UW Center for Human Rights welcomes LGBT Rights Activist William Hernandez for the presentation “Human Rights in the LGBT Community in El Salvador” at 6 p.m. in Thomson Hall 317.
William Hernández is the Director and President of the Asociación Entre Amigos, an organization that works to promote and defend the human rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population and people living with HIV/AIDS in El Salvador. He also serves as Secretary for Human Rights of the Coalition of Gay Organizations of Central America. In 2000, William was honored with the Felipa de Souza Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in New York. A courageous grassroots activist and leader, over the years William has faced death threats, office raids, and other acts of intimidation aimed at silencing his advocacy for LGBT rights; Amnesty International and other human rights groups have issued Urgent Actions expressing fear for his safety. Although the situation has improved in recent years, members of the Salvadoran LGBT community continue to experience violence and intimidation as part of their daily lives, and Entre Amigos is one of the few organizations that publicly advocates on their behalf.
For more on William’s work, see http://78.136.0.19/en/library/asset/AMR29/006/1999/en/eb44ad06-dff9-11dd-be0f-b562ab8ac90b/amr290061999en.html and http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/support/cocarchives/772.html
This event is co-sponsored by the UW Center for Human Rights, UW Center for Global Studies, Pride at Work, IGLHRC (International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission), CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador), and UW Q Center.
The Center for Human Rights and Justice 
“Asociación Entre Amigos” Hmm…I wonder how the lesbian or bisexual women feel about an association that doesn’t even include their gender in the name. “Amigos” means men and although in an uber sexist chauvinist language such as Spanish you are supposed to assume that women are included in the male pronoun, amigos is clearly very distinct from amigas. Why does the amigos the male pronoun has to be used as the default?
Any organization that claims they do human rights work, yet it is incapable of referring to people using a political correct term remains unsuitable to make positive changes in equality.
Here in Seattle the only LGBTQ organization that works with Latino people utilizes the same oppressive action “ENTRE HERMANOS” does not count women, it only counts men. How does that affect their target population? Well I invite anyone to go check Entre Hermanos services reports, the lesbian or bisexual women are almost non existent in their reports because they are alienated from the first moment. Why would they go to a place that indicates just men in their name? If their job it is a commitment to equality how hard is to utilize the a/o or even the @ to refer to both gender spaces and not just one.
It is not male rights, it is human rights. Women’s gender and space needs to be respected and acknowledged in order to really be making a difference. I hope someone asks Mr. Hernandez why does he decides not to acknowledge the space of the population he supposedly serves.
LESBIANA LATINA con A
By: Susana on October 23, 2010
at 11:21 am
Susana,
You bring up a very good point; I wondered the same thing. I encourage you to attend and ask Mr. Hernandez, and to use your Entre Hermanos example as why he may want to consider making a small change that could have a large impact.
This issue may or may not be isolated, but positive dialogue with Mr. Hernandez may give him the chance to consider something he may not have thought of before.
-CHRJ Moderator
By: humanrightsandjustice on October 26, 2010
at 1:39 pm
[…] received death threats because of their vocal objections to US intervention there. Unsurprisingly, LGBTQAI rights in El Salvador are also under attack, but Entre Amigos (in English) is not afraid to stand up for what’s […]
By: Day 12- Women’s Activism in Central America and the Caribbean « Feminist Activism on March 12, 2011
at 11:34 am