance. \u201cAt first, I felt confused, I looked for \u2018fixing it.\u2019 It is a question of deciding and saying \u2018yes:\u2019 only in that way am I a person the same as everyone else,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n\n\t\t