translated from Spanish: Trial hearing against Chile over lesbophobia

Between yesterday and today, the trial against the State of Chile was held in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for preventing professor Sandra Pavez from teaching in 2007 because of her sexual orientation, following a decision of the Catholic Church that was protected by various rulings in our country. The trial ran for five hours, divided between yesterday and today, with the IDH Court, Elizabeth Odio Benito, headed by the president. Pavez intervened on the occasion and, in favor of it, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the collaborating lawyers of Movilh, Ciro Colombara and Branislav Marelic.Meanwhile, the State justified the teacher’s continued denial of the right to take classes, arguing that she continued to receive a salary, as she remained inspector general of an educational establishment. It was precisely this last point, one of the most hurt Pavez.” The State merely consulted me whether or not I had received salaries from 2007 to date, as if that were relevant. The serious thing is the psychological damage I suffered after I was denied the right to do classes and prevented me from entering the classrooms to educate,” he said. However, Pavez was satisfied with the two days of the trial. “I have confidence in the Inter-American Court of HRDs. I think they’ll fail because of non-discrimination. I hope the ruling will have a positive impact on LGBTIQ+ teachers in Chile and Latin America.” Meanwhile, Movilh leader Rolando Jimenez noted that “Sandra’s courage and perseverance will make history for LGBTIQ+ rights. She chose to teach with the truth, but the state and the churches condemned her for that”In this sense, Jiménez regretted that “until today there is a strong lashing out against the rights of Sandra Pavez, because not only has the State mobilized internationally to continue to be prevented from teaching in Chile solely because of her sexual orientation. So did chile’s main creeds and ultra-conservative NGOs from different countries who in recent months presented various Amicus Curiae justifying that religions have the right and prevent teachers from teaching in lay state just because they are LGBTIQ+.” Just as pitiful has been the indolence of the Chilean state, which has merely reduced this judgment to economic aspects, giving nothing to human dignity. As long as his lack came the delicacy, which invited experts who had not even read the court rulings against Sandra and, worse, who in his presentations treated dictator Pinochet as “president”, to validate Decree 924 that this genocide dictated in 1984 to deny the right of teacher to do religion classes if they were LGBTIQ+” Ended. In parallel with the trial, yesterday and today lesbian activists from the Movilh demonstrated in the frontis of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in San José de Costa Rica, accusing Chile of “lesbophobic” and of “being indebted to Sandra Pavez”El Movilh expects the court to hand down sentencing between August and November.

Original source in Spanish