In the fight against homophobia, Landless Youth call for an end of violence

Thursday, March 19, 2015

March against homophobiaTo Beth Rocha, transvestite and acampada*, building mechanisms to ensure an egalitarian society imbues respect for different identities.

The men wore dresses, lipstick, false eyelashes, heels. The women, boots, loose shirts, belts, baseball style caps. The proposal was to bring forth a reflection on the construction of gender identity and respect for different sexual orientations.

Without prejudice or preconceptions, landless youth held Agitation and Propaganda against homophobia on Tuesday (March 17) during the state march of MST in Bahia.

The action mobilized some 100 young people from different regions of the state, and proposed gives visibility to LGBT landless and fight against any kind of violence. Also, the march reaffirmed that the struggle for People’s Agrarian Reform should be everyone’s struggle.

 

An example of this were the banners and posters distributed in lines of the march that reaffirmed the participation of LGBT landless in the struggle for land and to demand an end to violence.

According to Beth Rocha, transvestite and acampada* in the Chapada Diamantina region, there is prejudice everywhere and it is not different in rural communities.
march against homophobia

"I believe we can change this reality. The fight against violence needs to happen routinely to strengthen our organization. Building mechanisms to ensure an egalitarian society imbues respect for diverse gender identities," she emphasized.

Respect

The process of Agitation and Propaganda was built as an internal tool for dialogue with all the landless in order to cause a reflection and disseminate respect for LGBT within the Movement.

To Evanildo Costa, from the state coordination of the MST, "to build a truly just and egalitarian society we need to eradicate all forms of violence. We cannot deny the existence of comrades who are part of our struggle because they are LGBT. What we want is to strengthen the Agrarian Reform, demand the people's needs and not repeat categorical and homophobic speech," he believes.

march agfainst homophobiaYoung people understand that to deny and repress the diversity of identities among the workers means reproducing the logic of segregation and violence imposed by capitalism.

To reflect on this, more and more young people seek to punctuate issues related to gender identity and to strengthen the process of struggle by carrying the anti-homophobic flag.

This was the second agitation carried out by youth in the MST actions and mobilizations.

*Acampada (acampado) is a landless person living in an encampment during an occupation of land. 

 

 march against homophobia